NELSON.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XII, Issue 749, 11 January 1860, Page 5

NELSON.

n„• mners are to the 31st Dec. The news conJ5 5 Dl in amount. From the file we extract i following paraphsj-^

A. the weather suitable for river digg.ng has n ow fa rly set in in this district, I must leave my dormitory and commence my summers correspondivings here have been goin ? on in their usua winter style, that is, accompanied with the Suomitento of freshets carrying away dams, sluices, flumes, and working gear, and m many cases completely "stumping ' some of he newly « set ; n >• diggers. Notwithstanding all this, I can stfely say that most of them have been making tolerably "ood wages, and have come forward and paid for their " miner's right" cheerfully. We have had the Colhngwood side diggers down from the Upper Anatoki via the Takaka; but though the track is very rough at present, in due course we shall be enabled to reach the Collingwood diggings by that route. To show you the facilities of our harbours, the Waitapu and M'otupipi, we have bad the Emu steamer at the Manuka Point in the former, with some dozen passengers and freight; and the Tasmanian Maid steamer in the latter, landing passengers and discharging cargo at the Motupipi Inn door. We are now about to have both these harbours laid down with buoys under the supervision of your able pilot and harbour master, Mr. Cross. 1 am proud to inform you that a great boon has been conferred upon the valley by the importation of the Messrs. Bow Brothers' splendid steam-engine of fifteen-horse power, with two tubular boilers, which will raise steam up to twenty horses; it is intended for a grist and saw mill; the sawing ■ apparatus is on its way out from Montreal. This will induce the cultivation of grain by the people of this district and of the Bay generally, particularly the natives; thus obviating the state of starvation which the inhabitants have.been nearly at here, flour lieing as higb at the por.t as 455. per lOOlbs. bag, and not to be had at that " unblushing figure." The millers of Nelson are getting the prayers and good wishes (ironically) of the Takakans, both diggers and settlers, for sending the flour out of the country at a trifling profit, and thus leaving their customers without any. I need not tell you that the Messrs. Bow Brothers have our hearty good wishes for the success of their enterprising speculation. . Mr, James Burnett, surveyor, leaves here with the best wishes of the Takaka and Motupipi settlers for his future welfare. The high esteem in which be was held was evinced by the Tact, that the whole of the inhabitants of the Long Plain, met and gave him and his surveying staff a ball supper at the house of the Messrs. M'Collum. He goes for some months with Mr.Haast, on an exploring expedition to the West Coast. We congratulate Mr.Haast on getting (as Dr. Hochstetter stated bere) " a talented man."

Everything here lias been going on as smoothly 83 the marriage hell/ saving the elopement of two sable ladies from their dusky lords. We hear that the frail ones and their paramours have been caught, and all is quiet again. , A digger, known by- the soubriquet of the " Skipper," was lost for three days in the bush by the Waingaro, having nothing hut a chaw of tobacco to subsist on. Happily, he found his way out, and fell in with his companions.

The Dun Mountain Mine.—We are glad to learn that the London directors of the Dun Mountain Copper Mining Company are beginning to nave better faith in the. prospects of the mine, and that they have decided that the tramway from the mine to the port shall he commenced as soon as the necessary legal authority has been obtained, ourely, then, no obstacle will be thrown in the way ot an undertaking likely to be of such great benefit to the province.— Examiner, Dec. 26. I bPOBMHG.—Mr. Kedwood's mares, Io and Miss JJowe, returned to Nelson, on Thursday, by the steamer Airedale, Strop having been left in Sydney where there is a talk of running him against Ben ! ™t,ina match of three miles, for £500. Mr, redwood, after shipping the mares, having gone | on shore, lost, we regret to say, his passage, and ] was m consequence left behind.— lbid. I iowK Land.—On Thursday last the leases of j yee town acres, being native reserves j were subgjtted to public auction by Messrs. N. Edwards & y anJ we record the result as an evidence of the va ue o this kind of property. The acres are all situated m the Bush, and the leases were for 21 j J^fs, at an average annual rental of £8 each acre, j J e aci'6 adjoining the Bush Tavern realised a preand P £ -7> and fcwo acres frontin S Milton-street nf %q , la"street brought premiums respectively of£B and m.~lbid. lection op a Member of the General , S lßrf-~on Monday, the nomination of a Hn« 1° re PPreset the Waimea Districts in the, f° T of Representatives, in the room of W. Ti riWTfr? B*' aPP°inted District Judge, took kSI- IT ltnond- Precisely at 12 o'clock, the fcffer, J. Sharp, Esq., read the writ to twenty? f elecfcors (who numbered only about canfi;l? Ve^ aJ? d calle(i on thera to nominate their candidates. Ml , C> R Keamg pr d and Mn and fh? yv S?oOnded' F" KelHn^' Es<l" of Ranzail > Kellln ! ng no ofcher candidate nominated, Mr. aeS?u Sdec; lared t0 be dvl .V elected. Thenew thankS+t S riefly Pressed his constituents; and SI m honour they had done him; posed laU outll? eof the course which he prothai VITV? the Assem%- A vote of mccv terminated the Roc-hforf^ THf u I LLEB-1In the account of Mr. which will w e^P loratio»» on the West Coast, Stan," !f 1 |- Und ln another column, the ciroamWBuIW • dff?y of e°ld ori the banks of the The rema*able feature 'of Particles of gold were seen lying upon the

surface of tho ground. We havo learnt from Mr. lloohfort that the indications of gold extend over a large tract;of country, giving promiso of a very oxtenaiyo iidjld^,; A samploof tho gold obtained on the Bilker lias^een kindly placed in out1 hands by Mr. Kochfoi't, ami may be'seen at our office. It consists chiefly of thin scales, with a fow small nuggets. --Ibid.

Lloyds' Agent.—The ' Australian and Now Zealand Gazette,' of the Ist Octobor, states that Mr. J. JR. Hays has been appointed ugont for Lloyds, at Nelson. — Ibid,

Elottk. —By the Airedale, twenty tons of flour havo been imported, part of which was sold privately at £33 per ton. Flour is quoted in Adelaide at £17 10s., and in Sydney at £20 a ton; so that wo are paying dearly for tho first necessary of life through our stock being exhausted before the new crop of wheat comes in, and no foresight having been shown to supply the deficiency.— lbid.

DR. HOCHSTJETTER ON THE NELSON GOLD-FIELDS. (From the * Nelson Examiner.')

We have much pleasure in publishing the following literal translation of an extract from a letter remitted by Dr. Hochstetter .to a friend here; and we.need not say how much it is subject of congratulation to us, that, after visiting the rich gold-fields of Victoria, Dr. Hoehstetter's opinion of our own is even more favourable than ever.:—

" Melbourne, November, 1859,

I" My dear -,—We had an excellent passage to Sydney, but I remained there only a short time, as I was anxious to reach Melbourne as quickly as possible, in order to visit its gold-fields. I have now just returned from my trip to Castlemaine, Bendigo, Tarrangower, Ballaarat, and all the other celebrated gold-diggings here, and I must confess that I was perfectly astonished at seeing what men have accomplished in a few years. One ceases to be surprised, whilst contemplating the scene, at the enormous export of gold from Victoria (reaching to upwards of .£15,000,000 sterling per annum), when one sees how the gold-fields have been (so to speak) rooted over by thousands and thousands of men; how mountains and valleys, as far as the eye can reach, have been upturned ; in some places the surface only, in others to a depth of hundreds of feet—mole-work-ings on a truly gigantic scale. It may be said of these workings, that whilst gold has been won, gold has also been thrown away. The period of the grandest "robber mining"* which has ever been seen is past now, and individual labour has almost ceased to produce any adequate result, in consequence of the manner in which the soil has been turned over and over againi' The gold-diggings have now reached their second period, and nothing answers but systematic mining by companies, with the aid of machinery of the most complete kind. Much labour and money have been wasted, in consequence of the system of "robber-mining" to which I have before alluded. I have often seen twenty or thirty shafts sunk, close as the honeycomb in a bee-hive, where one alone would have answered every purpose most effectually. This renders it necessary for companies working the ground to incur great outlay in getting it into order for their operations. It is true that by this "robbermining" system, more gold has been raised and in a shorter time than it would have been possible to obtain in the first instance by systematic mining, more especially iv looking to the nature of the constants in existence ,at the time of the discovery of the Victoria gold-fields, the circumstances of the country then rendering it impossible to enforce by law any systematic, gold mining. New Zealand should take example from Victoria; and by means of wise regulations for mining purposes on the gold-fields, avoid the evil consequences of the "robber-mining" system. Looking at the question in a social point of view, surely it would be better for a single digger, without capital, to work at regular and high wages in the service of a company, than to toil in uncertainty, and often with failing hope, to make a lortune, which he has no sooner made than it is thrown away in riot and debauchery. Publicans have become enormously rich on the Australian gold-fields, but there are few examples of wealthy diggers. I would urge that the laws concerning the.Nelson gold-fields should as much as possible discourage the "robber-mining" system; that companies should be encouraged by the- grant of licenses extending over large areas of ground, upon their paying for its use in due proportion ; that such companies should commence operations with the machinery that can be procured; and, in a word, that instead of the ill-regulated efforts of a few adventurers, all the resources of skill and capital should be brought to bear upon the work. In a geological point of view, the formation of the Victoria gold-fields is quite different from those of Nelson. All gold in Victoria is derived from quartz-reefs in Silurian schists containing fossils. The gold is obtained by working in tertiary and recent sedimentary deposits, and in : conglomerates and gravel. •The great question of the day now is, whether the quartz-reefs which have already yielded gold to a depth of 200 feet, generally with good results, will yield equal returns to systematic mining at a greater depth. In Nelson the gold is derived from quartzreefs, intersecting old crystalline mica and clay slates (primitive formation). Quartz reefs have not yet been "proved," all the gold hitherto obtained having been got from tertiary and recent sedimentary deposits, It is not at all impossible, particularly where gold in quartz has been found (as, at Rocky river, the Parapara, and elsewhere), that payable quartz reefs may be discovered, and 1 believe that at the Parapara, crushing even the quartz gravel might produce advantageous results. In Victoria a large part of the gold-yielding tertiary deposits are overlaid by thick beds of basalt, and expensive works are necessary to penetrate this basaltic crust (which is sometimes as much as 100 and 200 feet in depth) before the gold can be won; In Nelson there are no such difficulties, all is lying on the surface, and everywhere there is abundance of water both for mill power and washing purposes. In fact, I am firmly convinced that the Nelson goldfields must eventually yield most brilliant results ; and I heartily hope this may be the case of a country for whose inhabitants I shall always entertain the sincerest friendship and affection."

•By robber-mining, Dr. Hocbstetter wishes to convey an idea of the working of the gold-fields by the individual digger, ' wthout any regard to system,' and with a view to obtain results beneficial to himself alone ; a mode of working never permitted in mining countries.—Ed. N.E.] ■