WARDEN'S REPORT.

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 261, 30 January 1873, Page 6

WARDEN'S REPORT.

Air Warden Stratford (Arrow) reports of his district", for the quarter ended December 3lstlast, a« folio «rs :—: — "Immediately in the vicinity of Arrowtown there are a few Kuropean miner?, unsettled in th- ir operations, which amount to prospecting the banks of the Ar o>v in different places with a race belonging to the party In the lei of the river, which has b<en diverted for the purpose opposite Arrowtown, a pirty of 43 (,'h : nese are working, and obt duing fair wages, but on' y with considerable labour, -in lifting the stuff o t of paddocks, and wheeling it aside. A lirge extent of gri-uud yet remains t,o be wor. Ed in the ca'sie manner. The bid of the Arrow, from^the tow nship, upwards, towards Eight Mile Creek, has already been woiked, but gool patches (it has been recmtly proved), still remain, and bcveral parties aie engaged reworking, by means of covered tail races, for drainage, and water wheels. These works have taken considerable time an>! labor in their cons' ructio •. a % ul cannot yet be said o be sufficiently advanced to euable the claims to pay such dividends as may he fairly exp ct d as the works progress. But the claimholders hive con lidencc that the undertakings will prove highly remunerative for many years to come. The Terrace workings continue to yield well to the tunnelling patties. That o f Dixon and Co has for some time past heen paying dividends "aryhu f omL2O to 1 50 per man wetk'y. and promises to la*.t for some time. Bracken's Gully. — Ths tributary to the Arrow, situate four miles above Arrowtown, has proved a highly auri f erous depository, and since its di coverv, some yedrs s nee, has never been dtstrted by the miners. Thete are, at the present time, about 25 men, engaged pr.ncipaily in sluicing in that loca ity Roiring Billy. — This, also; is a tributary to the Arrow, and situate ab ut one mil. j . above Bracken's Cully. From its hitherto inaccessible position, it has been imp-rf c'ly prosp cted. The new Arrow ValL j y track, whic!i is rapidly beii'g cai-ried forward by Messrs Robert Clarke and party (the contractors) wi 1 soon afford the miners an opp rtuuity of obtaining supplies of pro? » isions, timber &c. , &p. . at such prices as to enable them (the mm rs) to thoroughly test this portion of the district, iv which already rich patches of cold h % .ve bf en discovered. Macetown. — Here the Chinese element seems to l>e in the ascendant. The population c n-ists of neiriy 300 Chinese, and abmt 130 Eiropcm residents. The Utter have been, in number?, selling out iheir interests to the former, and moving away from the locality altogether. Ths ground in this portion of the district, for sluicing ground, is very rich ; latterly falling off a little, but still paying high wages. There is a large extent of comparatively untried ground, up the source of the Arrow, .above Macetown. For want of means of communication and difficulty in packing | rovisions, this place, known to beauriforons, bashithert 'been negh'cted. I understand, however, the local Miners' Associat'on is taking steps to have a track cut in that direction, as the want of a roadway is th-* only obstacle to the formation of another mining settlement. Whitechaptl Fla'. — Ihis w a sluicing locality, on terraces, situate about* three miles below Arrowtown, .and near the confluence of the Arrow with the Kawarau. A lar^e water-race is in course of completion to work the ground. Tbo*e who are there are sat sfied with their returns, and the result of prospecting promises to afford remunerative employment to a large number of miners, as sopu as the several rac § now being cut commence discharging on to the | claims. Crown Terrace. — Qnly one party of mm rs are at present working there, and they are prospector?, and have quite recently discovered a lew patches of coarse rugged gold (not water-worn). They have met with no regu'ar run of gold, and, from the description fqund, appear to think that a quartz reef exists at no great distance from their present workings. A special pi aim has heen applied for to His Honor the Superintendent, who awaits my report. At Cambrian Flat, a party of five or eight miners, after four years' indefatigable exertions in cutting a race 14 miles in length, from the Nevis ranges, through mountainous country (snow-clad six months of each year), through rocks, boulder?, and landslips, and having spent between L 5.000 and L 6.000 in their undertaking have at last (after repeated failures), nothing daunted, succeeded in discharging about four sluiceheads (being one-fifth of the capabilities of their race, and the supply granted) on to their special claims, one mile west of Edward's Ferry. These men undoubtedly have proved themselves great benefactors 1 to their , faUQW'ttiuera for yea.rfcp.agfc, f O r t^eir naww

will be remembered as long as the Goldfields last, as the pioneers of the Upper Bendigo Gully workings. Iv the vf ry heart of the Dunstan ranges', they, then known as The Biso and Shine Co. , for several years after cutting a race from the high st streim on the Dunstan ranges, worked pt rsisteutly thr u^h summer and winter for tlnee years, though sometimes surrounded and cut off from cdnimunication from the outer world by snow ; and the money they obtained during their three years' residence iv the Dunstan Mountains, has now been spent in cutting the Cambrian race, so named after the country they came from. I am glad to say they have found gold immediately they commenced sluicing ; and all the rare-owners letween the two punts — Edwards's and Morven ferries (a distance of ten miles on the Arrow Road from Cromwell) —have found good payable sluicing ground. Tho Cambrian race-owners are sanguine of fcuccess, as their race commands at leas.t five miles of sluicing ground on the banks of the river. Cardr na. — I regret to say that lam unable to five a very reliable report of this rising place, which is rapidly increasing in importance, and becoming more permanently settled as its mining resources are becoming unfolded. Having been d sappoined in receiving a statistical and general report, promised me by the manager of a water raca, who had kindly offered to assist me to ascertain particulars minutely, aud free from prejudice and color. I have had to fall back upon my own observation, which has been (when speaking of so important a ] lace), dnring the short time I have had charge of the district, very limited, as 1 huve only made monthly vis : ts to hold Couits there. I am enabled to say, however, that the European miners, ab mt 90 to 100 in number, are quite in a position to bnili themselves substantial houses, and settle down, for they have Ixfore them, carved out, woik i enough in the shape of mining to last for a life-time. 'Ihe lead of gold, its directions, Src, have bpen established, and claims marked off accordingly. A great deal of money is expended in machinery on these diggings. The sinking is a great depth, the tunnelling most extensive, and the pumps numerous, and of great pow«r. Men who have raised capital in surface diggings here are now < xpending some of it in deep sinking, but the frirts of their labors are speedily obtained. The risk is becoming less and the finds more certa n— p' rhaps there are some a l.tfcle discontented with their returns, but this is not because the yields are inferior, but rather that the men have been accustomed to so inu h better at the Cardrona. A special claim applied for at Spatt'a Creek, twelve mile 3 from Cardrona Township towards Lake Wanaka by Messrs Machiu and Bond whose names is a sufficient guarantee that the prospecting vill be couplet d, will (if payable workings a p e found) cause mining to extend northwards. The only daugr shoul 1 this evenuatp, would b> the entire absorption of the Cvrdrona Creek, the dfmand = already b. in.? very great, in the way of diversions and parsing of tailings. I hope to be aide, next <|nart r, to give a more, detailed account of the workings in this division of my district. The warm, dry season vehave enjoyed, a r ter a very severe winter, has hroujiht on tho crops remarkably well. The farmers are jub'Unt at the healthy appearance of their fields. ' omplaiu's are iuureisrig that cattle owners do not keep their boundaries, and that their hungry stock is encroaching on f*-n:ed lands ; but, perhaps, if the provisions of the Fencing <rdinance were more strictly o served, the cattle might be defiod by the ag'cultural leaseholders, and become trespasses on Crown 1 .nda only. The question of b undaries for sheep and cattle is becoming more vexed every day as stock increases, and stringent rules will become necessary to check a growing evil. 'Ihe want of water for domestic purposes is much ft It at Arrow-