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MINING IN THE NORTHERN '
TKRRITOEY.
TO THE KDECOB.
Sir— In the first place I will state a few
facts in reference to Northern Territory
mines which have been worked recently.
At the Mount Shoobridge Tin Mine (Crook
shank & Barrottf*), which has been sold to a
Sydney Company, and on which some pros
pecting was done recently, under the
management of Mr. Clarcb, a shaft was
sunk nearly 50 feet close to the 'blow,'
where rich tin ore can be seen j but after
going down this distance and driving about
15 feet under the ' blow,' and not cutting
the lode it was left, and another shaft sunk
to the north, and followed down to a depth of
about 25 feet on the underlay, when a large
'buck reef' came in, and after going through
thia it was found that the shoot of tin had cut
or tailed out. The Manager thereupon paid off
theEuropeansandemployed Chinese, asserting
that he could not afford to employ them, and
that Chinese were quite as good as Europeans
for that purpose. After employing them for
about .a-'moQth without finding the lode he
abandoned the ground, and returned to
Sydney, leaving the selection to take care of
itself. ..Now I think that a Cornish miner
would either have driven from where the
'buck-reef cut the ahoot oat or else have
eunk another thaft in order to teat it. ThiB
is the way in which the gold reefs were
'tailed' out and in which they have been
' picked np' again, while in 1873 some were
abandoned- in the; same way. Another in
stance is on. the McKinlay River, where
several shafts- ..were sunk and rich tin
obtained. It has been left unworked pend
ing the making of the railway to Pine Creek,
and as those Companies hold a large area of
country it tends to impoverish the whole
Territory. One of . their excuses used to be
the. : 'high . price of labour, bafc this
has become a thing of the past, as
to my knowledge in one of the above in
stances the wages given were 10s.' per day, or
supposing that a miner (European) had full
time £3 per week, and a Chinaman £1 10s.
to£L15s., and find his own rations. Thia I
consider sufficiently low for thia country.
With reference to gold-mining, certain leases
held at the Margaret, both by Europeans and
Chinese, and unworked, no rent having been
paid for two yean, were supposed to have
been forfeited, and notice to that effect was
TjostodJBi the claims. , But it waa afterwards
reported that the leaseholders were allowed
to still hold the dmim, thus preventing the
rightful parties from working them, it being
ground where the richest 'patch' of gold yet
obtained in the Territory was found. Other
instances of thia sort might bs enumerated,
but as it is unnecessary to do so at present I
?will leave those until a future time. My
object is to point out the necessity of new
mining laws, limiting the area of ground, and
also making work on same mere compulsory.
lam. Sir, &c,
. - SOUTH AUSTBALXA.
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