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Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 1957, 13 August 1869, Page 2

Westland Finance.— lt appears that the finances of the County are in a very unsatisfactory condition. The General Government have sent an officer of the Treasury to make inquiries, and our Hokitika contemporary of August 4 contains the following remarks It has been generally known during the last few days that the promised Treasury officer hj .d actua'ly arrived per Omco to investigate the affairs of the County. r Since his landing on Saturday last he has not let grass grow under his feet, ami he has set himself assiduously to work ; the results will, no doubt, appear in good time The gentleman so honored with the confidence of the Government is Mr Garvin, sub-accountant in the Colonial Treasury office, and he hears the reputation of being one of the most efficient officers in the New Zealand Civil Service. We cannot, of course, speak from experience, but trust that he will institute most searching inquiry, feeling fully satisfied the department to which he specially directs his attention will emerge triumphantly from the ordeal. [Unfortunately for the department, and for the County, our contemporary’s surmise has proved to he incorrect. —Ed. E.S.] The Financial Statement. Reviewing the Colonial Treasurer’s statement, the Lyttelton Times observes that it is absurd to say of any financial statement, however lame’it may be and Mr Vogel’s is certainly not amenable to that charge—that it has entirely failed to command attention We are all too much interested in knowing the financial position of the Colony to pass unheeded an official statement by the Treasurer. And there are special reasons why Mr Vogel’s bud wet speech should receive careful examination. If it be true that it has entirely failed to command attention, the public are justified in coming to the conclusion that their representatives neglect the most important of their duties. That the financial statement lias not failed to command attention is obvious from the fact that Mr Stafford has made an attempt to dispute the accuracy of certain figures. In this he was aided by Mr Stevens, who said that the figures issued by the Treasurer were either a gigantic blunder or something worse. We think it probable that the public will place considerable value on the details in which Mr Vogel’s statement is said to abound, and that they will not be at all disappointed at the abeged absence of large proposals. Nor will they, if we do not greatly err, think Mr Vogel blameworthy, even if he has failed to exhibit those marks of statesmanship which are said to have characterised one of his predecessors in office. If they are satisfied that Mr Vogel’s statement is plain, straightforward, and business-like, they will gladly dispense with the large proposals and the so-called statesmanship. The public, so far as we are able to judge, have come to the conclusion that there has been a great deal too much of this same statesmanship, and too many great theories. They would like to see the country governed, not experimented upon by men who believe that they have an inherent right and an inward call to play the statesman. * * * Mr Vogel’s statement may not contain any lofty theories of reform, may not embrace great schemes for regulating the taxation ; hut it is simple, business-like, and practical. These, we think, are high recommendations. A Graphic Description of China. —A country where the roses have no fragrance, and the women no petticoats ; where the labourer has no Sabbath, and the magistrate no sense of honor; where the roads hear no vehicles, and the ships no keels ; where old men fly kites ; where the needle points to the south, and the sign of being puzzled is to scratch the antipodes of the head ; where the place of honor is on the left hand, and the seat of intellect is in the stomach; where to take off your hat is an insolent gesture, and to were white garments is to put yourself in mourning ; which has a literature without an alphabet, and a language without a grammar.

Prospecting in Canterbury. —The Canterbury people deserve to reap a reward for their efforts to discover a payable goldfield in the province. The country is being thoroughly ju ospectel, and the Lyttelton Times gives the following account of the operations being conducted by the Prospecting Association at the M‘Queen’s Gully : “Only one new spot has been opened on Messrs De Bourbel and Reyncli’s 1 md, ami that is immediately at the foot of that portion of the reef first driven on the -western faces of the spur. On the opposite side of the fiat, however, four new drives into the hill side have been commenced. The reef from Messrs De Bourbel and Reynell’s land crops out in several places adjacent to them, and in a direct line with its ascertained learings where first discovered, the men who started these drives have evidently been wed acquainted with their work, and after baring the reef have commenced work lower down towards its base—an admittedly proper quartz mining proceeding, for neglect of which Messrs De Bourbel and Co. ’s men were much censured by practical diggers—and the general indications are decidedly better than have elsewhere been found. Those drives, the longest of which is about fifteen feet, are principally on Messrs Cowlishaw and H. B. Johnstone’s laud, and the men have unfortunately had all their work for nothing, the company started by the gentlemen referred to having taken possession of the most promising, which they intend to test properly. A species of iron stone, which is considered a good leader to gold quartz, appears to preponderate so far as the men have gone, but the reef where actually bared is a really good-looking sample of quartz. In addition to these prospecting efforts, attention has also been turned to prospecting for alluvial gold, and a party of men, supported by Christchurch tradesmen, are testing the vicinity of the creek running along the eastern base of M‘Queen’s spur, and immediately behind the house. What prospects they have obtained we wex-c unable to learn, but some confidence is felt by those knowing the locality that the attempt will not be without a result more or less favo-able. Two or three alluvial parties are out in the Bays district, and the gully near the bottom of M‘Queen’s track just before reaching the flat is also being tried.

The Makewhenua Goldfield. The special reporter of the Onmaru Time* has paid a visit to this field, and he considers that it will ultimately become a large and payable field. At one place he visited he says a bole had been sunk (50 feet, through quartz gravel all the way, without coming to the bed rock. The sinking is now stopped by water, but it will be gone on with by slabbing and pumping, as it is a very likely place for a lead. Close by I took a few shovelfuls of earth from just under the tussocks and washed it out, the result being black sand and six or eight specks of gold to the dish. A three-mile race has been commenced near here, which will be eventually extended, if protection is got, by other four miles, to join on to the Maerewheuua. It will bring in three heads at first, and, when extended, six or eight heads of water ; and each head of water will support 18 or 20 men in 8-hour shifts. The owners have a promising claim ; indeed, wherever water is taken it must pay, as it is more difficult to say where gold is not than where it is. I quest! Ned many diggers closely {and 1 must say they nearly all Seemed afineclassof men—really experienced diggers and not loafers), and they said, “ Give us water enough, and there is a field here for thousands of men; but, with onr present appliances, we can only make wages —which, as far as I could make out, ranged between 30s and L 3 a-week, the cost of living between 10s and 12s per week. A circuit of five or six miles from M'Quade’s, and crossing the Maerewhcnua, we came, after some difficult climbing down and up steep precipices, on a party of eight working in a gully on Graham and Cook’s run, with a small stream of water, puddling and cradling. They had a “ face ” about G feet deep and 15 wide working up the gully, with about 4 feet of blue clay, an I the wasbdirt underneath on the bed rock very ‘ mullochy. ” He concludes his report as follows : —lf 1 be correct, therefore, unlimited as the ground is, I do not expect a larger population than 1,000 to 1,500 to he supported for some time to come, though each year no doubt fresh supplies of water will be made available. At present, there are about 110 men scattered over the field, many of them only preparing their ground or cutting races. To sum up then, there is clearly a goldfield—and, leaving quartz reefs and deep sinking out of the question, as only possible and not probable, there is at least reason to congralate ourselves on at last possessing a valuble goldfield in the Oamaru district, to increase our population and give employment to our agriculturists. The climate is delightful, and the cost of living v. ry low, and the close proximity to the “ metropolis of the north.” aff 'i’ds the advantage of civilisation to those who have wives and families. Yet, again I say, let those who have profitable employment let well alone, and let no one who cannot work hard and live plainly try the Marewhenua Goldfield.”