The New-Zealander. AUCKLAND, SATURDAY, MAY 16, 1857 A SOUTHERN PACTOLUS.

New Zealander, Volume 13, Issue 1156, 16 May 1857, Page 2

The New-Zealander.

AUCKLAND, SATURDAY, MAY 16, 1857 A SOUTHERN PACTOLUS.

Be j nst and iear not; Let all the ends thou aim'st at, be thy Countr' Thy God's, and Truth's.

From the Otago Witness of the 7th offli we learn that some gold had been pick: in the Mataura river, near the Bluff di.c and that several parties had gone out p* pecting. On the 14th the Witness tit that "the accounts from the South each anc confirm the statement of the existence of ? in the Mataura and its vicinity: and tl many persons are very sanguine as to its tr ing out an available gold-field." On the: 1 ; this opinion is pronounced to be strenglbaef two men and a boy having in one day nk out half-an-ounce of gold from sand taken I of the Mataura; and our contemporarytd&r And from the position in which the goH is fe Nelson, viz.. in the termination of the great s 4 ranges or Alps, we may very reasonably tttSßt* gold will be found throughout the whole leap these ranges. This assumption is strengthened hi" - fact that at the time of the discovery of the Auiindiggings, when much discussion took place « subject of gold-producing countries, it was pw by a very eminent authority. Sir Roderick «BW thai New Zealand was a gold-bearing coanUJi* that, if discovered, the precious metal would bain the Southern ranges—those ranges lying in : taction in which auriferous foimatious are tons found to exist. On the 28th it is said that there werei» ; perienced persons at the diggings, buttls'old Australian digger who had been there. - washed out an ounce in two days, andtha> parties in sufficient strengh and ffiw F implements, there was no doubt the gokk might be profitably worked. The W must also take care to furnish themselves J provisions, the only inhabitants of that,p the country being "an old hand" and * Maories and half-castes who charge » J exorbitant price for a i'ew potatoes. Tm paper states that Mr. J. Reid had mittjf ding-ring of some of the Mataura EW that the person of whom he purchased whad between 6 and 7 ounces in his po»*J In the number for April -1, we read of of large nuggets being found, alia > ',". authority," that specimens are plentiful Bluff and luvercargill—that most peffO* have come from the south have brougn them specimens which they have then* obtained—that gold had beenfoundfflWjJ in the bottom of a ditch—that gold found in the North-east valley vntlun • miles of Dunedin—and that among the gold found at the South, oxide ot tin

discovered. . i If it should turn out that gold is t« taiiied in such close proximity to IIIH J\ will indeed seem singular that that;i»*jjhave been settled nine years Deforethea was made. Now, however, the matter ; duly investigated, aud if the existence profitable gold-fields in Otago should; firmed, it will not be long before ] :lU °j| #;; more serious drain is made on the ■-,, Labour of Wellington ; while the immigration would be such as to impetus to the demand now being « ia \ inhabitants of the Bluff district for from the Province of Otago, and J rect * orf j distinct Province or Country—t' IC JW j originating in much the same cau.<-. ■ ... among the Ahuriri settlers : the injustice, the Bluff district hands of the Provincial standing it contributes so large a poro ■ Provincial revenue. We observe, bo* . Sir. J. T. Thompson, the Chief has been on an exploring expedition ? washed the sands of the various rlverS « speaks in more moderate terms, s ) r small samples of gold that have been . I have not seen to exceed a few nor am I aware if any person has * i3 -\r > cess as to encourage him to continue

were living In what were called the , fte . es ,' , nnd were believers in every con- ' S of nature portending also some upheav--1 overtununga of society, we should cou- £ JlJcorery of these Southern gold-fields im \ l vL.artho.wkc.-shock which was distinctly *? iTu.HHlin on Saturday the 28th of March W" ]I1((tbll 0 f the earth being more strongly m lin the shock of earthquake in the .North I 1 ••" was. To the North, our Southern '•"• hare therefore again looking for news of „other disastrous convulsion. As we have f Jofno Mich shock in these Northern parts i rthquake would appear to have been a '"' iKHIa-ffO-somethingjust enough to warn our IOC tf friends against carrying the political heats 'TLisions to too tierce an extent. Whatever doubt may exist as to the profitui character of the Otago gold-fields, there is that the settlers are fast realising the legem 1 "nL Golden Fleece. The Thomas and Henry i i -,;ied for Melbourne lor the second tune JL season with a cargo ol wool valued at t .'r.- ( ,__ m . l kiti"-, with the former cargo, an artiTwoolbf this vessel alone of £10,000." ffla fnct speaks well lor the increasing pros1 -l 'fnttc-o and we cannot wonder that the , Wand more business-like settlers are more • -to be able to record the duplication of *?! ArAa and herds than they are even to have , , m< [ 3 0 f their rivers discovered to be hill ot (i-oltl.