OTAGO.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1266, 21 July 1864, Page 3

OTAGO.

We have our files by the Hero to the 19th inßtant, and take the following extracts from the Otago Daily Times :— Gold Struck oh one of the Teviot Flats, Mount Benger.—Teviot Junction, Mount Benger, 13th July, 1864.—The day before yesterday (very late at night) intelligence reached this place of gold having been obtained from shallow ground, about nine or ten miles from this, up the river. The parties had sunk one paddock on a small flat, from wliich they took twenty-seven ounces of gold, and then came in to give information to the Warden, who has gone up to the ground. It appears that there we three flats, all of which are supposed to be auriferous. Not being able to leave myself, I have dispatched a person on whom I can rely, to bring down all the information that can be obtained by a personal inspection. I am sorry to' say that he will not be able to get back till too late for this mail, but I will try to get an opportunity of sending you a letter by private hands. I do not wish to cause a rush, for fear things should not turn out so well as we hope for. It may be only a patch which has been struck, so that people should not rush off till they hear further news. I may state that the ground is well spoken of here, and a very large number have left for the ground, of which, I am informed, there is plenty. The river is still declining, and large numbers are at work. At the present rate we shall, in a few days, be able to call her "down" atlast. A public meeting is announced to be held in the Court House to-night, in order to form a Mutual Improvement Society. The Warden (W. L. Simpson, Esq., R.M.) was to take the chair, but owing to the above-named rush, will not be here to do so. Anent this very laudable movement, more in my next.

Gas Supply.—Yesterday evening the town was again suffering for want of our usual supply of gas, and great inconvenience resulted from it. Mr. Hutchinson offers an explanation in the shape of a reward of fifty pounds for information leading to the detection of the person who unscrewed the syphon pipe in the gas main at the south end of Princesstreet, and filled the syphon box with mud, thereby causing a stoppage in the supply of gas until remedied. , Action for Libel.—The proprietors of the Otago Daily Times have been served with a writ claiming five thousand pounds damages, at the suit of Mr. Mackenzie, of the New Zealand Banking Corporation. It is needless to say after all the boasting this gentleman has indulged in, that this course is the most satisfactory, aud that the action will be defended.