[From the Maitland Mercury.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VI, Issue 448, 17 November 1849, Page 3

[From the Maitland Mercury.]

The following are a few particulars respecting the present condition of San Francisco and the mining country, gleaned from a letter written by Mr. John H. Sparke to his father, Mr, William Sparke, ot Hexham, with a sight of which we have been favored. The letter is dated — St. Francisco, July 2, 1849. We have arrived in California after a long ,but pleasant voyage of eighty-six days, having been delayed ten days at/f ahiti for water. I am quite delighted wiih this place, not because it has plenty of gold, but for its being such an honest place; people leave their things in the street, and no person dare touch them, for there is no law, but there are a lot of people here called " the hounds," and if any person is seen taking anything the bounds are set upon them, and they are killed in a moment, so that it would be a dangerous affair if people did not keep their hands to themselves. The law is very strict up at the mines, that is, if any person is caught stealing, t jury of twelve is formed, and the thief is first flogged and then hung up to dry ; so thtt the place is so quiet that a man can leave his gold anywhere about a house, and no danger of its being stolen. We are going to the mines this week, as this is about the- best time of the year for digging gold, for the water has nearly gone down. There is no danger of the fever and ague so long as. a person keeps himself from drink, and does not lay about at night. The work of gold digging is very hard, so thtt a man to preserve his health need only to work in the morning and evening, and rest in the middle of the day, for it is so hot thtt t

person would kill himself in a week if he did not act so, as has been experienced by the people that have been there ; so that you can judge the gold is not to be obtained for nothiug. We shall have to pay forty dollars each to get there, besides three dollars a hundred for carrying provisions. It would have been better for us had we not brought provisions, for everything can be bought here as cheap as at any place ; as to clothes they are so cheap that people, instead of paying twenty four shillings a dozen for washing, throw away their dirty clothes and buy new. Females are very scarce here. * * * A dairy •would pay well here if a man could only get -cattle, but they are so wild that it would be impossible to attempt it, and labour is so very high that you cannot get a man at less than from six to eight dollars per day. A tradesman cantnake a fortune in about twelvemonths; such a person as Mr. H , with his tools, would get sixteen dollars per day without hesitation, for two of the passengers who came in our ship (one the son of a cooper in Sydney) get fourteen dollars per day. Money is so plentiful here that one shilling would go further in Sydney than ten dollars would here, for I have seen boys picking up gold dust in the streets which people had dropped going ■along. I suppose this is the greatest place for gambling in the known world ; you will •see them put down from one dollar to one hundred on one card. * * Land is very dear in San Francisco : one English gentleman had to pay £100,000 for the building of an hotel, but then he gets £40,000 rent, which you would think was impossibe, but in this house they have, four billiard rooms and some gambling tables. There are plenty of partridges, woodcocks, and all sorts of sport, or if a man had a mind to hunt he can find deers bears, hares, foxes, wolves, and rabbits in abundance, but they hunt after gold in preference, which lam going to do. There is a man jnst come from the mines who got 6000 dollars in seventeen days, which is a great sum to be got in such a short time. I can assu re you that I have not exaggerated in the least, for I have given you the plain state of affairs. Gold is bringing from £3 4s. to £3 6s. pfr ounce in this place. Horses are very dear, a good horse will bring from 200 to 250 dollars, and a good cart horse will bring 200 dollars. Watches are very cheap, as well as all other goods ; every person that brought goods here has lost considerably. Timber is bringing an euormous price, they charge Is. Bd. a foot or ten dollars a plank ; owners of ships have broken them up for timber. If any of our friends intend coming it would be advisable for them not to bring many things, but to have ten or fifteen pounds left on landing ; but it is too late for any person to come this season, as by the time you receive this letter winter will be coming on, when every person will leave except those that ) aye houses. This is a splendid harbour, spacious enough to ride five thousand ships in safety ; there are from one hundred to one hundred and fifty heie at present, and about three hundred expected ; every day since I have been here vessels have been coming in. The Americans are beginning to diive foreigners out, but not the English. * * The butter and preserves we brought kept very well, and nineteen pounds of the butter we sold here at a dollar a pound.