OTAGO

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XX, 12 September 1861, Page 2

OTAGO

[From the Otago Witnets, September THE GOLD FIELDS. The escort arrived at Dunedin yesterday evening at about five o'clock, bringing 7,759 ounces ot gold, having left Tuapeka on Monday at six, a.m. The escort on the former occasion brought in 5,056 ounces, and since then more than 1,000 ounces have been brought in by private hands. The news received from the diggings continues satisfactory, all was peaceable and orderly. The weather had improved. Four thousand persons are now on tbe field, and many are scattered in different localities, but Gabriel's Gully has still the largest amount of population. Deep sinking on the ranges above has been tried with success. A rush to some new locality has been made by a considerable number of diggers, but the precise position of the new field we cannot learn. The quantity of gold exported during the month, was as follows :— ott. dtots. August 3, Lord Ashley, for Sydney 1,269 13 August 10, Omeo, for Melbourne 780 — . August 31, Oscar, for Melbourne 6,827 — 7,876 13 The official value of the above ii £30,621 19 i. lOd. Duty £984 115. Bd. Added (o the abort the amount brought in

by the escort yesterday evening shows n rough total of 15,635 ounces of gold produced, but this is exclusive of the gold remaining in the banks since the last exportation, and that held iv private hands.

[From the Witness, August 31.] Within the Province of Otago no prominent event has occurred during the month. The Gold Fields, which, at the date of our last summary had become sufficiently tested to be thoroughly believed in by the inhabitants of the province, have been gradually and steadily developed by the persevering industry of some two thousand persons, whose labours have been more than usually successful on Gold Fields. The number of disappointed persons returning to town has been insignificantly small, although it is little more than two months since the paying nature of the field was made known, about eleven thousand ounces have come to town. The last escort brought five thousand and fifty-six ounces, and it was weli known that a large quantity was still in the hands of the diggers, who are not yet perfectly satisfied as to its true value, and are therefore unwilling to part with it at the prices offered. The Oscar, which sails for Melbourne this day, will take with her about three thousand ounces, but a considerable quantity will still remain in the hands of the bankers to whom it has been consigned for safe keeping. £3 10s. to £3 11s. 6d. are the prices given at present by buyers in the province, but the diggers suppose that the increased value, when the assay applied for by the Government is received and made known, will be more than sufficient to compensate for the loss of interest by witholding their gold from sale. The news of the paying nature of the field which for a time emptied the city of Dunediu, and gave its streets a comparatively deserted appearance, has reached the other parts of New Zealand, and is also telling in Victoria, consequently our chief town has presented a very animated appearance, the jetty lined with small craft, the quay crowded with carts loading with goods, and the streets thronged with diggers packing drays for the diggings. A larger number of small craft have arrived coastwise during the month, than hate ever visited us in a like period, each bringing its quota of diggers mostly provided with all the requisites for their work, and prepared to be off at once. The immigrants by the Storm Cloud, who arrived at the close of the last month, and found themselves unexpectedly in a land of gold, are all off from the barracks, with the exception of one or two families. The passengers by the Chrysolite have been absorbed in the community. Those by the Velore from London have equally been lost sight of. The greater portion of these persons are off to the diggings. Of the passengers by the Oscar, a considerable number are experienced diggers from Ballaarat, and come, we understand, as deputations from the diggers there to test the Otago field, with the view of reporting to their comrades in Victoria ; and should they be successful, we may anticipate a rush from thence. Already there are six ships advertised to sail from Melbourne, two of which are of large tonnage, 1,000 and 1,200 tons respectively, besides our regular steamers, the Omeo and Pirate. [From a Correspondent of the Witness,'] ■ ' Tuapeka, Gabriel's Gully, August 25, 1861. Sir — Having taken out my miner's right and taken up my claim, I suppose that I may call myself a digger, and I am therefore in a position to fulfil the promise which I some time ago made to you, of becoming your correspondent. Many circumstances have hitherto prevented my doing this ; but, as I am now fairly established as a denizen of the gully, I must endeavour to retrieve lost time. Your readers are, I suppose, by this time thoroughly acquainted with the Bize, &c, of this celebrated gully, whose name is now "familiar ia men's mouths as household words ;" but there is one thing about it to which no pen can do justice, and that is, its mud. In days of yore, the city of Dunedin used to be rather celebrated for this article, but it never did and never can equal this part of the world. Bullock-drays charge £4 or £5 per ton for conveying the loads of horse-teams from New Chum's Flat (at the entrance of the gully) to what is, by a kind of poet's license, termed the " town," a distance of about a quarter of a mile ; and they earn the money dearly enough, for the mud is dreadful; none but thoie who have had to go through it; can understand how dreadful. "Up to the knees in mud " is, alas ! by no means a figurative expression, but a sober every-day reality ; and I have heard of several cases in which the unhappy traveller extricated his feet from it minus the boots. Of course there is a vast amount of grumbling about it, and also of course the fault is laid upon the broad shoulders ol Government; but as far as I am able to judge, neither they nor any one else are to blame in the matter. Nothing short of a first-rate metalled road could stand the immense amount of traffic which there is in the gully, and a metalled road in mid-winter, and in the excitement of a first rush to the diggings was, and is, an absolute impossibility. However, it is natural that there should be some grumbling about it, and quite as natural that the fault should be laid upon the Government, who ought to be, if they are not, able to do everything, even impossibilities. A brigde over the creek at the mouth of the gully is about the only thing which can be done in the way of a road until the summer.

The vast majority of the diggers are doing very well ; of course there are some unsuccessful, but they are the exception, not the rule, and even then it is usually owing to their own want of energy and perseverance. It is most difficult to ascertain, with any degree of certainty, what the men are really making, but I know that several parties are clearing three to five ounces per man per day. Perhaps the rate of wages is as good a test as any, and men are getting £\ per day and found. Most of the claims in the lower part of this gully are taken up, but there are a good many unoccupied in the upper part, where the sinking is rather deep (ten or twelve feet), the water very abundant, and the gold very heavy, Great numbers are also at work in other* gullies, particularly in Munro'i, Weatberion'i, and the deep sinking

gully (where they go down eighteen or twenty feet, and then drive), while rumour with her thousand tongues finds full employment in spreading reports of new discoveries, the majority of which turn out to be myths. In my next I will give you an account of a hunt which I had after one of these the other day, in the company of the Commissioner and several other gentlemen. Provisions are much the same in price as usual. Flour, Is. per lb. ; tea, 6s. per Ib. ; sugar, Is. 2d. to Is. 6d. ; coffee, 3s. 6d. to 45. ; meat, lid. to Is. Id.; timber, Is. b'd. to 2s. per running foot.