QUARTZ.

Westport Times, Volume VII, Issue 1136, 26 December 1873, Page 4

QUARTZ.

[westport evening stab.]

Tue successful floating of the public ' quartz crushing company at Reefton ' indicates not only that the financial • condition of the Inangabua district is

still irrepressibly buoyant, even after ■ a prolonged season of depression, but f that the older residents have never : lost faith in the bright future of the ■ Sdistriet. The fact that the 20,000 ten shilling shares, representing the nominal capital of the company, were literally rushed for, and that' 30,000 might have been disposed of, gives sterling proof of unbounded faith in the value of the quartz reefs as a • source of untold wealth. The situation of the proposed works will command the Golden Ledge, Keep-it-Dark, Hercules, Enterprise, Vulcan, - and other mines on Adam Smith's i line; and also the United Band of Hope, Victoria, North Star, Phoenix, Inglewood, and other claims, on Kelly's line. The motive power of the machinery, which will be powerful and perfect in its kind, being drawn from the Inangahua, at a site to the southward of the Wealth of Nations crushing mill. In thus affording long needed crushing power for the more important claims in the district it does

not follow that public enterprise will . rest content with this one effort. The v mere fact that the various companies will be relieved of the great responsibility of each obtaining crushing power for their own quarcz, will give an impetus to a more systematic opening up of the mines, and success in one direction will lead to the trial of virgin soil in mauy of her localities throughout the district and the consequent floating of other associations for crushing all stone brought to their mills. Thus the speedy development of a very wide area of quartz-bearing country may be •anticipated as contingent upon the successful issue of the present effort. Coming nearer home it may not be

deemed an indulgence in too sanguine hope to predict that Westport speculators will at no distant date find it worth their while to erect quartz crushing machinery within a short distance of their town boundaries. The railway line once opened to the Ngakawbau it will tap much likely looking quartz country, and give the means of cheap transit for quartz from the mines to the mill. The never wearying thud of the stampers, borne upon the air, will not be the least satisfactory sound of bustling and profitable industry to be aroused when the long talked of railway is completed.