The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1882.

Thames Star, Volume XIII, Issue 4292, 3 October 1882, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1882.

The matter of first importance to this district as a permanent goldfield undoubtedly is the existence of gold at »•■ greater depth below the surface than hitherto prospected. From present appearances it would, seem that the 640 ft. ierel of the Big Pump is in an unkindly country, but there is no reason to believe that that will continue downward. A month or two ago we strongly urged the use of the diamond drill as a means of testing the ground two or- ~ three - hundred feet down. These instruments are not expensive, and Government will assist those who endeavor .to utilise them. Perseverance and faith have done every* thing for this field, and cowardice nothing. We have no doubt that those who stick . by the Big Pump venture will yet be amply ' rewarded. Our reasons are threefold. Firstly, although a considerable amount of driving has been done at the 640 ft. level, it has been ' only in certain directions,, and the reefs after all have been but little prospected. Everyone knows that reefs in 'the upper levels are driven on hundreds of feet without anything encouraging being met with, and yejt further driving reveals rich deposits of golden treasure.. Tbujß an everyday experience, and*, ought to be borne in ■md when the deep levels are under .review.. Secondly,apart from any ground that has yet been driven through, there is every reason, to believe that further tun* nellioff southward would- soon bring, in a different class of country. We are Mtis6ed that is the opinion of the directors of the Deep Level Tribute Co. who have bravely undertaken the expense of draining the shaft to its greatest depth and continuing the crosscut, the face of which is known to be about the Queen of. Beauty battery. ..Are they going on blind speculation merely? Assuredly not The Mariner's reef yielded very rich returns in the early days of the field, and has not been worked below. 150 ft in the Prince Imperial .mine.. It is alleged that it was then remunerative, but the fas was so foul as' to render' further

oppra'ions impossible. The m-nagor of the mine in his last report expresses surprise that .the former management—of > m§ny year* ago—did not give more attentibfctofpiroipeotmg it. That reef would be intersected by the crosscut. The reef at present being stoped out in the- Prince Imperial, running from 18 inches to fire feet in width, although seldom more than three feet, and now at a depth of 340 ft averaging two ounces to the lead, would also bo cut. The crosscut should also catch the Crown Princess reefs, of which there were several. For the sake of argument, let us suppose that the country hitherto tunnelled through at the 640 ft lefel is non payable ; it is clear that that barren channel has an ending somewhere, for in the Queen of Beauty mine, no great distance away, as the result of a week's crushing with 20 head of stampers upon quartz taken from the 600 ft level, almost one thousand ounces of gold were obtained. Ibis is.irrefragable demonstration that the country of dearth ends and the laud of plenty-begins, always supposing the first to be barren, between the face of the crosscut from/the Big Pump and the Queen of Beauty. From the He of the country there is erery reason to believe that the nnfarorablc ground would soon be passed through, and the lodes already mentioned found in a kindly class of ground, were the crosscut continued. There is no reason to fear that the directors of the Tribute Company will prove faint hearted, but having put their hand to the plough, they will not turn back. The water is now down 595 feet, and another month or six weeks should see the miners at work once more in that level. Our third anchor of hope is that, taking it for granted the present level is barren in the vicinity of the Pump, which howerer we do not for a moment concede, it is in accordance with experience elsewhere, both' America and Australia included, to find, in sinking after a stratum of barren rock, an excellent class of gold-bearing country yielding treasure more abun« dantly than above. Judging by analogy, such an occurrence not only might, but should be the outcome of searching further into the bowels of the earth on this field, and it was to that end that we advocated the introduction of the diamond drill as the speediest and cheapest mode of solving the problem* . .