Mintaro Railway
MINTARO RAILWAY, January 25. The house of Mr. J. J. Kelly was entered yesterday by a burglar, supposed to be a swagman going south, and a noteworthy fact is that he took only 10s. out of 13s. in silver. Two single £l-notes were also close by in a book. He helped himself liberally to bread and jam, tea, sugar, &c., but none of the household property was damaged, and most of the articles were in order. Two hundred bags of wheat for the distressed farmers have been delivered at the railway station by Mr. J. M.Sandow. The sample is clean and plump, and considered good. Chaffcutting is becoming general.
Fire at Mintaro
FIRE AT MINTARO. MINTARO, August 29. — Mr. G. Montgomery’s store was burnt to the ground last night. Nothing is known as to how the fire originated. It obtained such a hold and so quickly that absolutely nothing was saved. The fire was first discovered about 9 p.m. The store was not closed, and Mr. Montgomery, was in the parlor at the back when he discovered clouds of smoke coming from the direction of the shop. He had just time to run up stairs and get his little boy out of his cot when the whole place burst into one sheet of flame. The safe was open at the time and the books and cheques were all destroyed. The place was insured, but Mr. Montgomery will be a heavy loser. Much sympathy is felt throughout the district for him and his family. An inquest will be held to-morrow afternoon.
FIRE AT MINTARO
FIRE AT MINTARO. MINTARO, August 29. — Mr. G. Montgomery’s store was burnt to the ground last night. Nothing is known as to how the fire originated. It obtained such a hold and so quickly that absolutely nothing was saved. The fire was first discovered about 9 p.m. The store was not closed, and Mr. Montgomery, was in the parlor at the back when he discovered clouds of smoke coming from the direction of the shop. He had just time to run up stairs and get his little boy out of his cot when the whole place burst into one sheet of flame. The safe was open at the time and the books and cheques were all destroyed. The place was insured, but Mr. Montgomery will be a heavy loser. Much sympathy is felt throughout the district for him and his family. An inquest will be held to-morrow afternoon.
Mutual Improvement Society
Mintaro, July 13.— The opening social in connection with the Mintaro Mutual Improvement Society was held in the institute last Friday evening. The building was well filled, and an enjoyable programme was presented. A pianoforte duet by the Misses Talbot and Mortimer opened the entertainment; then followed an address from the president, the Rev. W. A. Langsford. Mr. Fitzgerald recited a selection from ‘Othello,’ Miss E. Fry sang ‘In old Madrid,’ Miss Tickle sang ‘The blue Alsatian mountains,’ while Miss Priaulx had to respond to an imperative encore for her singing of ‘Waiting.’ The proceedings were concluded by comic recitations from Messrs. Fitzgerald and Beal.—On Monday evening, at the Mintaro Wesleyan Church, the Rev. J. Young Simpson, on behalf of the home missions, delivered a lecture entitled ‘Crotchety grumblers.’ Mr. Fitzgerald recited ‘Little Dombey’s death’ and ‘The bridge of sighs.’
OPENING OF MINTARO MUTUAL IMPROVEMENT SOCIETY
Mintaro, July 13.— The opening social in connection with the Mintaro Mutual Improvement Society was held in the institute last Friday evening. The building was well filled, and an enjoyable programme was presented. A pianoforte duet by the Misses Talbot and Mortimer opened the entertainment; then followed an address from the president, the Rev. W. A. Langsford. Mr. Fitzgerald recited a selection from ‘Othello,’ Miss E. Fry sang ‘In old Madrid,’ Miss Tickle sang ‘The blue Alsatian mountains,’ while Miss Priaulx had to respond to an imperative encore for her singing of ‘Waiting.’ The proceedings were concluded by comic recitations from Messrs. Fitzgerald and Beal.—On Monday evening, at the Mintaro Wesleyan Church, the Rev. J. Young Simpson, on behalf of the home missions, delivered a lecture entitled ‘Crotchety grumblers.’ Mr. Fitzgerald recited ‘Little Dombey’s death’ and ‘The bridge of sighs.’
Late Mr James Torr
THE LATE MR. JAMES TORR, OF MINTARO. Another early colonist, Mr. James Torr, of Mintaro, died last week. He came to South Australia in the year 1847 and settled in the neighborhood of Mintaro. His name was well known in the colony as a prominent land owner. His kindness and liberality to his tenants won for him a large amount of esteem. Many years ago he contested the district of Stanley with the late Sir G. S. Kingston and Mr. Bright, but was unsuccessful. A large gathering of friends from various parts of the colony assembled to witness the funeral ceremony at Mintaro on Saturday last.
Obituary James Torr
THE LATE Mr. JAMES TORR. Another of the early colonists has passed away in the person of Mr. James Torr, of Mintaro, who died at his residence on Thursday evening. November 15. He came to South Australia in 1847, and perhaps few men have been more familiar with the vicissitudes of early colonial life than he was. He had had large experience in mining, both in Devonshire and Cornwall, as well as in Spain. Shortly after his arrival he went to the Burra Mine, and helped to develop what was at one time regarded as the mainstay of the colony. When the gold fever was at its height he visited the Victorian gold fields, and was one of the fairly lucky ones. Returning to South Australia, he settled in the neighbourhood of Mintaro and entered into farming pursuits, connecting with them the management of the Devonshire Hotel, Mintaro, at one time recognised as one of the finest hostelries north of Adelaide. In the early days of the auction sales of land he was a frequent visitor at the Land Office, and there are not many counties in South Australia in which he has not had land at one time or another. He had been known for many years as one of the largest landowners in the colony, and his kindness and liberality to his tenants wore proverbial. Once or twice he was asked to contest the District of Stanley, where he was best known, but his opponents proved too strong for him. Mr. Torr was married twice. His only son is dead, but he has several grandchildren, to whom the larger share of his extensive estates has been left. Dr. Torr (of Way College), Mr. Sydney Torr (of Farrell’s Flat), and Mr. Joseph Tickle (of Mintaro) are the executors of his will, and they have appointed Messrs. Fleming, Boucaut, & Ashton as their solicitors. A very large gathering of friends from the Burra, Clare, Auburn, and surrounding districts assembled at the Mintaro Cemetery on Saturday to follow the remains to their last resting-place.
Coal Bore
Coal-Bore. — The work at the Mintaro coal-bore is going on satisfactorily, and hopes are entertained that payable coal will be struck. We are informed that all the shares have been taken up, and that holders have no inclination to sell.
SARAH CHEWINGS, DEATH NOTIFICATION
CHEWINGS —On the 17th December, at her residence, Flinders-street, Kent Town, Sarah, widow of the late John Chewings, of Mintaro in her 71st year.
MINTARO GOLDFIELDS
MINTARO GOLDFIELDS. The Government Geologist, on Wednesday, forwarded to the Commissioner of Crown Lands a report regarding the gold-diggings in the Hundred of Stanley, near Mintaro. Mr. Brown says: — “The bed rocks consist of sandstone, quartzite, clay, sandy and calcareous slates, kaolinized slates, and sandstones, blue crystalline, and yellow limestone, striking north and north-north-east, and dipping invariably to the westward at various angles from 30° to nearly vertical. The sandstone and quartzite beds occupy the highest portions of the hills and ridges, the slates and soft slaty rocks the valleys, the same beds apparently recurring in more or less parallel lines, owing probably to the presence of a series of meridional faults, some of the lands of kaolinized slate or mudstone are dark blue or black in colour owing to their containing a small percentage of carbon. In the adjoining Hundred of Clare, Section 306, a shaft as been sunk through one of these beds under the supposition that a coal seam was likely to be found. There is no probability, however, that such will be found in these rocks. The sandstone and quartzite are penetrated to a small extent by horizontal and inclined quartz veins and veins of brown iron ore mixed with quartz, which probably may be auriferous in some cases. Besides these there are irregular quartz and ferruginous veins traversing the softer slates, which veins may also contain gold. A vein of calcspar and ferrocalcite also occurs in one place. “Resting on the upturned edges of the bed rocks here and there in outlying cappings are patches of ironstone, ironstone and quartz conglomerate, and quartz pebble drift of tertiary age, similar to the older gold drift of the Barossa and Echunga diggings. On Sections 115 and 116 these cappings are specially noticeable, filling in one place on the latter section a deep ‘gutter’ in the kaolinized slate and sandstone bed rock. They are outlying portions of a wide area of tertiary formation, spreading over the country from Gawler northwards. Geological sections showing it are frequent in the neighbourhood of Hamley Bridge, and between that place and Stockport. It is very probable that these drifts will be found to contain gold, and that some portions will be payably auriferous. “The alluvial gold diggings are on Section 2153 and a small reserve adjoining it. The workings are in a gully flat on a low rise adjoining the gully and in a creek into which the gully runs. The gold is found on two bottoms, viz.—in the surface loam and gravel, which extends to the depth of from 6 in. to a foot or two and in the red clay and wash beneath which rests on the bedrock. Some of the gold is considerably water worn, some but slightly so and exhibiting traces of the original crystallization. Nuggets of a few ounces have been found. It is of unusually good quality. On Section 2159 a small quantity of gold has been obtained from the first bottom and colours are reported to have been obtained on Sections 124, 116, and others. No large or well defined quartz reefs or igneous dykes are visible on this field, although they may exist and be hidden beneath the deep covering of soil and alluvium which prevails here. It is possible that the gold found has been derived from small kaolin and ironstone veins similar to those in which it has been found to occur at Echunga. The rock formations of the district generally are favourable to the occurrence of gold. Places where there are cappings of tertiary gravel and conglomerate, as well as the gullies and creeks, where favourable conditions for prospecting exist, may be tested all over the district with a reasonable hope of finding other auriferous areas.”