WIRE TEAMWAYS.

Thames Star, Volume XV, Issue 4869, 18 August 1884, Page 3

WIRE TEAMWAYS.

' (To the Editor of the Evening Star.) Sib,—A good deal has been said lately about a scheme propounded by Mr J. W. Walker, to enable the low grade reefs of the Upper Waiotalii, and other outlying portions of the field, to be sucrsssfully worked, and this scheme (which appears to have been vet,; favorably reprted on both by the press *and the Committee of the Thames County-Council) provides for the erection of an endless wire rope tramW«y, on which buckets are suspended , at regular interval * the whole being kept in motion- by the full trucks descending bringing the empty ones up for filling. Now it is a well known fact that there are thousands of tons of low-grade quartz in the TTpuer ,Wai6tßln and other portions of the district, which would more thanpaytor breaking-and crushing, but which cannot be profitably carted, and if some scheme could be successfully carried out;'-.which'-would-enable, quartz to be delivered, at a cheap rate, at the batteries on the flaj;,.ajarge field for- remunerative w^*k c wbuld" be opened up, and a new lease of life given' ihe Thames. A mode of: transport similar to that, proposed has been introduced with excellent results in the South, while'ifc' is also used in England, India, and Australia to convey goods or mineral products over rough country, and I make bold to assert that if it were introduced here, we would qnickly see a great' deal' more work dono in the back- districts,' and prospecting would be -more diligently followed. The modus uperandi is as follows :-The line consists of an endless wire rope,-supported on a series of pulleys carried by substantial posts, which ire ordinarily about 150 feet apart, but which, when necessary, can be even;as much as 600 feet distant from each other.' -This rope passes at one end of the line round a drum. The boxes in which the stone is carried ore bung on to the rope at the loading end by an attachment of a peculiar sbape, which maintains the load in perfect equilibrium, and enables it to pass the 1 supporting pulleys, A large quantity" of quartz could be delivered per- day, and Southern experience has shown that between four and five, pennyweights sufficed to pay for , treating and conveyance under this sys tern. The coßt of the complete plant in England, .including rolling stock and steam power if required—where self. acting tramways are impracticable—is £250 per.mile for a line to deliver 50 tonß per day; £400 for one to deliver 100 tons per day; £550 for one to deliver 200 tons-perday, and higher prices for still larger plants.. As ,the line can be carried past half a dozen or'more loading places, it could be so laid out that mines on either side pf the Upper Waiotahi could have their quartz taken'away, while the cost of keeping "the whole in motion would be Tery-slight in comparison to the work done.* Our crushing machinery, thanks to the'water power, is cheap, and with equally advantageous means of conveying the quartz from the mine to the mill, there is still a'grand future for our districtl ' I hope the jnatter will" be thoroughly ventilated by those who ere competent to do'so, and that steps will be | taken to_introduce, what would undoubt- ' eflly prove a boon to our,district. —lam, &c.» . "Low Geade Dibt.