New Zealand provinces. OTAGO.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XXIII, Issue 58, 14 May 1864, Page 3

New Zealand provinces. OTAGO.

[PEOM OUB OWN CORRESPONDENT.] Dunedin, April 30. The news from the Wakamarina has caused great excitement here, and a large number of persons are preparing to be off. The Ladybird takes a great number to-day, and the large steamer Gothenburg is laid on for passengers and horses, and will sail on Monday. The prevailing opinion here is that a second Molyneux has been discovered, and the accounts in the public prints are eagerly devoured by all whom the depression in trade and the approach of winter have rendered willing to leave Otago. Should the next mail from the North bring confirmatory accounts of the richness of the Wakamarina, no doubt many hundreds, perhaps thousands, will proceed thence from here. One thing may be confidently relied on, and that is, whether the Wakamarina and Pelorus are as rich as they are said to be or not, the advent of a large population will lead to a thorough prospecting of the district, and if gold in payable quantities is to be found in accessible spots, depend upon it, some of our Otago veterans will find it. As yet the Ladybird's news has not reached the diggings, and the persons now going are mostly from Dunedin. A good many tradesmen are on the move, aud I hear of some of our speculative capitalists talking of going to the now favoured Province of Marlborough. The rush

j will do no harm to Otago, but rather good, I as it is a fact, that business has been very much overdone here. There have been too many traders for them all to make a living, aud a little more room will now do everybody good. Besides, Dunedin must, for a time at least, be to the new gold-field what Melbourne was to Otago in the early days of the gold discoveries ; and there are just now some very heavy stocks of merchandise, which will be in demand up your way. The diggers who will leave here are those who make it a profession to follow up new rushes, and who have not the inclination to settle down to a systematic mode of mmmg — and gold mining in this province is fast becoming settled and systematic. We have had no newly discovered ground opened up here lately, and although the Molyneux is again yielding its treasures, its waters are so terribly treacherous that a day may destroy the hopes and labour of months. Should the Molyneux rise seriously, there will undoubtedly be an exodus to Marlborough, and as it is, many from the outlying exposed diggings will shoulder pick and swag, and be off to " fresh fields and pastures new."

"We have had political trouble of one sort or another ever since the opening of the Provincial Council. We had a Ministerial crisis for a week, and then the Executive went in again. Since then the financial difficulties of the province have been the chief topic of interest. Things are undoubtedly in a mess, in consequence of the non-realisation of the debentures, and the inconvenience is being widely felt. The Bank of New Zealand holds engagements of the province, in one way or another, to the extent of £300,000, and at the present time the Government have an uncovered overdraft of nearly £90,000, and the Manager has had positive instructions not to allow this overdraft to be exceeded. "What the several Provincial Governments are to do if their loans won't float off, is a puzzle. I hear to-day that the Southland Government is completely "stumped" — that an agent came overland to-day to procure an advance from one of the Banks of some £40,000 ; and that the wages of the labourers on the public works in that province were in arrears of pay, and that a riot was feared ! I am further told that the £40,000 was not procurable here. Towards providing further security for the Otago loans, resolutions were, on "Wednesday, submitted to the Council by his Honour, in a message, as follows : —

The Superintendent, in his address to the Provincial Council, on the opening of the present session, alluded to the desirability of additional guarantees being afforded in connection with the already authorized loan of £500,000 ; also to the necessity which would be found to exist, of resorting to additional loans for the construction of railways and other public works of permanent character and importance. The Superintendent now begs to lay before the Council a series of draft resolutions bearing on the important subjects alluded to, and expresses his earnest hope that the Couucil will give them a careful aud favourable consideration :—: —

That in order to afford greater facility for the negotiation of the loan of £500,000, authorized by the Otago Loan Ordinance, 1862, by giving additional security for the repayment thereof, it is desirable — 1. That an area of 500,000 acres of the waste lands of the Crown within the Province of Otago, and situate in the said province, should be reserved and set apart as an estate, against which the said loan and the interest thereon should be a first charge. 2. That Ills Excellency the Governor be memorialized to sanction the selection, reservation, and appropriation of the 500,000 acres of land for the purposes aforesaid, and also to give assurance to the Superintendent of this province, of his willingness to assent to such measures as may bo introduced at the next session of the General Assembly, for the purpose of giving free effect to the proposed security. 3. That the Colonial Secretary be requested to give assurance that, at the next session of the General Assembly, he will introduce such measures as may be necessary to enable such selection, reservation, and appropriation of the said 500,000 acres of land to be made, and to enable full effect to be given to the proposed security.

A very animated debate, which has not yet concluded, has been the result of these resolutions ; Mr Vogel moving, as an amendment upon the second and third, as follows :—: —

That his Excellency the Governor should be memorialized to call the Assembly together immediately, and that the Colonial Secretary be requested to give the assurance that he will introduce an Act to enable such selection, reservation, and appropriation of tho said 500,000 acres to be made, and to enable full effect to be given to the proposed security.

The prevailing opinion appears to be that the General Assembly should be convened, and the several provincial loans consolidated, and made a colonial charge. But who can say that even that course will cause any relief, if the opinions of the Canterbury agent are of any value ? The other day, the following letter from Mr. Selfe Selfe was read before the Canterbury Provincial Council : —

As regards the raising money on debentures ; assuming that it is desirable that your Honour's Government should supplement the abundant and increasing revenues oi' the province by borrowed money, 1 think there is good reason for adhering to the opinion I expressed in my letter of the 25th September last — that it will be better to obtain the required advances on the spot, either in New Zealand or the Australian colonies. If you can issue six per cent, debentures at par in Canterbury or Melbourne, these are better terms than can be obtained with any certainty in London. It is true that there is at present what may be considered an exceptionally high rate of interest for money here. But 1 doubt much whether colonial securities (including those of New Zealand, both general and provincial) •nill be received with favour here for some time to come. I venture with great respect to advise your Honour not to make any financial arrangements depend upon the contingency of raising money here at six per cent. It is evident that the Otago Government have not succeeded in raising any substantial portion of the £200,000 they required, though I have reason to know that something under par would have been accepted under them. And the £14,000, portion of the first issue of the £000,000 Canterbury loan, which, as I mentioned in my last letter, had been put up to auction here, did not, as I am informed, obtain a bidder. Your Honour will receive other private advices, which will tend to confirm the view 1 have expressed. Nevertheless I thought there could be no more legitimate investment of the sinking fund of the Canterbury loan, than in the debentures oi that very loan ; and accordingly I have in, rested £1,300 of tho finking fund of tht loan of

18G2, just issued hy the Union Bank of Australia, and also £5,000 first year's sinking fund of the last mentioned loan — the latter in the names of Mr. Thomas Somers Cocks and myself. I may here observe that the scheme propounded by the Genera; Government of New Zealand to raise a loan of threi millions of money (£3,000,000), appears to be based upon the calculation that the Imperial Government will guarantee a 4 per cent interest thereon, £120,000 per annum, which, with an additional 1 per cent for sinking fund, is proposed should form a charge upon tho general revenues of New Zealand of £150,000 per annum. 1 think it is extremely doubtful whether any English Chancellor of the* Exchequer would accept such a proposal ; or, if any House of Commons would consent to it, if proposed to them. Without such Imperial guarantee, my belief ia that there is no present prospect of any such loan beiny taken up in the English market, even at 6 per cent, at which price it would, with the 1 per cent sinking fund, entail a burden upon the general revenues oi' the colony of £210,000 per annum. There is a growing indisposition to invest money in colonial securities not guaranteed at home, which should be borne in mind by intending borrowers.

The Banks here are exceedingly tight and the process of putting on the " screw " is going on considerably to the disgust of the " screwees." We have had several failures lately, some of which quite took the people by surprise. On the whole, however, the mercantile community stands well.

It is astonishing how well the yields from the gold-fields keep up in the face of a large decrease in the population. The last escort brought down 22,214 ounces for the fortnight, and the next escort, due on Tuesday next, is expected to be a heavy one. The favourable weather has no doubt done much towards producing this result, as the lowness of many of the streams has enabled the rich bed and beach claims to be worked. By the side of the accounts from the Lake diggings, the Marlborough story appears small indeed. From one claim at Maori Point, on the Upper Shotover, 200 lbs., weight of gold was taken from one claim in a single week, the party, fourteen in number, sharing nearly, £8,000 amongst them. Numerous cases of extraordinary large yields have occurred on the Molyneux, in some of the more favoured spots, and, generally speaking, the mining population are doing well. As I have before remarked, gold mining is becoming more systematic and, probably in a year or two, the province will mainly depend for its supply of gold from the sluicing companies. Some of the works in connection with hydraulic mining are very extensive, water-races having been cut, in mauy cases, from ten to twenty miles long. I am sorry to say that a report reached town last night that the Molyneux had suddenly risen several feet owing to heavy rains in the Lake district.

Socially we are quiet. The theatre has lost its great attraction, Miss Julia Matthews, that talented young lady having been married to one of our city shipbrokers the other day. Mr. Shiells Barry, an Irish low comedian, is playing to poor houses. A painful case has occurred within the last few days. A young man of highly respectable family, named Einney, who was at one time a clerk in the War Office, London, and has since been accountant to the Police Department, has been charged with embezzlement and is now under remand. His defalcations are said to be serious ; what makes the affair more painful is that his wife and children went home, by one of the late woolships, on a visit to their friends.

The new Judge, Mr. Chapman, pi'esides in his first court nest week, on the civil cases in the Supreme Court. His Honour will reside in Dunedin, and take circuits with Mr. Justice Richmond to Southland and the gold-fields.