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THE LYELL.

" Hope deferred maketh the heart sick," is a proverb that may well be applied to the miners and mining community of this district. It is now close on twelve months since the rich crush* ings of the Little Wonder claim drew public attention to the quartz mountains in and around the Lyell, and during that time numbers of men have been

and are still employed, endeavouring to wrest from the bowels of the earth, its hidden riches. " Hope" has been and is still the guiding star of these Stalwart sous of toil, the hope of becoming independent men, the hope of returning home to kindred and country with the proceeds of their toil, or the hope of being enabled to realise sufficient to purchase for themselves and families a home in this, the land of their adoption. The hope of being able to accomplish these and other praiseworthy objects has been the stimulus exciting the best energies of these men during the lust twelve months. Waking and sleeping their thoughts and their dreams may all be condensed into that one little word " hope." The hope of a rich return from the first crushing. Hope however, will not fill a digger's stomach, or clothe his back. To do this something more substantial is required, and these substantial in the shape of food and clothing have more or less been procured through the medium of credit, or as it is termed in digging parlance "on tick," so that while their prospects in the j .future have been cheered by "hope," their bodies have been fed and clothed in the present "on tick." Truly a miserable state of existence this has been, and particularly the case with men working in the Excelsior claim. These men, some of them at all events, have been working, and working hard, for the last seven months without seeing hardly a penny of their hard earned wages The arrangements, (if I am rightly informed, and I believe I am) made by the company with these men, was that they were to work until the crushing, and if the crushing turned out well the men would be paid out of the proceeds. So far so good, provided the crushing turned out well, but such has not been the result, and now the men that have been working iu "hope," and existing "on tick" find that hope has deserted them and tick has followed suit. The company it is true has 'magnanimously offered them a composition or instalment of four shillings in the pound, and of course out of this magnificent sum the storekeepers, bakers, and butchers, will each and all naturally look for and expect their share, while the labor, wear and tear of mind and body of the miner count nothing in the balance. Such is the present situation of the miners lately working for the Excelsior company, and I am sorry to say that many other companies on the Alpine hill are conducted on exactly similar principles. That such a state of affairs should exist amongst a community located on British or Colonial soil, is greatly to be deplored, and in the interests of the public welfare calls for some interference at the hands of our legislature. The system is rotten to its very core, and unless immediate and active measures are adopted either by the miners themselves, the shareholders in the different companies, the trading community, or by legislative enactment, it will ere long collapse, bringing in its train poverty and ruin to all those engaged or interested in quartz mining pursuits. Nine out of ten engaged in or interested in quartz mining on the West Coast are mere tyros, and in order to protect these men and the public it would be as well if the Government procured at once the services of a competent Mining Inspector to examine and report on every quartz claim in the district. A man upon whose opinion the public could rely, and the working miner put suffi cieut faith in to enable Mm to make such arrangements with his employers as would at all events give him a fair chance of receiving in due time his hard earned wages

The result of the late crushiugs of the Alpine and Excelsior claims have cast a gloom over the mining community here, but those who really knew aud were thoroughly versed in quartz matters never expected anything different. Neither of these companies was ever possessed of sufficient capital to enable the claims to be worked in a systematic manner, or possessed proper crushing machinery at their command The companies have also been both organised upon an ineffectual and unwise footing, which is proved by the present unsatisfactory position of them both.

Fortunately for all those concerned in the welfare of the district we have quartz claims upon the Alpine hill about the richness of which there can be no mistake, and amongst these are the Little Wonder, the Maruia, the Break-o'-day, the Monte Christo, and Maloney's prospecting claim. The stone now being brought to the surface from each of these claims is in some case remarkably rich, and beyond a doubt each and all will give ample returns for the money spent and labor expended upon them. There are other claims upon the lull besides these I have mentioned that contain gold bearing quartz, but whether of sufficient richness to pay for its extraction, is a matter that ere long will be satisfactorily settled, and at present may fairly be left to the consideration of those more immediately concerned.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WEST18730930.2.11

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Westport Times, Volume VII, Issue 1111, 30 September 1873, Page 2

Word count
Tapeke kupu
930

THE LYELL. Westport Times, Volume VII, Issue 1111, 30 September 1873, Page 2

THE LYELL. Westport Times, Volume VII, Issue 1111, 30 September 1873, Page 2

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