OTAGO.

Press, Volume I, Issue 21, 12 October 1861, Page 5

OTAGO.

We have received Otago papers down to the 4th of October. There is no news of particular importance from the diggings. The arrivals from Melbourne continue, and many are expected from Sydney. A scarcity of meat seemed inevitable. 'The Colonist' proposes that the Provincial Government should admit oxen from all parts, providing floating slaughter-houses at port for the purpose of preventing the possibility of introducing Pleuro-pneumonia. No fresh fields had been discovered. (From 'The Lyttdton Times; Oct. 9.) The great majority at any rate of diggers are doing exceed' inrjly well -so well that those who do only pretty well are not quite contented, and are ready at a moment's notice to abandon their claim and seek one in another spot. A ' claim' is a space of 24 feet square for each man, to be taken in any place on the field where another claim rchkh is being worked by th° holder has not already been taken; and it may be transferred as often as desirable from one place to another without a question, the right to dig anywhere for a year being given by a ' Miner's right,' costing one pound. For these twenty shillings per annum the digger enjoys also protection from the law, custody for his gold, and gratuitous carriage for it into town by the escort, who deposit it for him also free of charge, in a bank, to be kept for him there as long as he likes, also gratuitously ; the only fiirther payment being half-a-crown per oimce export duty, which, with freight and insurance, reduces the price from the assayed value (just now ascertained) of £3 16s. 7d. to £'3 12s. in Dunedin, at which price the bank will buy any quantity. On the diggings storekeepers give £3 11s. for it, and make a clear profit thereby of a shilling an ounce. The Bank of New South Wales, I understand, has sent or is going to send an agency to Gabriel's Gully for this and other purjmses. On the field, stores brought from Dunedin are of course at the price which the cost of carriage naturally makes them. Mutton is plentiful on the spot and of excellent quality, such as is really not to be had in any town in the colony. It costs lid. for forequarters and 13d. for hind ; rather less hi Dunedin. By the escort which left the field on Thursday morning, and arrived in town yesterday evening, 12,152.1 ounces Imve been brought, worth (deducting duty)'about £43,000. This is the produce of a fortnight's labour of about 4000 men, according to the best estimate. The number of diggers is often placed much higher; but many of these are prospecting; a very great numl>er, as at Waitahuna, are working at a distance from Gabriel's Gully, and do not send in their gold to the camp for esc rt to town ; others again, having lately come on the ground, are wandering about for a few days trying here and tlure before they settle. The whole number of men who had t-iken rat miner's rights up to »0 was .'3,900, and

therefore if the produce of the fortnight ending that day be put down to 4,000 diggers the nniuber is high enough. The whole amount carriedTuown by escort from first to last has been 39,000 ounces, and an amount is known to have been carried privately which would raise the total to at least 50,000 ounces, worth £180,000. There was at least as much left on the ground when the last escort departed, as had been produced up to the end of July; and the figures just stated may therefore be considered fairly tho work of two months for not over 3,000 men, giving £60 per man for fifty-two working days, or somewhat over £7 per week each man. Of course several have made much more than this amount, and others have made proportionately less; but the average is good wages, and there is more equality on this field than lias been generally the case in Australia. As provisions fall in price, at any rate, men ought to do very well on the earnings now made; but only 'working men can succeed: if the back is weak, the hands soft, or the courage bad, the man will not and cannot succeed. A considerable gathering of Canterbury men are now on the diggings, and this is the story which those whom 1 have met are unanimous in telling. One point is full of mystery. Some talk about their claims being worked out already; others, who have been here from the very first, talk of remaining at the same claim till , Christmas next, and there appears to be little difference between the work done on one and the other.. The disagreement must be put down to the operation of dissimilar imaginations, most probably. Coming down with the escort and the half ton of gold which it carries, passing the hosts of people going up and overtaking a.few going down, Dunedin is reached on the evening of the second day, and the eye is struck at once by the hundreds of meu who are tramping the etreets. Steamers, ships, and small craft have brought in population at the rate of ! about 500 a day, and Dnnedin is their first stopping place. Though hundreds go on to the diggings, many ao no such thing. Either they have come down for amusement and have got it, or they are suddenly struck timid and want to go back to Victoria. The town is overflowing; tho inhabitants arc apprehensive of a riot, and apply to the government; and the government nervously issue a proclamation which 1 fear is a mistake. They want to prevent more people coming from Victoria, and they therefore throw an undue amount of cold water on the diggings. This is published in Dunedin and frightens the new arrivals, while it cannot for some time stop the influx of more. It would be better, if the wet blanket is to bo applied, to do so on the other side, to the men who are bent on plunging into the stream, not to those who fancy themsulvou already half drowned It is by no means an easy task to meet emergencies of this kind, nnd if blame may attach in one or two instances, in many things Major Richardson and his advisers deserve great praise. The best day's work yet done has been the sending for police and an inspector from Melbourne. Mr. St. John Branigan, the inspector is just the man for the emergency, and is invaluable to the Government, not only as being perfect master of his own department, but as possessing information of every kind with respect to the working of the gold-lields and the management of a digging population He has placed the armed police force in a state <»f perfect and admirable efficiency, and is making sound reforms in every direction within his reach and cognizance.