468
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
1ST Y. O.
2ND Y. O. (aside) Ah! Fickle ballast!
}
(Enter a Launch and Three Voices) 1ST VOICE. My hair is but in sorry plight,
And steeped in salt.
[June 4, 1896.
crushing *T,064 tons, yielding 500 ozs. of melted gold.
Caloining Works.--This was run continuously during the month, treating 40 tons of concen- trates for a yield of 96 oz. 5 dwts. of melted
2ND VOICE-A horrid thing, with slimy touch did gold. You will notice that the yield per ton is
sting me,
Where at I screamed and left the water. Methinks 'tis called a jelly fish.
much lower than was the case last month, but this is accounted for by the fact that we are
3RD VOICE-They're but too common. Ho! varlet; not concentrating nearly so closely as hitherto,
and thus allowing of larger quantities going. to the cyanide works.
Tea and bread and butter.
(Exeunt Launch and Voices).
1ST Y. O.-It being gone, I am a man again. Behold! What venerable formu is this. Which comes with sad and mournful air, Decrep't with age?
"Hun Yin-Matri- a wife for one's son; mony, Bridegroom and Bride, the Matrimonial Couple, Marriage; Hun-Marriage, a Bride- groom (see Matrimony.)" We accordingly turn. to the index to "see matrimony," and we don't see it. The book has been issued in weekly parts, and apparently without any scheme of arrange- ment whatsoever, as regards the "notes," ex- cept that of filling up so many pages. The notes represent possibly the collection of all that has struck General Mesny as interesting throughout a long course of years, and they appear to have been thrown promiscuously into a drawer as they were made and taken out again by the handful when required for the printer.. If some one endowed with moderate discretion were to go carefully through the book to elimi-OLD nate all that is worthless and to arrange syste- matically what is worth retaining the result might be valuable, but in its present form the Miscellany is not likely to fulfil its purpose of supplying a standard authority on things Chinese. Some interest, however, attaches to "The Life and Adventures of a British Pioneer in China," being Colonel Mesny's personal recollections given in serial form, an instalment appearing in each number.
MEANDERINGS OF A MELANCHOLY MANIAC.
THE WEATHER,
(Inspired by William Shakespeare).
Act. I. Scené I. Á bar in a club.
Enter four Tipplers, attendants, etc. Time, October. (Storm without).
187 TIPPLER.-For nigh two months the heavens
are o'ercast.
The rains descend in such untimely showers, That Tytan near o'erflows his hanks.
2ND T.-Prithee, drink'st thou?
3RD T.-I drink.
4TH T.--Signest thou?
1ST T.-Hold! See'st thou yon aged man,
Whose snowy locks and heard bear evidence Unto the numbrous, years he's spent on earth; Methinks he'll sign.
(Enter the Oldest Inhabitant of II— K~) OLD. INHAB.-Rain! Rain! Rain!
For four and fifty years I've walked this isle, And yet mine eyes have not beheld such weather.
Gadzooks! Is't not October? and no rain Should come to spoil our pleasures. 1ST T.-Tersely thou speakest! Yet 'tis thirsty weather. 2ND T. 3RD T. 4th T.
:
-It is! That is not exceptional!
OLD. INHAB -Give me the book. What ho! Varlet!
Wine for these gentlemen. (They drink.) It rains, my fair young friends, but yet Know that this weather in unusual. And staying in H-K- for three score years. You might not see such rain in sweet October
(Alarum without But hark! The gentle gong calls us to feed, And perfumed odours of the mashed, minced, Boi'ed, chipped, baked,-ay! and Lyonnaise, Do greet my nostrils.
(Exit Old. Inhab.) 1ST TIP.-What weird old man was that?
Methinks these storms do lie upon his mind But heavily.
(Enter Olicst Inhabitant). INHAB-For five and fifty years I've walked
this isle,
-
And yet mine eyes have not beheld snch weather. Behold! 'Tis June, and sunny weather still prevails.
Much rain and south-west wind should now Keep us indoors by rights.
1sr Y.O.-Bird of ill omen! Tis Thou,
Who woulds't ordain what wind should blow, And whether sun should shine.
Whate'er the state of nature's elements Thou say'st thou hast not seen the like For five and fifty years. Sick unto death I am Of your unusual weather. Die! Croaker.
(Old. Inhab, is slain). And now we'll bide no more By what the weather should be
But by what it is.
Farewell my friends. Next year
A truce to protests and unfriendly bickerings About each other's boats;
It is not worthy of ns.
(Curtain.) FINIS
Freunt 3 Y. 0..
THE PUNJOM MINING CO.,
LIMITED.
The Secretary of the Punjom Mining Co., Limited, advises us that he has received the following progress report for April from the Manager at the Mine
Mining. This has continued to have our best attention and I am pleased to say good progress has been made. Our prospects are still fairly good and unless something unusual hap. pens, our output of gold, for some time at least, should be such as will give a fair profit on the cost of working.
August shaft, 200ft. level. This point has again had a good deal of attention and some of the faces look encouraging. So far, however, Gillies' reef has not shown that improvement I had reason to hope for.
We are still extending the north drive and ran- ning out crosscuts to make sure that nothing is being missed. We are also driving south on the course of the north and south reef, but so far without finding anything of value.
Winzes have been sunk from the Intermedi. ate to this level for convenience of working and two parties of men are now engaged stoping out ore for the mill. On the course of the east and west reef we are prospecting for the continua tion of the western chute of ore, and although we have found small patches of reef which may pay to stope, ont directly, we have not met with the chute referred to. To test this immediately we have now a winze coming down from the Intermediate on the course of the ore chute, (Alarums and excursions.) which cannot fail to tell us what, if anything, has happened to it and why it is not found where expected.
2ND TIP.-His name know not, but I do believe,
More years he's spent in this sad isle
Than others. He knoweth well the weather, Or what by rights it should be,
At its diverse seasons.
I
go to dine, 'tis tim».
(Curtain.)
3RD TIP-Anon! (Exeunt.)
Act. II. Scene. A sea shore.
Enter three Yacht Owners. Tune, June. 1ST Y. 0.-A pleasant breeze doth blow.
I would I had not put in dock
My boat, that with snowy wings to-day, Hadst hurtled through the waters, Carrying enormous spinaker.
2ND Y. 0. (aside) Ay! Too enormous.
3RD Y. 0.
1ST Y. 0.-Do all the boats lie idle?
2ND Y. 0.-My boat doth rest on sand,
Her pai it so old and cracked that yesterday
I could scarce discern her water line.
1ST Y. O. { (aside) What wonder!
2ND Y. O.
often.
It changeth
3RD Y. O.-My boat likewise ashore, bereft of sails,
Spars, ropes, and ballast lies.
Intermediate Level.-We continue to draw largely on this point for our supply of ore and, I am pleased to say, we seem to have a very large quantity in reserve. At present the ore body is fully 15 feet wide in places and looks strong enough to go to any depth,
110 feet Level. There is no change to report
here.
New Leader. This continues a busy point and is still giving a fairly large quantity of ore for the mill, It will do so for some time to
come.
Drivage for the mouth....... Ore mined
made up as follows:-
August Shaft...
New Leader
490 ft. 6 in. 1,064 tons.
558 tons, 506 tons.
*
Cyanide Works Work here has now begun on a large scale and although, for reasons given in my weekly letters, it is not yet running full time, Mr. Wilson succeeded in treating 610 tons. He is now busy with the clean up, and will have it completed in a few days. He hopes for a fairly good result.
General. A great deal of attention has been given to the various works coming under this ` head, and I am pleased to say that fair progress has again been made. Four more buddles have been added (making six in all) to our concentrating plant and the foundation timbers for the 9 in. plunger (tailings) pump have been squared and brought on the mine. The water wheel has come up river and most of the parts are now on the mine. The race from the mill. to the main dam may be said to be practically finished, and the tail race from the Jalis River toj
the mill is in a very forward state. This work has been much interfered with by the heavy rains we have been getting during the past fortnight. I need not tell you that I am looking forward to the time when the water wheel will be ready for work with much in- terest, as not only will it effect a very great saving in firewood, but will take us out of the worry and trouble consequent on having to handle such large quantities of that article during wet weather, when our roads are little better than a mire.
A brick kiln has been built for our use here and a melting house put up for the use of the cyanide chemist.
Road making has been pushed on into the jungle for bringing out firewood and other timbers and the whole of the mine workings securely fenced in.
Labour. I regret to say the supply of this has fallen off very considerably and I fear we may suffer greatly in this direction for some time owing to the drain caused by the making of the road from Kuala Kubu to Kwala Lipis by
he Government.
The strong measures we have taken and are still carrying out to suppress gold stealing are no doubt a large factor in preventing labour from coming in.
The camp is healthy, payments are made promptly, and the greatest care taken of the work people, as evidenced by the small percentage of accidents. Of course I need not tell you that the labour supply of the state of Pahang is not nearly up to the demand, and if further proofs were necessary, I need only point out that in making the cart road from Raub to Kwala Lipis the Government have been compelled to adopt the old system of forcing the beadmen of the various districts to supply men for the work. It goes without saying that this cuts off the supply available hitherto to companies and others carrying on
work here.
Health. This may be said to be fairly good. Rainfall.-Total for the month is 74 inches.
The Independent says that one of the greatest acts of injustice that. China perpetrated in Korea was the keeping of Pyong Yang closed. to foreign trade. Its opening is of prime im- portance, because it is the ontlet of certain kinds of produce not found largely elsewhere, especially lumber and coal. It may turn out that Pyeng Yang coal is not good steaming coal, though we imagine it has not been given a fair trial, but even so it would take its place in the markets of Tientsin, Chefoo, Shanghại, and the Korean ports as a magnificent stove coal and thus would prove a great blessing to foreigners as well as a considerable source of income to the Government. It seems to our contemporary that every month that Pyeng Yang is kept closed is doing an injustice to the mosti vigorous, enterprising, and successful
Milling. This was carried on during 27 days, | portion of Korea,
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