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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume III, Issue 26, 31 January 1868, Page 2

The total quantity of gold exporteu Wuw GreymoiJth during last year aiuount'.-d to 2Ufc,040 ounces. The sudden disappearance of such a piece of dry land us 'i'ortoia would have but I'vvr precedents (remarks The Times). It is not many centuries since the Zuydtrzee was a rne.iow ; not many scores of years since GoJdau was buried ; bnreJy a rwe'v.'nioiifh since LVriolo s.ipried down in to LI: ■ Jl.U'^one. jiujjland and feicily once disputed t!:e po se.-sion of i-ertiin.uidea, or Grahiim Island, am! the fteakd of JSaiiturifl are the theme of a! most daily wonrier. ini:::daiioijs. landslips, earthtiualrep, and volcanic corruptions are jierpetUid.'v, hut slowly, and almost imperceptibly, chi'.Uijin"- the f.iue of the eurth. Vesuvius may rise or sink a. ihotuaud fl-et in twenty years, but wj hartlly expect eitiier iliat or any other active volcano — say that of fc>tro:nbi)li or Santorin irself — to sink all at once, top and base, and leave no trace. We know, however, absolutely nothing of ihe hidden powers of nature. The mere fact that no island like Tonola has ever be in 'subintTiied ' before would be no evidence against the correctness of the jN'ew York telegram. Hut, v ere it not to prove actually trup. it would he a very sensible departure trotn the laws of comparative quiescence to which the earth has submitted for several thousand years.