WEST CANTERBURY GOLDFIELDS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1439, 22 July 1865, Page 2

WEST CANTERBURY GOLDFIELDS.

[FROM OUB COUHESPONIJFvr ; ♦ J Hokitika, July I7 j j Sr The Grey rush, the commit, of which was noticed in my lant tinued with considerable vj eor ( j the whole of last week : large mJT"" of diggers, storekeepers, and Vtf!!? have daily left this town and rounding district for that pj schooner and a smaller craft have V n ' : filled up with freight at rerrM:rif. n ' t > n prices, and have Hailed lienor; t, O Grey Township, which mmt rio ' t j lf ; confounded with the Tif latter are situated about fifteen mji north of tjpe mouth of the rivr-r are accessible by a boat tran-i't p the river, of ten miles, and a bush trv| of seven. There in what may } )f . side red in this part of the inland a rate road for drays and f»ofc gers from Hokitika to the month of the Grey—a distance of twentvr, n p miles along the beach By ' route there are only two streams of any size to be mentioned that it ; s necessary to cross ; these are, flr.it i] l( . Arahura, seven miles from Hokitika' it can be forded any time, except at the top of high water; and the Teremakau, fifteen miles from Hokitika where there are several boats for fe rrv ! ing passengers. At this river. o\v U k, to the increased traffic, it is very necesj 5 . sary that a punt of sufficient capacity to convey horses and drays should be established. ' Unless this is provider] accidents of the same kind as that which occurred here very lately and was mentioned in my last, must inevitably he the consequence. There exists no obstacle to the working of' a lar 'e flat-bottomed machine, similar to tiie one bo long in use at the Heath ?ote. The present accommodations are under no sort of control, and are conducted in the most slovenly and dangerous manner. The Grey township is on the Canterbury side of the river; the di». gings are in the province of Nel.-on. but almost inaccessible except from the sea. The " finds " which occasioned the rush were obtained in a small ravine, nam§d " Maori Gullybut the latest information, of a reliable character, informs us that gold of an almost fabulous yield has been struck in a flat of considerable extent in the immediate vicinity. One enthusiastic digger, who has returned to town on pressing business, assured me that no part of the "West Coast has turned out so much gold in a given space as this flat. Allowing for a depth of colour, not unusual in the pictures of t'ortu- ! nate diggers, there really seems to be I a very rich field in that direction, to ; which, of course, all those who have not been fortunate here will naturally flock. Freight by boat, from the 1 mouth of the Grey river to a point 1 where the bush track is intersected, is | 4s per hundredweight; the trade is so 1 lucrative that numerous boatmen, ' whom this place is overstocked, have ! taken their boats by dray. to the new El Dorado. It may be as well, for the 1 guidance of the uninitiated, to explain 1 what a bush track means. On any part of this coast, except at the embouchures of the rivers, the dense bush reaches quite down to the beach, A diggings is generally situated on or near a creek; where the creek empties itself into a river at a distance from the sea it is thickly wooded to its mouth, and almost invariably pursues a most devious course. The first explorers follow the windings of the stream, having no other guide to their destination ; and when a rush ensues, as troop follows troop of packborses and travellers, the unblazed track becomes a bottomless quagmire, unparalleled, I believe, anywhere. These tracks are the only means of communication between Hokitika, Houhou or Three-Mile, Waimea, Arahura, and Kanieri, all approached from the beach. Houhou, I think, is culled "Three-Mile," because the mouth ot the creek of that name is three miles or thereabouts by the beach troin Hokitika. The diggings are, however, from five to seven miles inland from the beach, there being two townships, the Lower and the Upper. To these places Hokitika owes its comment ement. They are, however, i^j 11 ? abandoned now ; but the surroumiim, country has not been at all e.xploj ei ,; and no doubt will prove as " payable, in digging parlance, as the a u age. After the Three-Mile? in of time came the Six-mile or H1 " another creek, the mouth oi w ' l l ' a , 1 ' seven miles from Hokitika, ;mil 1 workings about eight miles j l ' olll . l mouth. This place, though rich have been made, and though it " v ' population estimated at 200U fallen in the opinion of diggers * 1 the more recent fame ot Kainen . the Grey. It has a promising ' I 'YV O f ance, and furnishes a large_q»a nt ' > the gold sent from llokitik:i v thing remains to be said ot >> a " ~' ' if there is one road worse than :uu here, it is the road from the j ;l these diggings, which is I! 1 ' 1 ' proof of its possessing supcru • tions to some others. - already been described pretn . The yield of gold is steadily im*w- » from thence, The second hot o t exceeded the expectations or sanguine; aud, only that 1 j (H, v , k suspicion on reports ot fab ll don* I could entertain you £,l u .) till 5 ozs.,or more, being washed i dish of dirt. There cau *' o , n ?--, I|lK . r i is however, in reaffirming that > really the centre of the £° A'. At at anyv rate south ot the ' • this distance from the lattei p 1 not safe to form an °P UI ! 0 " v ie^ r , capabilities, in a digging po>" , of that part of the count') . j ( j ot newspaper here seems to tin" ' , lU y Any intelligence of the a_' i;>r in other rush, must not be the West Const Times. » w , lic h little wonder at the 'S lloll ' 1 . )lir t of seems to prevail in the eas

rtTmwin™ " to the fcffain of oui „7?e when th " onl r newspaper we cai nt trcseo' boast of supplies its wader. anything but the article it pro■faosfis to deal in news. t The domestic intelligence of Hokifika for the last week is very limited. The trial of some thirty innkeepers, for tonta* open houses till midnight,relfpd "in their discomfiture, with a SSfpiltr Com inittee an institution miliar to coldfields—liave determined that the port should be opened to the importation of catt e from any infected nr uninfected district; and that the intontions of the Government to provide for the s»fety of the port, as expressed ■ tho advertisements for a tug steamer I!f 30horse-povrer, are utterly ridiculous; . bot'» which instances they seem to hi correct as there are no cattle here to L infected, and a steam tug of 30 horse-power would certainly require •mother steam tug of not less than 100 horse-power to take care of her. To sneak more plainly a steam tug, to be of any use at Hokitika, must be of not wtiiau 100 horse-power Disease will, in the forthcoming ,nrin" and summer, find here a prolific field. Swamp, newly cleared of

bush, and overrun with rotten vege table debris two or three feet thick offer* an opportunity for the fostering of fever and other ills of man that will not remain long unfruitful. Low fevers, throat diseases, dysentery, and other results of bad air and bad water, are rife at present. When the heat of summer shall draw forth the miasma lurkiV in the newly uncovered land about here, dismal bills of health may he expected, and for years to come the W e *t Coast of Canterbury will be a _ rave to thousands. A hospital is'in operaion at Hokitika; but imagine a hospital with canvas roof mildewed timber walls, noisome exhalations on every hand, to which enters the rain, the wind, and the damp sea breeze; and judge what chance the invalid has of his health be'in" restored to him! Medical attendance is a grim farce; only two days ago a vendor of medicine—or poison, as it may became very near standing his trial for manslaughter, apropos of the suspiciously sudden death of a patient who had been under his care just half-an-hour. I should certainly advise intending immigrants not to be sick in Hokitika. The "Wallaby sailed on "Wednesday last for Kelson. She had 11,000 ozs ; of gold on board. This, added to the | quantity taken by the Maid of the Yarra, gives 13,500 ozs for about ten days' accumulation. The weather has been very fine the whole of the last week. Appended is a table of the weather during that time, which goes to shew the state of things here in that respect in the middle of winter. An interesting trade is springing up here which may eventually be extended to the whole of this island. Several vessels have arrived from the Grey loaded with coals; the price, to be sure, is rather high as yet —£8 per ton retail; but that will arrange itself very soon. The article is very good—very much superior to the coal obtained from Newcastle, iV.S.W., for every purpose. I see no reason why the Grey coal should not come into competition, under very favourable circumstances, with the coal from the other colonies. I will, in a week or two, furnish you with a description of the overland route from Christchurch to Hokitika, via Arthur's Pass, from personal observation, as you seem to be all abroad on your side as to the capabilities or difficulties of that road. HOKITIKA WEATHER TABLE, From July 9th to 16th, inclusive. July. Wind. Bar. Sunday, 9... fine Passable Monday, 10... N.E. to N.W., D fine °" Tuesday, 11... N.W., cloudy Do. Wed., 12... N.W., mod., & - showers Thurs., 13... N.W., fine Do. Kday, 14... S.E. to S.W., - squally Satur., 15... Calm Impassable to sailing vessels only Sunday, 16... N.E., light Do., do. Kasieri Towsbhip.—The correspondent of the West Coast Times, writing on July 14, The weather has been rather unsettled, and has, retarded, in a degree, the progress of some of the claims, but this is the *orst news. There was great excitement in Lyttelton street, on Wednesday afternoon, in consequence of the rich washdirt which u th ' B P art y come upon ; the gold could be seen eagily in the dirt, and attracted a great number of spectators. The colour of jpe wash ig a bluish grey, and during the nme I waited—about half an hour—they cradled about l£ oz. James Mitchell's party, an adjoining claim, have also bottomed, and obtained from idwt to 1J dwt to the dish. They are about 24 feet down, and it is their intension to drive their ground. They are old aiiarat miners, and have every confidence in their claim. Tom Walsh, a well known M fp OW roW) lias also a golden hole, next to . Wrath's. Mr. Schaw, the Commissioner, flas had a great many mining disputes to le neir the ground opened by Hawke's P«ty, who had, in consequence of finding a •econd bottom, caused the ground there to be usned and taken up for some distance. e y had also a case for Mr. Schaw to decide, wo men had taken up gome ground at the r y cage of the river, and their claim, fl IV td ' w . ou 'd cause their ground to be thp a "d it is almost impossible to work nn .F? 11 "'* ' n question without encroaching ™ 'heir claim, as the river falls nearly perpen icujar within three or four feet from nere they are now working. At the time P ar ty took up the ground they , "? Ir P e g" at the water's edge, liut the a " (;n th eße few feet, the two onno-1 , ta "I' t' ie spare ground as they it. Mr. sehlw told the men if Ty te(] t0 wor k t* lo ground, and anylifiul^ 0 hawke's ground, they would be jn,. f ,L or damages, and so the matter ended, as th ° , 9!U ' B^acf i° n of Hawke's party, Wt ,s ar( r l ' le prospectors of the second to niv?• con sidered they were entitled and th G e ?v?r f T r !i f °. W { eetbetween ground Govom f," * n 1 know whether it is the not 'in' 8 intent ' on t0 makea road here or cert'nini 16 Btreetß are almost impassable, and the ii ra ? 80me ];'" n g must be done respecting will he i" f ße 0 1 il ' or nioßt of ÜB -l am afraid, to do«n?!^ te with fever - If tl, ey are going once ? of towards it why not do it at Tucker w / I ? ( 7 8 is Btill coming from as also from'fhp t 8,m,,0w « inkin g ground, townshin ' J terrace at the back of this scarcitv ' era P art ies, on account of the their ' are Col "peHed to carry It will hp a to the flat, and cradle it there, in? Terr ico IK t )u to those parties holdhave coniniGtp^i 8 * ? n the Pioneer Company W'»pleted their large head race.