THE BLUE SPUR TAILINGS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VII, Issue 353, 6 May 1874, Page 2

THE BLUE SPUR TAILINGS.

PUBLIC MEETING. t On Monday, evening a large and influential meeting was held in the Commercial Assembly Boom, Lawwn.ce. to consider the advisability [of having a. main channel cous^r-ueted in Gabriels Gully to a^low the failings ty> be profitably worked. The meeting was held by resolution of the Town Council, and convened by E. Herbert, Esq., Mayor, who was called to the Chair. • The Chairman, in opening the meeting, said the subject of reworking the Blue Spur tailings had been discussed for many years past, and it was one which of late years had been pressing itself more and more upon public attention.. The thanks of the coinin mnty were due to Mr. W..]\ Morrison for reviving the subject at a very opportune time, when the Provincial Council was in Session, and just before the meeting of the General Assembly.. The work if carried out would be a Genex^al Government work, and would come under $ie category of tbe great Public Works scheme. One of the first questions that should be asked by the meeting was, Could they honestly say the proposed work would pay, Would it be'a. remunerative one, Could they ask the Government to expend a large sum on such, a^work? He considered that not only in the auriferous character. Qf the tailings themselves, but in the ground undjerueath them, there was sufficient to justify the people iv asking the Government to make a, channel by which, they could be worked* The scheme would afford remunerative employment, to. a,, large number of people. The duty on the increaj3ejct yield of gold would directly recoup, the- Government for the outlay, and the. indirect taxation would also be greatly augmeui^ed by, increased population and consequent increased consumption. He hoped the njseting would be unanimous about the master, and puss some resolutions for presentation to the Provincial Council for their recommendation to-. tho Genera}. Government.. He was glad to, see- so. many of the Blue Spup.< minerd present, and although he did not know what action they had already taken, stilL he felt confident the people of Lawrence would ga hand in hand to, get any practical scheme initiated.. He hoped the Genera) Government would see the reasonableness of their modest request. Without in any way reflecting upon the other public' works which the Government had undertaken,

there was none of them which could show bo much prospect of success as the one they had met to take into consideration. — (Applause.) Mr. W. D. said he did not wish to claim any particular credit-for what he had done towards the present agitation. He had been told on all sides that the work they were met to consider was a good one. It had been in the minds Of many people for years past, and he was glad of the part he had taken in drawing public attention to it through the Press. He •would move the following resolution : " That this meeting would strongly urge upon the Provincial and General Governments the desirability of forming a main channel in Gabriels Gully to open up the auriferous ground, and allow the vast accumulation of tailings to be re-worked." The resolution he thought explicit enough, and of the practicability and reproduetiveness of the project, he had not the faintest doubt. Some people thought there was not sufficient fall, and that the discharge would be a great difficulty ; but his opinion was that a cut through the hill by M'Kiinmie'B to the lazaretto would give ample fall wi^h tb.e quantity of water that would be available. To construct a tunnel, Buch as the Provincial Engineer suggested, would be a work entailing altogether too much time^in fact, it would be a greater work in length, if not in dimensions, than the Deborah Bayrailway tunnel : and the proportion between making a large and a small tunnel, where there was hard rock cutting, was very slight. He was not, therefore, in favor of a tunnel, considering, as he did, that it did not come in time for the interests of this district, By the time a tunnel was constructed, the tailings might be reduced to a very small heap. He thought something between the Engineer's tunnel and the open ohannel would be equally effective. Some people say that a channel would not carry away tailings j but any one who walked up Gabriels Gully coujd see pieces of cement as big as an egg, or even larger that had been carried down by the water, and if such was the force when the water was unconfined in a tortuous gully, how much more powerful would it be if it were confined into a narrow straight channel ? The tunnel through by M'Kimmie's would not be above half -a-mile in length ; and the whole of the work, with a channel up the Gully as far as Walshs Gully, or the Gabriels battery, could be constructed in nine or ten months. Of the reproductive character of the work, he had no doubt whatever. Although he never worked at the head of the Gully himself, yet some who had done so years ago were so sanguine as to sajr that there were tons of gold buried by the tailings. With regard to the calculations he had made in the letter, which appeared in the local paper, he had been assured by many persons that 10 per cent, was too. small an estimate of the quantity of gold losji, and he had no doubt it was. The calculations, while they were all faulty, were so on the side of fairness. If the claimownera at the Blue Spur had the means of carrying out the work, they would do it ; but it was of too great a magnitude, and could not be considered other than a purely public work. Other districts were getting public money expended for their development, and why should not Tuapeka, which had not yet asked for anything? He thought it the fault of the. people of tho district that the channel had not been constructed long ago. Let them, therefore, ask the Government to give them their due, The usual course adopted by the Government when any feasible scheme is laid before them is to send an Engineer to. make a survey of the proposed work, and to report upon \t, after which the Provincial Government recommend it to the General Government, when ttie necessary sum ia granted and the work commenced. Once; get this work under way, and there would be^ no end of benefit resulting from it ; there wauld be work for probably the next twenty or thirty years, secured to a large number of men. Who knows but that a tunnel would then be carried through the dividing range, and Wetherstones washed out in a similar manner. He did not know if suoh a thing was practicable ; but, if so, it was not an unlikely thing to take place. Mr. Morrison then showed how, with a slight fall, and a large quantity of water, a great body of tailings could d& earned away. In support of this statement, he instanced the case of Hales' claiuC which had \he least fall of any on the Spur, and yet, owing to, the large quantity of water used, tb,e claimownera were enabled to sen,J away as much stuff as any others. He also, instanced the Clutha river, which, between Tuajaeka Mouth aud Clutha Ferry, had a fall of only 1$ foot to. the mile, and yet it carried out to the ocean thousands of tons of tailings discharged in it.. The speaker then referred to the water supply available for the carrying away of the Spur tailings, and remarked that that supply coidd be greatly augmented — even the Beaumont and Tuapeka Water Race could be directed into Gabriels Gully, and used for the purpose^ Mr. Hales had great pleasure in seconding the motion so. ably proposed by Mr. Morrison. He had been in favor of a tunnel, so, that the distance might be shortened ; but after Mr. Morrison's explanation as to the great length of time-such a w.ork would require, he quite concurred with him that a short tunnel from the part he indicated would suit the purpose. The motion, was put, and unanimously carried., Mr., Hay said it was to. the interests of all parties to do, the best they co,ukl for themselves. It would be remembered some five or six. years ago, certain parties wished, to work the tailings, and. were objected to by the Blue Spur miners.. How, he "hoped on this occasion they would not raise the same objection. It was well-known that the Spur miners held the whole cjE Gabriels G,uUy a? a. tailrace, and he would like Mr.. Morrison to. explain to. the ' meeting how the miners would be likely to act supposing the Government gave the grant of money they had met fy>, qsk. for,. Whether they decided upon the construction, of an open -channel or a tunnel, there could be no doubt as to the auriferous character of the tailings. He did not apprehend any difficulty from the discharge, and believed the' scheme was one ■ which would prove a benefit tot the district. He would move •". " That, in the opinion of this meeting, the inhabitants of Lawrence do co-operate with the BJue Spur miners in obtaining the assistance of Government in the construction of a, suitable channel fpjj the tailings, and thereby increasing the development of the mineral resources of the district. Mr. Fraer, in seconding the resolution, regrefctedno£ bei^ng. better- a£<jvwn<fced with the subject, as he was a comparative stranger in the district. Ho thought, however,, a work of the description referred to only, required to be shown to the General Government to obtain the assistance required. Mr^ Morrison said, xa reply to Mr. Hay, that the Blue Spur Miners laid no, particular claim to the tailings i they would even go as far as t&te up one-ha^f of the shares in a company to work the tailings, to, make ii a, reproductive work* Even, after the channel is ] made, a large outlay of capital w,ould be required for machinery and piping ta break up the stuff and extract the gold. The proposed work was no, more for tb.e benefit of BJ.ue Spur people than it was for the people of Lawrence a,nd the district at largQ. Some persons .seen* to. think, this a cunning way of putting the case, but he could assure the people of Lawrence it was uot so. If ife were the ineaiis of considerably augmenting the population of khe district, surely it would be for the advantage of all classes* (Applause.) Mr.. Squires said he had been waiting to hear some of the- Spur miners make some | remarks after- Mr. Morrison* He considered I in Lawrence the great difficulty thati.was to be- contended with was the silting up of the tailings. In July last he got up a requisition and sent it to the Government, to obtain a survey»of the gully and to report on the subject ©f the tailings. The Government com-

plied, and he held in his hand the report \ which was drawn up. Most of the mhrerg^ present, no douht, had read it, and were acquainted with its proposals. He considered this work would be a more reproductive one than the channel at Naseby or Waipori, ?He did not concur with Mr. Morrison in thinking the water that could be made available would carry off the tailings, so well as that gentleman seemed to think. The coarse tailings found near the foot of the gully bear but an infinitesimal proportion to those left at the head of the gully. They could not hope to get rid of' the tailings at the head of the gully until they were considerably reduced or pulverised. After being so reduced, there would not be any difficulty in sending them on to the sea. He hoped the work would be sanctioned by the Government, as it would in reality open up a new goldfield in the district. Mr. Squires moved an amendment to Mr. Hay's motion, which was soconded, but ultimately withdrawn, when Mr, Hay's motion was put and carried. Mr, John Hall stated there was far more gold lost at the Blue Spur than the miners were aware of. He had been working the tailings far some months past, and he hadfound more gold than he expected. The gold was very fine, and would require the adoption of some means for saving it. The Chairman said it might be' interesting to state that he remembered men working the ground underneath the tailings referred to who made £50 a week. . The following committee was then appointed to further the objects of the meeting, viz., Messrs, Herbert, Hay, Morrison, Hales, Freer, Grieve, Clayton, Campbell, Hinde, Sheath, Kendall, M'lntosh, Squires, Anderson, and Ferguson. A vote of thanks to the Chairman closed the proceedings. A Committee meeting was held immediately afterwards, when Messrs. Herbert, Squires, and Morrison were deputed to draw up a memorial, get it signed, and presented to his Honor the Superintendent and Executive, The following is a copy of the memorial which has been drawn up ;—; — To His Honor the Superintendent and Provincial Council of Otago, iv session assembled. We. the undersigned residents in the district of Tuapeka, respectfully submit, for the consideration of your Honor and the Provincial Council, the following scheme for opening out the auriferous ground at the head' of Gabriels and Munros Gullies, at present totally unavailable for mining operations. The area of the unworked auriferous ground at the heutl of Gabriels and Munros Gullies is over 30 .acres. This ground is known to be very payable, and was being worked in the years 1862 and 1863, when the gradual encroachment of the tailings from the Blue Spur cement claims caused them to be abandoned. In addition to this natural deposit 4 there have been, since the year 1863, over two million tana of tailings discharged on this unworked ground. The depth of the accumulated tailings, varies from 30 to »Q feet. The desirability of working these deposits was brought before the notice of the Executive Government in July of last year, when they caused a flying survey of the fall, &c, in Gabriels and Munros Gullies to be made by the Provincial Engineer. We beg to refer you to bis report (attached hereto.) Since the date of this report, the matter has been thoroughly pon&ideied by the miners and residents of this district; and we are of opinion that the formation of an open sltulge ohaunel, as recommended by the Provincial Engineer, is the most feasible and practicable mode of renderiug these deposits available. We believe that suoh a channel would open out a very permanent and remunerative fteld for occupation to a large body of miners ; and that the workii-g of these deposits, with che aid of improved appliances, would prove a remunerative undertaking. The miuers of the Blue Spur have constructed headiacesat a cost of over £30,000, which bring in a daily supply of over sixty Government sluice heads (4Q") of water. Much of this valuable capital would become available for the oarryiug out of this soheme. The aurifeious cement of the Blue Spar is not more than one-half worked, and the proposed scheme will greatly facilitate the further working of it. 4.t present, over 1500 tons per diem are discharged from the various claims. JVoin the natuie of the cement, a large proportion of the gold unavoidably escapes with the tailings, and the whole of tb,e debris will pay to re-work. We, therefore, pray that your Honor and the Executive of the Provincial Council will recommend this scheme to the favorable consideration of the General Government, to be undertaken under the provisions of the Immigration and Public Works Act, 1870. "