THE BULLER RIVER.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 463, 9 February 1869, Page 2

THE BULLER RIVER.

e (from our own correspondent.) r Since my last communication a 1 slight rush took place at Maori Point, where some seven fresh parties have 5 set in. There were a couple of very I good claims at this point before, but I they had been, as was supposed, j worked out, when the fresh lead was . discovered a day or two ago It is f about thirty feet wide, and the washj dirt eight feet thick, with about twelve feet stripping, and it is reported by r some of the claimholders as yielding ' half a pennyweight to the tin dish, but I think that this informant is much too sanguine, as the claims are not yet bottomed and their richness cannot be accurately tested for some days. In my next I shall give you more full particulars. Unfortunately there is no water just now to work those claims. All the small creeks from which a good many claims drew their supplies are quite dry or nearly so, and several parties holding only second rights to them have been four or five w T eeks idle, having no means of sluicing. Noble and party have applied to the Warden for permission to turn in the Eight-mile Creek, which is about three miles higher up the Buller than Maori Point, and have had Mr R. H. Coe, C.E., to examine the ground and Water supply. At a rough estimate he assumes about eight heads of water to be contained in it at its lowest state, and the fall in it to be about a hundred feet in a mile. This would supply the north bank of the Buller for about fifteen miles, with the aid of the numerous gullies i or creeks already existing, and many ] terraces that would pay well could be < worked which cannot now be touched, f Unquestionably it will pay a handsome ' dividend to the company, as they have i secured ground next to Dublin Jack's i claim which they propose working as < selling about six heads of water. The Eight-mile Creek, as far as Mr 1 Coe has examined it, is entirely a slate 6 bottom intersected by numerous 1 quartz veins varying in thickness from i half-an-inch to eighteen inches. This 1 reef is supposed to run through to c

Collia» wood, which bears out Doctor Hector in his opinion that a reef will be discovered in the interior of this district, as unquestionably all the gold contained in it must have come from the interior. A good many parties are daily arriving here. They will at first be disappointed from the want of water, but that fluid given a man can make a living almost anywhere on the Buller or its tributaries. The good claim** enabling tho holders to realise a sum of money to lay by them, are, however, few indead j but such do exist. The Buller district is essentially a poor man's diggings. Very few indeed will make fortunes or even " rises," to use a minigh phrase, but still fewer there are to whom the district will deny a living if they are inclined to work. Plush is being now adopted, as well as false bottoms, as the gold is so very fine that large quantities have been lost for want of experience in saving it. A draper's shop, another public house, and a book-seller's establishment, are being opened at the Lyell this week.