The Inangahua Times, PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 1883.

Inangahua Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1290, 29 August 1883, Page 2

The Inangahua Times, PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 1883.

We are informed that the returns from the Oriental battery published by us on Monday last were incorrect. The correct figures given are 86|ozs. of amalgam, from 90 tons of stone. Although we are getting well advanced into what is ordinarily regarded as the early spring season, the weather continues cold and wintry, retarding garden plant, ing, and otherwise contributing to a late spring. It is reported that there was a considerable fall of snow in the Rainy Creek district on Friday last, a fact which may be taken as the precursor of hard frosts to come. The authorities of the Colonial Bank of New Zealand are evidently desirous of cutting in for a share of the goldfiolds business on the West Coast. A branch of the bank has just been opened at Westport under the charge of Mr Arthur Todd. It ia not improbable, we believe, that the bank will also establish an agency in Reefton. Some months agqwthe secrataify*of the^ Reefton Bailway Lealpie was instructed' to write to Mr Shaw requesting him to ask the Government to make provision for a sum sufficient to open a track i through the Cannibal <^orge, and thus allow horse traffic between Reefton and Christchurch. The amount asked for was only a few hundred pounds, and it was pointed out that if such a track were opened communication between Inangahua and the East Coast would be shortened by three days. To this reasonable application Mr Shaw paid • not the slightest heed for some weeks, and a second communication having been forwarded on the subject to the Wellington member for Inangahua, he wired the following reply. " Have advisedly postponed formal reply to League, until subcommittee, now sitting, report on Cannibal Gorge route, also until Minister gives me definite reply to application for trackas promised " It is nowsome months since the sub-committee in question closed their report, but owing possibly to the great mental strain Mr Shaw has been under in regard to the Fugitive Husbands Bill, and the demand upon his time in organising pleasure excursions at the country's expense to the Terewhiti reefs, he has not yet had time to attend to the business of those who sent him to Parliament, and no reply has come to hand. The fact that the Estimates, so far as they affect the West Coast, have been passed, and contain no vote for the track in question, the promise notwithstanding, has, of couose, superseded the necessity for Mr Shaw's reply to the League, but the whole affair shows into what hands the representation of the district has fallen. The Albion Company, Terewhiti, Wellington, advertise for experienced quartz miners, the wages offered being £3 per week, with an allowance of £4 for passage money. Particulars to be obtained on application to Mr Joseph Steele, Smith and Barkley's, Reefton. The Keep-it-Dark mine is affording substantial testimony of productiveness. The number of dividends now declared has reached 45, and at the cleaning up on Saturday last the large amount of 710ozs of amalgam was taken from the plates and boxes. The stone in the mine is of immense bulk, and it would be difficult indeed to hazard a limit to the duration of its productiveness. The following have been elected directors of the Nil Desperandum Company for the current half year : — Messrs Kater, Craig, Wynn, Dykes, and Treloar It is understood that work will be resumed in the mine at once upon an extensive scale. The correspondent of a Cantmiury paper writing about Terewhiti reefs furnishes the following unique " cram " in reference to the quality of the stone there- "That there is quartz, however, there in more places than one is an undoubted, fact J that it contains gold in payable quantities has also been proved, the Golden Crown having crushed out more than any of the Reefton claims with ! the exception of the Welcome mine, the shares of which are now standing at £7 ss, while Golden Crowns are only about 18a." If the Terewhiti stone was only as rich as the paragraph in question it would be rare stuff indeed. The Golden Crown "crushed out" fifty-one tons of stone, which yielded 750z 15dwts of retorted gold, or, allowing for windage for it blows hard at Wellington' about loz per ton. Scores, if not hundreds of thousands of tons of atone have been "crushed out" by Keefton mines for an infinitely better yield. The Just-in -Time has crushed hundreds of tons yielding 4oz per ton. The largest crushing by the Phoenix gave nearly 4oz per ton. Thousands of tons have been crushed by the Hopeful, Golden Fleece, Fiery Cross, Golden Treasure and many others, yielding from 2oz to soz per ton. Try back Golden Crown, try back. There's more money in our tailings. In spite of the disagreeable state of the weather there was a very fair attendance in the Oddfellow's Hall last evening to witness the opening entertainment in aid of the '-thensemii library Fund. Uur report is unavoidably held over. A cottage situated at the rear of the State School, Keeftou, was burnt to the ground last night. The occupants, Mr and Mrs M'Carthy, were absent nt the entertainment in the Oddfellows' Hall at the time, and returned to find their home in ashes. A return has been presented to Parliament, showing all sums actually paid up to August lOlh as grants under "The

Roads and Bridges Act, 1882," for main roads. The amounts were : — Hutt County Council, I 875 15a ; Hawke's Bay County Council, 422 ; Inangahua County Council, L 152 ; Manawatu County Council, L 1205; Piako County Council, L 2090 ; West-land County Council, L 53 4; Waipawa County Council, L 525 ; Howick lioiid Board, I 75 ; Paparoa Rirad Board, L 75 ; Waipapa Road Board, L 206 : total L 6678. For district roads the amounts were : -Cambridge Highway Board^ L 1000; Hamilton Highway Board, 1.350; No. 4 Carrington Road Board, L2OO : total, L 1556. Grand total, £8228. A well known Reeftonite has been visiting the quartz mines in Tasmania and thi3 is what he says of the Tasmanian quartz mine : — lt's time to seek our hotel, where a splendid tea and fried flounders await our sharp appetites. Our host informed us that he had arranged with Mr Swanstone, the second in command at the Tasmanian mine, that we should make a visit of inspection at 8 p.m. Punctual to the time that gentleman awaited us, and after supplying each with a sperm candle we entered the mine at No. 2 tunnel. This we followed to the end — length 2, 450 ft. Returning half-way, we were lowered to the No. 3 tunnel. We were now 250 ft. below the surface. This level i«| we carefully inspected, and traced the „ erratic formation and changes in the reef. After walking some* two miles under ground, and spending two hours in the I mine, at 10 o'clock we were brought to ! the surface in a patent safety cage, having done one of the grandest gold mines in Australia. There are 184 men employed in this mine ; they work eight hours, and are off 16. When the dividend is paid on the gold brought up by us on Saturday, this* magnificent property will have paid some £277,500 in dividends to the shareholders. That furred tongue, bad tasting mouth and miserable feeling, says you need Hop Bitters. Read and believe.