The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-02 00:00:00

GOLD IN WALES.

A tourist, writing on the depreciation of geld,
says—During the last 12 months it has not unfre-
quently happened that the question of gold in Wales
has been discussed over the dinner table, and the
conflicting opinions that have been expressed have
certainly seemed most puzzling. Here and there
some one has been found bold enough to assert that
gold producing mines were actually being worked
at a high profit in Cambria, but for the most part
the whole effair has been pooh-poohed as an ideal
absurdity, while a few have been heard to say that
although it was a well known fact that auriferous
ore existed, yet this circumstance was of no prac-
tical value, because the expense of obtaining the
small quantity of precious metal it contained was
so great as to render it useless to think of work-
ing it. I was, therefore, glad of the opportunity
afforded me of judging for myself, and I can only
say that for the future, if ever the subject is again
discussed in my presence, I shall be able to assert
from the evidence of my own senses-1. That gold
abounds in Wales ; 2. That with means already at
their disposal, mine proprietors have produced con-
siderable quantities of the precious metal; and 3.
That when the appliances of advancing science
shall have simplified and other wise improved the
modus operandi, it is next to impossible to over esti-
mate the results. The mine to which I would make
earliest reference (for I saw three) was, I was told,
originally a copper mine, and is still called the Vigra
and Colgan Copper Company. It is situated about
five miles from Doigelly, and in the direct road from
that place to Barmouth. An ordinary traveller
would pass by without observing the little road that
leads up to the mine. A short distance up this road
are the works, They seemed to consist of a few
rudely-constructed workshops or offices, a large en-
closed shed, within which the sound of machinery
was heard, and an enomous water-wheel; add to this
a wooden bridge, very roughly constructed, extend-
ing from these works to a hill close by ; heaps hero
and there of earth and quartz and material of various
kinds ; a few, very few, workmen, and the Vigra and
Clogan Works, as a casual observer would notice
them, are described. The gentleman through whose
kindness I was permitted to explore this interesting
place requested that I might be allowed to see some
of the ore which the mine has produced, and Was
still producing. A piece of quartz was handed to
me for my inspection, studded all over with
gold ;
,
and one of the practical people there informed Thr,
that this piece, which weighed about 7 lbs., --con-
tained at least 12 ozs. of gold ; that is, I believe,
quantity that would realise at the Bank a
-
about £46. This undoubtedly, of England
was an exceptionally
and such
taken from a
valuable piece of quartz, but i
rich shoot of auriferous matter,
frequently found in the mine, On inquiry I heard that
such shoots are
the richest of the ore worked had yielded as much
as 778 ozs. of gold per ton, and
that a quantity of
17 tons 11 cwts. had yielded
358 ozs. 4 dwts. 6,182 ozs. 4 dwts., or
per ton, While even of the poorest
ore 892 tons produced 9
6
6
eze of gold, or 11 oz. p©r
ton, a quantity, I believe, far beyond what is neces-
sary to yield lucrative returns. Indeed, I have been
continental mines—in Hungary,
for example—material
of an ounce to containing only the quarter
sults. The same the
ton is worked with profitablere-
anee in the noie,e precious material exists in abund
mhbourhood of the Vigra and Clogan
The 'West Clcgan Mining Company very
near, and the works of which I had also the advan-
tage of seeing, is commencing operations- Butz the
most striking development of auriferous quart in
the neighbourhood appears on a property known as
Berthllwyd, or Cefn Coch, about as far from Dal-
gelley as the Vigra and novo. Hero
some an auriferous
s
quartz lode appears on the surface, in place
many feet in width, and upon which repeated ex-
periments with the Britten amalgamating machine
This belongs, it appears, to the
have been made.
West Clegan Gold 3lining Company. The experi-
ments made are asserted to:have yielded from 3 to
10 ozs. to the ton. I was very glad in looking over
this mining property to hear an independent opinion
of its value from Mr. Warrington Smyth, the min-
ing engineer of the Woods and Forests,--Merioneth-
shire Herald.

//ar r-
sCEILESWIG-SOLSTEIN. 4,,:-".lk----7 -1)-- -igglir.r'\4..-,
. iiftq.ig.
The Swedish Minister of Foreign Affai :
.c,. '7444-4,.; ' i..,4
Manderstrom, has sent the annexed despat Pie, ~.1,.....„":z i.vt..l
Swedish diplomatic representatives at the C i 1
~........Ph-Wi, laV;(4,
the Great Powers:—
" The telegraph yest.erdaY brought us the Intel=.
ki .11 S
ligenco that the Prince Of Augustenburg, since his
father had renounced his et'eolared right, had issued
a proclamation, in which he' declares that ho has
assumed the government of tht Duchies of Schles-
wig and Holstein. We were inl:nmed at the same
time that the prince of the ducal
line of Saxony
had recognised this pretender in the quality named,
and that the Grand Juke of Oldenb erg
had pro-
tested against the succession in the I.),ochies.
" All these manifestatioes are so mavdv encroach-
ments on the London Convention of Mie;" 8,
the object of 1832,
with
which was drawn up,securing
the law of succession in the kingdom of Deilmark,
and to preserve the integrity and independence of
this kingdom as nec2osary for the maintenauc 9 of
the political balance of power in Europe. The ,in-
tegrity of the Danish monarchy is seriously threk:-
toned by the attempt to tear from her the Duchy
of Schleswig, which forms one of the finest orna-
ments of this crown. The independence of this
monarchy suffers under a not less dangerous en-
croachment by the claims of the German princes
to decide on tt.e fate of the Duchy of Schleswig,
which at any time neither belonged to the Roma,
' empire nor to the German Bond.
1 " There is no longer any question of Federal
execution in one of the provinces belonging to this
body of States, but of measures for the detachment
of the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein from the
Danish Crown in favour of an apanaged German
prince. We doubt not that this question will came
before the German Federal Diet, which certainly
might be misled to attribute to itself the power of
dealing single-handed with the fate of a non-
German country.
" Under these circumstances the King's Govern,*
ment, as a signatory of the London Congentiont,
holds itself authorised to inform the Governnaents;
which signed that treaty what are its intentions in
this matter. It cannot for a moment entertain the
idea that one of these Governments intends to re- ,
nounce the obligations so solemnly undertaken; but
it considers that it would bo by no means fruitless
that the Powers-signatory should come to an under-
standing respecting the course to be pursued, and
the measures to be taken, to prevent the despoiling
of a prince whose right has been recognised by
balance of them, and to set aside the dangers which threaten
the
power in the European body politic.
‘i
I request you to read this despatch to the Mi-
nister for Foreign Affairs and to aye a copy, and
also at the same time to say that the' King's Go-
vernment hopes to .receive in reply an expl'ession of
views entertained on this important subject.—
Receive, &c„
" MANDERSTROM."

question came on for
The Schleswig-Holstein BERLIN, Dec. 1.
debatetodayiiraark. readnstheCha a declaration, Chamber of Deputies.
Herr von B
contain-
ing the following passages :
"However greatly the signature of the London
Treaty may be considered to deserve regret, pru-
dence and the dictates of honour forbid our per-
mitting any doubt to be entertained of our fidelity
to its stipulations. We require, however, its equal
observance by Denmark. The Treaty of London
and the arrangements of 1851 and 1852 must stand
or fall together. Abnegation of their stipulations
would remove Schleswig from the position she oc-
cupies in virtue of the treaty.
"The Government must reserve to itself the right
to determine whether, and at what period, we may
be placed in a position, by the universally undoubted
non-fulfilment of her obligations by Denmark, to
free ourselves from the London Treaty. It can
neither leave the decision to the Federal Diet, nor
enter into more explicit explanations upon the sub-
ject here.
"We have come to an understanding with .Ans-
tria, which secures for the present our iden lical
attitude with regard to the Treaty of London and
its consequences.
" We consider that in the duchy of Lauenburg
King Christian is entitled to the succession, icicle-
pendently of the treaty, but that his title to Hol-
stein rests upon the London Treaty and the arrange-
ments of 1851 and 1852, which we believe to be
intimately connected.
"As long as the Treaty of London remains in
force, the reasons for carrying into operation the
Federal execution, determined by the resolutions of
the Ist of October, condone to exist. Austria and
Prussia have proposed to the Diet that this measure
should forthwith be carried out, and will make the
necessary military arrangements for the purpose.
Bills will be laid before the Chamber to proride
such funds as may be required."

Royal Institute Hof British Architects.

At the meeting of the members of this institute,
on Monday evening--. Mr. Christian, one of the
vice-presidents, in the chair—a paper was read by-
Mr. Penrose on the proposed adoption of the French
system of weights and measures. Mr. Penrose ob-
served that in the last session of Parliament a peti-
tion was presented from the council of the Institute
of British Architects, in favour of the bill for the
session, he
adoption of metrical measures, and as the bill would
be introduced again in the ensuing
thought it desirable that the members of the insti-
tute should reconsider the question
before they
committed themselves to the recommendation of
that plan. He said they must all
agree it would be
of great advantage that a uniform
sures should be introdu d system of mea-
sures , to do away with the
many anomalies at
present
parts of the country, and existing in different
among different trades.
If, by the interference
or Parliament,
unifor-
mity could be obt • lament, such
alned it
the present mode of I would greatly simplify
ealcul-,-
in favour, also, of .Ltons. He was strongly
adopting
might be so
sion its devised as not to produce much confu-
sion first introduction and, when the public
became familiarisedfcity with it, would afford great
to the calculations. With regard, however,
metri in all
cal
on system, he thought it objectionable
several a
accounts. The metre, which is equal to
39.37 English inches, he considered too large ft
Standard for general purposes, and its adoption in
this country would involve the use of a greater
number
of figures in dealing with the quantities
Usually required, and would thus complicate instead
of facilitating computations. The standard of the
metre was adopted in France on the assumption that a
it represented a fixed measure of a given part of
meridian of the earth's surface, from which there
could be no deviation; but the assumed figure of
the earth on which that standard was bd is nowo
considered to be erroneous; therefore, the reason
' for its adoption no longer exists. In the plan,
of decimal measures proposed by Mr. Pen.
' rose, the present eighth part of an inch would.
form the standard. Ten such parts would con..
' stitute a foot, which measure, to avoid confusion, be
• called a " span." Three spans would make one yard
measure, which would then closely approximate to
▪ the metre. He explained at some length the opera.
' tion of such a mode of measurement, to prove that
it would very much simplify all calculations, an.
iN
would be less of a change from the pr '
present 11E11)41
' than the introduction of the metrical system. Fur.•
ther consideration of the subject was )
a subsequent meeting. A paper was then role
to
Mr. White on the restoration of N nen read by
in the Forest of Dean. The chum-land Church
1236, since which time it had church was built in.
enlargements and alteratione Undergo-
" many
example of the old counti .-
and it forms a fine
It was in a state of
gm; ,t
Ohurches of England.
White undertook to resto3 dilapidation when Mr.
account of the work d r`'-'it, rlnd he gave a minute
edifice, whiel *ii 111 e 'll Tal.;° '
1 Nr,as tuuFtrm ,1 -- us parts of the
tions, and plans. He (( with drawings, sec-
experienced in coT mentioned the difficulty. ho
em-
ployed persisting, contrary
nee of the workmen em-
stroying the oldg'• contrary to instructions, in de-
One of the
polishing up ef instances of this vandalism was th
of Which the two recumbent Effigies to the hands
mason had supplied fingers, and he
had also supplied a wanting nose. One of the
honorary secretaries—who had seen the church
before andsince its restoration—bore ample testi-
mony to the satisfactory ieunner in which it had
been effected. After a short discussion, the meeting
atlioUtlio o. :o ,t a t 11 h " ins:, -

ng 1/4 -o;Alkwaabi, c-;;NUit