MINING MEMORANDA.

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 232, 11 July 1872, Page 8

MINING MEMORANDA.

MANAGEMENT OF QUARTZ REEFS. The following letter on the management of quartz reefs appears in the " Cromwell Argus." I will now give you my idea as to how a Company ought to proceed. Having obtained a first-class directory, and sufficient capital, they should make up their minds to pay calls instead of receiving dividends, until such time as the ground is properly tested, and all the preparatory work done. They should not attempt to put up expensive machinery without a sufficient prospect ; but having, obtained that prospect, they should expend' the cash on all work necessary for the profitable working of the mine uugrudgingly, and not fritter away their capital bit by bit. You will perceive my meaning when you recollect the way in which many companies have started, not only in this district, but various other places. On becoming the proprietors of a claim with perhaps first-rate surface prospects, they have recklessly put on a large number of men, erected expensive machinery, and expected the manager to make the mine pay handsome dividends at once, without a shaft being sunk or a tunnel driven, and the mine, in fact, not only unprepared for profitable working, but actually unprospected ; so that they had no knowledge of what the reef was like at anything like a depth, or even whether it continued along the surface for any distance. In my opinion, a better plan to adopt would have been to put on a.few men, on whose truth and judgment they could depend, to prospect the reef thoroughly to a reasonable depth ; if the reefs runs out, cross cut, or sink deeper, as appears most advisable ; if the reef continues, but the gold fails, drive along it ; in short, try it reasonably well ; and, if a sufficiently good prospect is not obtained to justify the outlay of capital in the necessary shafts, tunnels, and machinery for the proper working of the reef, abandon it. The first loss in this case is the best, and, in addition to the original purchase money, is but trifling. If, on the contrary, they -consider it can be made to pay, they should immediately get all the dead work done, never attempting to get an ounce. of gold until such can be obtained qt the least possible cost. I need hardly say" that the nature of the preparatory 1 work varies according to the nature of the reef and the locality ; but, as a general rule, consists in the sinking of a shaft or shafts to the depth at which it is intended to commence, (the deeper the better, if the gold is there,) and, if at all possible, working the reef up;- or, — which is far the best way, if the locality is favourable, — in putting in a tunnel. By the former plan, although the pick and drill work is more ttre-

some on tho men, working as they must overhead, the. shifting of " mullock" is almost entirely avoided, as it can be directed by a few slabs from the stope into the tunnel, and the quartz in like manner into the shaft, from whence it can be hauled up to the surface by windlass or whim. Less titn-/ ber will also keep the ground secure^ than is required when working down- ■• as the men will always have t^^ worked-out ground below instead ~lpP above them. The tunnel, besides possessing all those advantages, entirely supersedes the windlass or whim, — one man with a truck and -tramway being able to remove more stuff in a day than two men would haul up, from a depth of over a 100 feet, with a windlass in a week ; and this advantage increases in ratio as it gets deeper. Moreover, as the machine will most likely be in the gully, where water is available, and the reef almost to a certainty on the hill, tho cartage of the quartz will be saved, as it can be delievered from the truck into the mill-paddock direct. I need hardly say that in case of the workings being wet, the advantages are still greater. An apparently small trickling through the tunnel would be sufficient to render the labour of two additional men necessary where .a windlass was in use ; and if there was a considerable quantity of water, the claim would be unworkable otherwise than by the use of powerful and expensive machinery. To conclude this subject, I may mention that the plan in general use here (working the reef downwards) was an obsolete custom in Victoria ten or .twelve years ago ; in fact, went out of fashion with the jumping jennies and fossicking knives. There may possibly be some reofs that cannot be worked otherwise : I have never seen them : but there are frequently patches of ground which will cause additional trouble and extra careful timbering. It would be impossible to give an exact estimate of the relative cost of grassing quartz by those different ways ; so much depends on the character of the country, the reef itself, and the quantity, of water. But I believe I am within the mark when 1 state that with an ordinary reef, three or four feet thick, the depth exceeding 100 feet, stone can be raised by menus of a tuunel and working up for half the price it would cost working, fdown and hauling ud with a windlass even if dry : if a comparatively small quantity of water exists, you can safely deduct another half. The saving effected by employing whims or whips at the above depth instead, of windlasses, seldom exceed teu per ?ent., unless where the stone is unusually easy broken,—in which case the tunnel and truck system _ increases its relative superiority to a still greater extent. Another practice which causes a large amount of useless labour also prevails here : that is, breaking an unnecessary amount of ground in the cut alongside the reef. Men will tell you they can get along faster in a three-foot cut than in one of eighteen , inches. They should recollect that the superiority of a miner over an agricultural labourer consists in no small degree in his ability to work to advantage in a small space and in a constrained position : that they are making additional work for the fillers and windlass men, and that they are necessitating the use of longer and stronger props. I believe most of this " muff " system of working reefs has been introduced from a certain obscure divings in Victoria called Pleasant Creek, from whence also the blessed ten hour system was imported. In my time in Victoria, a Pleasant Creek mining diploma was rather laughed at on such places as Old Bendigo, Clunes, or. any other of the really important reefing districts. — I am, <fee, Crusher.

Rosambeau, a French actor of note, was once playing at Anjou when the curtain rose to a single spectator. The actor stepped forward and addressed the audience — " My dear sir, did you come to see the play or to see Rosambeau?" "To see Rosambeau." Don't you thin " we shall enjoy the evening together much better at the neighbouring cafe than if you compel me to play to you, who should be a man of wit in a piece which is a poor one at best, and in which, contrary to my usual custom, lam only ordinary ?" " Certainly I do," replied the audience, "for I hurried my dinner to get her in season, we will go and finish it." And they did. A wretched husband in St. Paul's advertises for the return of his wife, who is " a taul -woman with grey eyes and a small babie just beginnin' to wauk," who has been enticed away by " taul pok markt feller with red hare." Poor fellow, we hope he may get her back, and recover from the dreadful "spell" which has taken hold of him. On a wet, miserable, foggyLondon day in autumn, Charles Lamb was accosted by .a .beggar woman, with " Pray, sir, bestow a little qharity upon a ppor, destitute widsw woman, who is perishing for lack of -fo&d. • Believe me, sir, I have seen better days."- " So hare I," said Lamb, ihanding-the poor creature a shilling, "so have I ; it's a miserable day. Good bye, good bye." An attendant at Mount Vernon not long ago observed a lady weeping most bitterly, her handkerchief to her eyes. Going up to her, he said, " Are you in trouble, madam?" "No, sir," she sobbed. j" I saw you weeping." *' Ah," she siad, " how can one help weeping at the grave of the Father of this Country?" " o[h, indeed,' madam," said lie, "thai's ife, . The tomb's over yonder. This -is the i«e-.. house,"