MINING ITEMS.

Westport Times, Volume VI, Issue 989, 23 July 1872, Page 3

MINING ITEMS.

A pump, constructed on an America patent, is now in use at Christtaurch, which seems particularly well adapted for lifting water for mining Purposes. The machine is a small one, M the principle on which it is worked jj»n of course be applied to any size. are six sheet iron blades ISin °y 16in on iron arms which work in a locket in the centre of each plate. On arm there is a strong wire spring, M in each socket there is a slit in ""ich a small pin projecting from each m work. When, therefore, the PU blows above a certain strength, '"stead of the pump being operated B pon so violently as to injure the Machinery, the blades revolve a little 0n the shaft according as the wind r'eaaure atFocts the spring, and a finished face is at once offered for to act upon; thus, however l °ent a gale be blowiug, the j™"P cannot be worked beyoud a ||wo speed, inasmuch as the wind | in strength so are the faces

of the sails' turned more in an angle to it, decreasing tbe space subject to wind influence. This is an invention that has long been required, for it prevents all anxiety as to the pump in rough weather, and it will no doubt be extensively copied. Attached to the wind pump is a large perpendicular Bheet of iron, affixed to the shaft, on which the sails are fixed, and acting like the tail of a vane, so that tho least alteration in the direction of the wi»d causes the sails to answer to instantaneously. Not the least recommendation to tho pump is the comparative simplicity of the frame in which it is enclosed. This is made of gas pipes, and can be affixed to piles or any other foundation with no difficulty. Another advantage, also, is that the smallness of the pipes, as compared with timber framework, prevents wind being diverted from the sails.

The Cassius mine at Eoss is still turning out well, very good prospects have been obtained in the Kohinoor. A drive is being put into the Golden Gate ground. From Donoghuo's, Eoss, favorable reports are received. In the drainage shaft a lower large column is being put in, and in a - few days, will be in full-swing. Sweeney and party are opening out, and getting good gold. The prospectors are driving to the boundary, and in about a week will commence blocking out. Wilson and party are still doing well, and the claim lately taken up is producing payable wash. During tho past week the news from the Totara lagoon rush has been of a cheering character. Eobert Gunn and party, near Hannas's, struck payable gold, and Fraser and party have come on a thin layer of sand, which prospects 2gr to 3gr to the dish. The old prospecting party are still making good wages, and Byron and party are doing well. Perkins and party's claim is the most remunerative on the lead, as much as £23 a week having been obtained by each shareholder. A public meeting has been held at the Blue Spur, Otago, to devise the best means to effect the abolition of the Gold duty, and to consider the Leasing Eegulations. One of the speakers said that from rough calculations taken from statistical returns, the fifty odd shareholders of the Blue Spur pay to the State over £IOOO a year as a gold tax. If this large sum were a tax only on profits, it would be borne cheerfully. But it was a tax on tbe entire income, before deducting the expenditure from it. In order to convey an idea of the extent of the expenditure of some of the companies on the Spur, he stated that the Company in which he had an interest, had, within the last few years, paid nearly £IOOO to the State on gold that had gone to meet the ordinary expenditure of the Company, without the shareholders getting any benefit from it. Ultimately it was agreed to form a Miuers Association, similar in constitution to other associations among Otago miners.

The ' Cromwell Argus' is informed that two pounds weight of gold, of the value of £9O sterling, was obtained a few days ago by two men working in one of the tunnel claims at Pipeclay Gully. This was the result of three weeks work; but it is only right to add thai) a considerable amount of dead-work had to be accomplished before the auriferous lode was struck. The party alluded to have now a fair prospect of obtaining good returns for a length of time to come. The rumored discovery of copper near Mount Watkin, Waikouaiti, has been fully confirmed. Some twelve months ago Mr William Heckler, a miner, found specimens of copper. He himself did not know anything about copper mining, but got Messrs Elias Nankivell and "William and John Clyma, natives of Cornwall, and who had had an almost lifelong experience in copper, tin, and lead mines, to take part in the search for copper ore. Since that time the whole four have been more or less engaged in the search —being confident, from tbe indications which they found, that copper existed in abundance in the vicinity. They lately found the long searched for lode, which they are sanguine, from surface appearances, is a large and payable one. The lode on the surface of .tbe ground is from 18 to 'lO feet in width, and consists of what is known as " gossan," intermixed with oxide of copper, and yellow, grey, and green copper ore. It gives what is considered by the party to be every appearance of payable ore below. They also think it not improbable that they may come upon tin or lead. They have received protection from the Waste Lands Board, and have set to work to put down a trial shaft.