THE GOLD-FIELDS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 92, 3 March 1862, Page 2

THE GOLD-FIELDS.

(XFroni our own Correspondent.) < Tuapeka, 27th February, 18G2. > Notwithstanding the repeated assurances tliat '• Gabriel's Guliy was worked out, instances of extra- j ordinary success botli in the old and new pfround arc ' constantly to be met with. At the upper end ofthe l gully on the biue working.?, so named from the color ofthe strata parsed through, there have been some ( remarkably rich finds. One claim that I visited ' yielded, as the result of one week's washing, over ' 240 oz., and tin wash dirt of several in the immediate ' neighborhood, glittered after a shower like a jeweller's ( shop. In the old ground, I hear of occasional lucky s hits, but they arc chiefly to he mot with in working old pillars, and holes bottomed by miners unaccus- '• tomed to gold digging. When the first rush took ' place many holes "were sunk and not bottomed, and ' even when this was done, the gold bearing stratum ! was either entirely overlooked or else thrown on the ' surface to be mixed with the pipe-clay and soil that '• had been passed through. So frequently has this '. taken place that it is the opinion of experienced ' miners that the gully would pay to sluice from top to : bottom. I may mention in proof of the permanent character of the goldfield that Major Croker has had i numerous applications for permission to erect puddling . machines. Several of these applications have been granted conditionally, aud the parties are now busily employed in erecting' their machines. I find that the applicants are for the most part old Bendigo puddlers, who, no doubt, remember well the extraordinary success that waited on the efforts of those who first established this method of extracting the gold from the soil in Victoria. Besides men engaged in this kind of working, are always men continuous in their efforts, and usually settle down to it, with the same untiring industry that they would apply to their trade or calling. Indeed, it is better that the _ gold-miner should look on his occupation as a kind of business rather than think it, as many do, merely a| sort of chance work, only to be undertaken as a species of approved gambling. Why should not the cxl Taction of gold from the soil be" as recognised a business as that of storekeeping. It is to the absence of this impression that we owe much of the erratic work undertaken |by the men who are for the nonce dubbed miners. They have never looked on goldmining as a business, and are not prepared to 3tick to it; heuce any rumor of a rush to some spot where gold is being obtained by the bucketful, is sufficient to induce them to abandon payable ground, and at once undertake a journey to the new Eldorado. It lis of no consequence that the information is vague and frequently wild in the extreme. It may, perhaps, turn out to be correct. At all events they will give it a trial. I trust that, profiting by experience, we will haveless of this rushing about, and more of steady, quiet work, which in the end is the most remunerative. No new ground has been opened at Wetherstone's, and the large body of the miners are either engaged in working out their claims, or washing the heading.? from those that have been abandoned. The diggings are gradually extending down the flat, but the ground is wet ; and from the fact that each party is allowed to turn the creek just as it suits them, many claims that would be profitably worked are abandoned. If a Mining Board is ever to be formed, one of their first duties will be to urge on the Government the propriety of at once cutting a new and direct channel. Were this done, the storm-waters which are now allowed to flow without control, would be collected into one bed, and safely carried through the various workings. As it is, no sooner have we a shower of rain than the creek overflows its banks, and holes are flooded, paddocks swamped, and a general scene of wreck and confusion ensues. Again, were the storm wateis safely carried off, miners would set in to work ground, which, at present they will not look at— knowing full well that the first rainy day would destroy tho fruits of their previous labour. Monro's Gully is the scene of considerable activity, and the diggings are gradually tending towards the Tuapeka. Almost daily we have small rushes in in this direction, and it is no uncommon thing to witness strings of diggers, thirty or forty in number, returning in the evening to their tents at Gabriel's or Wetherston's. I feel certain that this is the direction the diggings must ultimately take. Poimlation very fluctuating, and rather, if anything, on the decrease, v