THE SOUTHERN PROVINCES. NELSON.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XIV, Issue 1091, 11 December 1857, Page 3

THE SOUTHERN PROVINCES. NELSON.

By the ' Henry,' from Collingwood, we have Nelson papers to the 2.5 th ultimo, which we suppose must have been lying at the Post Oißee at Taranaki when the Henry called at that port. We do not see anything very new from the Diggings, which appear to be prospering in spite of " the dra.vHack occasioned by the melting snow from the mountains. The ' Henry' has brought down 50 ounces of gold, and we notice the arrival of the ' Tasmanian Maid.' from Collingwood, at Nelson, on the 24th, with 600 ounces ot gold. We also notice shipments of gold to Sydney to the extent of upwaids of 1000 ounces in two vessels. We extract the following from the 'Nelson Examiner,' of the 2oth. Our Gold Fields.— Almost every week our population receives a considerable addition by immigrants from the other provinces of New Zealand, and i'rmn the Australian colonies, who come to try their fortune at the Nelson diggings. And it is a pleasing fact that while, on her trips from Nelson to Collingwood, the steamer generally takes a full complement of passengers. 9he has lately brought back very few diggers. The quantity of rain which ha<s fallen, and the melting '••now of the mountains, still keep the rivers so high that many of the best claims cannot be worked, but it is to be hoped that the weather will soon become settled, so that all may have a chance of securing a share of that golden hoard, of the existence of which there has been | shown such undoubted proof. Many diggers who had only looked at the place and had resolved to return to Melbourne last week, were so well pleased with thereports of some of their comrades who had been working on the Quartz Ranges, that they abandoned their intended departure, and have gone across the Bay once more. No news has been received from the Wangapeka lately, but we hear that sevaral parties are at work there.* In addition to these well known places, prospecting expeditions have started, aud others are preparing shortly to start, to the Mnitai, the Motueka^

and the Moutere districts ; and a party of diggers are encamped in one of the gullies branching out 6t Brookstreet valley. We wish them all «uecesa, and trust that fine and settled weather will soon aid them in developing this rich mineral resource of our provinoe.

i By the • Hem y' we hrno received, ua Tamnaki, Wellington paper* to the 28th ultimo, the shipping ana commercial intelligence will be found in the usual column. The ' New Zealand Spectator,' of the 25th, contains a report of a banquet held at the Lyceum Thpnrre, to celebrate the success of the Reform party at ( the late elections. Commenting upon this, that paper, j in ri leading article, his th>- following : — ' " Our columns to day afford evidence, that the Radical Refoann party is actively at work. We have been furnished with the copy of a letter, which we print, addressed by Mr. Bowler, as Ch.iirman of the Wellington Reform Association, to the Chairman of the Ahuriri Settlers' Association. It contains a general statement of the views of nt least 16 out of the 30 members of the Provincial Council, and those of their most influential supporters, and invites the Ahuriri settlers, as an important section of the community, to consult with them thereupon* We conceive that the courtesy and frankness shown by the lictdicdl Reformers, in this their first step after eating triumphal beef together, will be appreciated and met in a similar spirit by the men of Ahuriri, and by the run-holding interest generally. The last part of it relates to the subject at present of most pressing and rital importance, namely, the collision bptweeen the Legislature and the head of the E\?cutive, which Dr. Featherston, as Superintendent, has threatened to bring on. The da-iger is imminent Neither Dr. Featherston, nor the majority of the present Council, can draw back 'rom the declarations which they have made : theirs being declarations of policy opposed to his, —his being a sulky whine that he won't work with anybody that isn't of his mind.' 1 In the same article the writer comments on the Superintendent's absence, and intimates that his visit to Ahuriri is to gain the "sweet voices of the settlers" upin his resignation, of which the ' Spectator' appears to have but little doubt.