THE LYELL REEFS.

Westport Times, Volume IV, Issue 682, 9 July 1870, Page 2

THE LYELL REEFS.

"We understand that Mr Thomson, who is agent for the Langland's Foundry Co., Melbourne, has recently returned from the Lyell Reefs, having visited them for the purpose of estimating the cost of suitable machinery for the prospectors' claim. From the favorable accounts given of the prospects of the reef there is every probability of machinery being at once introduced, not only by the prospectors, but also by the No. 1 and 2 South—amalgamated claims. A careful examination seems again to bear testimony to the fact of an unusually large and moderately rich reef existing in the above mentioned claims, which can hardly fail to prove a remunerative speculation to those interested, if proper appliances and careful management be introduced. It appears there remains but one thing to be done, with regard to the prospectors' claim to decide immediate action, i.e., the cutting of the reef with the present working tunnel, at a considerably lower level and in more solid ground, whieh, according to their present energetic mode of working, will, most likely, not occupy more than four weeks. Some stoue, taken promiscuously from the drive in No. 1 south—immediately adjoining the prospectors' boundary was brought to town, from which excellent results have been obtained by washing. On) most encouraging feature of the Lyell Reefs is that the gold is so fairly distributed in the main reef that a prospect washed from several dishes, say iu No. 1 South, would not materially vary from a similar quantity washed either from the Prospectors', some 100 yards distant, or from No. 1 North, some GOO or 700 yards distant. It requires only capital to be introduced to develop what appears to be a legitimate and profitable speculation. Great complaints have been made by travellers, on the Lyell track of late, as to the impassable and, at times, dangerous state of the Blackwater, Little Ohiki, and Dee rivers; several travellers hiving been detained on the road for 9 days, "stuck up" in most inconvenient positions and places. These obstructions might be obviated at a very nominal cost by the Government—by throwing suspension handbridges across these rivers, which would, at any rate, accommodate foot travellers and render the journey practicable at any season of the year without endangering life. The sooner a track is cut round the foot of the Ohiki Mountain instead of, as at present, over the top, the sooner will a flagrant mistake be rectified and an arduous portion of the journey be saved.