THE DIGGINGS ON SWANSTON'S RUN.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Volume I, Issue 30, 12 August 1863, Page 6

THE DIGGINGS ON SWANSTON'S RUN.

(From the Invercargill Times' special Reporter.)

Last week the Mataura was higher than it has been since the great flood two years ago, and to that cause must be attributed the delay which has taken place in sending down my report. Nearly the whole of the road between Invercargill and Swanston's Station is bad, but it improves considerably after that portion of it which has received the benefit of Government manipulation has been passed. From Swanston's home station to the new diggings (a distance of about six miles) the track runs over a stony plain. The population on this goldfield has been overstated There are not more than two hundred men on the ground, forty or fifty of whom are working on the Boundary Creek, and the remainder scattered through the various little gullies for several miles around. There are three small stores amongst the hills, and a considerable grog trade is being pushed, the' price asked being one shilling thejiobbler. I could near of no claims which had proved very rich, but most of the miners were making good wages, say from four to ten pounds a man per week. The gold is flat and scaly; the largest piece I saw weighed two pennyweights. Three pounds twelve shillings (£3 125.) per ounce is the price given by the storekeepers, which is considerably less than the gold is worth. There is hardly a spot within a radius of some miles where the color cannot be obtained, and it would not surprise me if very good diggings were discovered during the coming summer. The whole of the country between the old Switzer's diggings and Swanston's is auriferous, and is nearly certain to be declared a goldfield by the Otago Government. Mr. Wood, the Commissioner at the Nokomai, had just left when I got on the ground; his opinion of the place was, I am told, favorable, and he will recommend the establishment of a postoffice, &c. The prospects obtained from the Boundary Creek, which I mentioned before, were very good, and the miners are engaged in turning the stream. The late floods have greatly retarded their operations, but in a few weeks we may expect to hear some definite information on the matter. Should this creek turn out according to expectation, there will be work along its course for some hundreds of men. For my own part, however, I believe that most of the gold will be got in the little shallow gullies, only a few of which have up to the present time been worked. A large population is almost certain to be located on Swanston's in the spring, and equally certain it is that through Southland must come the whole of the supplies for the miners.