DUNSTAN.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VI, Issue 278, 29 May 1873, Page 6

DUNSTAN.

(From our own Co-respondent). Tlio present political crLsis is tlio most absorbing topic of the day, and any matter of loo.vl interest is likely *o be lost sight of by this larger desire to know the latest act of the drama. The lata rams Irivo made water more plentiful fur mining operations, but of which there is little new to chronicle. Lin-lsay and party have got their race fini.sb.ed, and are at work on <he terraces below* the Leaning Rocks. The Hit or Miss Company are busily engaged night and day p'lttiag down their large paddock at Sandy Point, and expect soon to reach, the bottom. Dredging has not yet met with much, success. Siedeb<Tg has hauled up his dredge for some further improvements. The Pneumatic has moored down the

river, below Sandy Point, but has not yet commenced operations. It is rumored tJj it the submarine bo.it will soon make its appearance. The Alexandra Steam Drudge Com p-my have nwdo formal applicotion for the 1 irge claim they have had surveyed. It has been stated by the chief promoter, Mr. J. 0. Chappie, in a letter to tne "DuusUn Times," and by "your own" from Alexandra— who, by the way, nuiy V> one and the same—that they are waiting to get this claim granted before orde. ing the machinery. In both these en'u-Moiis the Dunblan Miners' Association receives a severe castis/ation, and serious charges are laid at its door ; but whether these charges originated from one pen or not, they seem to have been taken from one point of observation, which only shows one side of the picture ; whereas, if we take a look at both sides, the Miners' Association may be quite as much the friend of the miner and the district as the promoters of the Alexandra Steam Dredge Company. T lie dredging ground in tliis district that has ever been remnneracive extends from Clyde to Butcher's Creek, a distance <si about nine unlew, the whole of which has been prospected and worked over and over a^ain, as well as the ground applied for. Difficulties have arisen, that manual dredging will no longer pay ; bufc, to ovorcxiny ihis, several ecientiric principles of divt!y»s have been introduced, at considerable cist. There is, first, Mr. Kie.de berg's gtaara dredge, which must have cost tli'-i owner over £'2000; and if anyone v e-ititled to auy consideration in regard to the* size of claim, it ought to be him. There is then the Pneumatic and the Submarine boat», at a cost of over £1000 ; and it is contemplated by the oivners of the Clyde claim to construct a lar^e pneumatic, which will cost over £2000. All these companies or parties have invested their capital, or purpose to do so, without any consideration as to size ol claim. I may mention here Uiat the maximum size for claims for dredging is 800 feet cAoivj, the river, and ihe Miners' Association agreed that this should be extended to 1200 feet. And now, lastly, comes the Alexandra Steam Dredge Company, with a proposed capital, according to the prospectus, of £5000, and which, it is b.iid, will make ground pay that would scarcely pay for ground sluicing with a kooil full ; but before they order their machinery they want an undisputed right to about one-third of tho whole of the dredging ground in the district ; or, according to Mr. Chappie, about throe miles of the best lead of gold in the province If the Miners' Association characterised the griiUing of such a claim a monopoly, they did not misname it ; and with so many different appliances at hand, and some, of them untried, it would be very unfair to the others, though by "your ovv?) " from Alexandra, every other consideiation should be waived in favor of our leviathan dredge. Fruit and vegetable growing, and wine manufacturing, does not appear to be attended wr. h good results, for two operatore iv these iiues were sold off this week — one by the orders of the Provisional Trustee in Bankruptcy, and the other by the mortgagee. Some "f our local writers advocate that we should have sittings of the Supreme Court hel'i here. Two cases of a rather immora] c?.<<b have arisen in this district lately, of which 1 shall f=ay nothing. You were lately touching up our honourable M.P.C. for his se':f -approbation, to which, I see, he has replied very fully. You might be congratulated on «ome peculiar qualitiee belonging to one of your own members, who, they 6ay, advised his colleague to tiiLe office f^r a c?rtaia purpo*e, and then assisted to tin's him out, v.-kh. a cLwiie to fill the office himself. The only r«u«->a&ble solution of tliis business I can form is, that it matters not win is in or who is out, they will go whacks iv the eerew.