SNOWY RIVER.

Auckland Examiner, Volume IV, Issue 274, 20 June 1860, Page 3

SNOWY RIVER.

(From the Sydney Southern Cross.)

The special correspondent of the Herald, who arrived in Sydney on Wednesday last, reports the state of affairs at the date of his departure. The diggings were for the most part at a standstill, owing to the rising of the river. The dams in several instances had been completely washed away, and some of the richest claims were consequently submerged. Operations were still carried on, however, on the surface and bank claims, all of which 'are yielding tolerably well. There were twelve races in course of construction for the purpose of box and ground sluicing in the winter months, at which period it is presumed much of the ground at present in working would be abandoned and left available for those who proposewintering on the diggings. Numerous applications had been made to register river claims, but the Commissioner had declined in every case to accede to the request, presuming that it would be impossible to protect them from seizure or “jumping” when, the general rush should ensue in the spring. Those- who. hold golden claims, therefore, were reduced to the necessity of either selling out or shepherding their ground till such time as the season would permit of their being worked to advan tage. The diggings at Nine Mile were all but deserted ; the stores had shifted, and there were not more than forty men at work on the first of the month. At this latter place the snow lay very deep, and the frost was severely felt; it is the general impression*however, that this neighborhood would prove the principal diggings in the summer, the gold being more extensively distributed than, on. Kiandra—a fact evidenced in the circumstance that everyone obtains fair wages there. The camp, at Kiandra had recently been shifted from its former position to a site nearer the township ; and under ths supervision of Mr. Moore,, ths officials have been furnished with far more comfortable quarters than they previously enjoyed. The improvements completed and in course of construction, comprise a court, lock-up, commissioner’s residence, stabling and police quarters. This is, of course, independent of the station at Russell's, where there is also to be a police station, and' lock-up erected. The guide posts to Russell's were put up for about three miles of the distance, and the contract for the erection of telegraph posts for the proposed line via Tumut and Adelong had been completed, and the works were to be proceeded with without delay. The weather at Kiandra was very severe, and it w'as next to impossible to procure carriage, even at the high rate of £2O per ton. from Russell’s. About thirty or f,rty fog and Bark tenements had been built by diggers who intended to remain for the winter, and- stocks of provisions were being laid in. Two of the licensed houses were in full business, and the others (four in number) would be finished in the course of two or three weeks. The Messrs. Pollock who leave for Sydney on the 9th or 10th of the mouth, had leased their new wooden store lo the Commissioner at a nominal rent, for the use of the police during the winter, with the understanding that it would be handed over to them on their return in a few months hence. Flour was very scarce,, the whole of their stores having sold out all their stocks. The Pollock’s had a quantity on hand, but the greater portion (amounting to near a ton) had been sold some time previously, part to the Commissioner and part to some miners, who remain for the winter. On Ist May Flour was Is per lb., 21b loaf 2s 6d, beef Gd, potatoes 6d, tea 4s, sugar Is, salt Is, candles, sperm, 4s, biscuits Is 6d. Tents and tools were to be had for next to nothing, some diggers dug holes and buried their tools so as to have them when they return at the- end of the winter. The diggings were upon the whole were very quiet and orderly ; a few petty robberies had been reported, but these were, in the main, traceable to drunkenness on the part of the victims. Grog selling was likewise on the decrease, it being intimated that as soon as the licensed houses are all open, the police will be set in motion to suppress the acknowledged nuisance.