The Lake Wakatip Mail. Queenstown, Saturday, Dec. 5, 1863.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Volume II, Issue 63, 5 December 1863, Page 4

The Lake Wakatip Mail. Queenstown, Saturday, Dec. 5, 1863.

The mines of Nubia and Ethiopia must have «t one time been very productive, for in the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus, according to Appin's account, the Egyptian Treasury contained the enormous sum of £178,000,090 sterling. The mines of Nubia and Ethiopia, however, have ceased to be, and these countries are only known now as being of •* the dark ages of the earth." The wealth of the world appeared to flow into the cup of Rome up to the time of Augustus. Her Treasury at one period contained the immense sum of £358,000,000 sterling, which gradually diminished from the felling off of the supply of the precious metal to £33,000,000. Then the production of gold from the Roman mines in Illyria and Spain suddenly ceased* and Roman soldiers ceased to be the servants of the State, and became its masters. Scotland is perhaps the country where least gold has been found. Had gold ever been found there in large quantities, we should have heard nothing of high farming, nor should we have seen one of the most sterile spots under the sun giving instruction to the world in agricultural sciences The ceasing of gold produce in the Province of Otago will come as surely as it has come to other countries. Already do we see from Mr Pyke's report that the average per man has been reduced from £229 in 1862, to £164 in 1863. Population is increasing rapidly, and will continue to increase. The majority of the diggers are not tradesmen, and the line of life to which the majority of them would settle doTn would be an agricultural one. A policy which keeps some thousands of men working at an industry which must speedily become exhausted, and carefully abstains from putting it within their power to resort to one that is inexhaustible is not the policy for a new colony. The future prosperity of the country demands that an immediate disposal of land should take place. We have no doubt that our readers are all aware that a Company is being formed in Melbourne for the purpose of settling the West Coast. It is not at all certain that much of that country will be auriferous. It is well known, however, that it is beautifully adapted for agricultural purposes ; surely then there will be no obstacles in the way of the immediate settlement of that land. A large tract of agricultural country, with a good harbour for exports and imports, backed bf the gold of

the auriferous districts, would at once, and for ever establish Otago as the first Province in New Zealand. There never was a Province possessing within itself better elements for ensuring future wealth and prosperity than Otago. To ensure that future prosperity there must be a great change in the way in which things are managed here. The desperate thirst for making the most of the miners and their gold must give place to enlightened measures, having for their object the general improvement. Every interest in the .state should receive that consideration which its own importance merits; but that consideration should be given in harmony with other interests. The miner is not antagonistic to the agriculturist, nor the storekeeper to the squatter. It is only bad legislation that has made it seem so. We warn the Government that the time for opening up the land is now.

No one can tell how suddenly gold getting may cease to be profitable, and the Province will have nothing on which to rely for prosperity if the lands should at that period be still waste lands. We cannot leave the subject without calling attention once more to what has been the inevitable result to every gold bearing country, where gold-seeking was made the end-all and be-all.