Otago Daily Times. "Inveniam viam out faciam." DUNEDIN, TUESDAY, MAY 19, 1862.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 158, 19 May 1862, Page 4

Otago Daily Times. "Inveniam viam out faciam." DUNEDIN, TUESDAY, MAY 19, 1862.

The Auckland papers, 'with a pertinacity worthy of a better cause, are writing up the Coromandel so-called gold fields, until they have almost converted themselves to the belief in what they write. In some of the papers, especially those intended for transmission by the monthly mail to England, they have sprinkled the paragraphs throughout the different pages, and under all kinds of headings, after the manner of a skilful advertiser. The absurdity of some of the statements, and the deductions attempted to be drawn from them, are manifest to any one possessing the slightest acquaintance with the subject; but to these the paragraphs are scarcely addressed ; the object seems rather "to split the ears of groundlings," without reference to making the "judicious grieve." Cpjjhere is probably no place in the world where 'M&Bfery- is so well understood,' or, as ah art, is fySiSned to greater perfection than in Auckland. We need not refer to the consummate skill with which natives are treacled and blanketed, for the Coromandel diggings supply us with an instance. ; At the commencement of March last, private letters were circulated through Dunedin and on the diggings, which purported to contain accounts of extraordinary rich finds at Coro- j mandel. Knowing, by experience, the inutility of endeavoring to argue away a probability of ■the kind, which so strongly appeals to the peculiar instincts of the miner, we contented ourselves with advising a delay of a few days, when a reporter of our staff, who had gone on other business to Auckland^ would return, arid from whom we could calculate on reliable intelligence. The news he brought was such as to entirely allay the excitement. In the meanwhile, however, some two hundred miners had entered into the trap, and set sail for Ceromandcl. Accounts from them were not slow in coming back. For instance, here is an extract from a letter from a person who was very early on the spot, written under date March Bth,- Coromandel :— Do not pay any attention to newspaper reports, for I can assure you, -my dear , the diggingsareno good. They will not pay anything like average wages, and it is all bosli about their being-good; laborer's wages from four to five sfiillings per day. From your affectionate father, Michael. Martin. Subsequent letters followed, which clearly showed the hoax which had been played upon the persons induced to go to Coromandel, — from deliberately false statements industriously circulated. From time to time we published them.—ln our issue of April 22nd, we were able to give the following extract from a private letter, written to a merchant in Duncdin, by a person who added that, if he believed in the diggings, he would have sent orders to purchase tools, &c., but which he did not think it safe to order. As T hear considerable excitement exists in Ofngo among the mmmg1 population, in consequence of some very flourishing account being spread of the Coromnn'der diggings", no doubt'by' owners and captains of vessels wanting passengers, I think it may be necessary to put you on your guard. That there are at present from 150 to 200 diggers at Coromandel is true. j They consist of say 50 or CO receiving- Government rations, as an inducement for them to properly, prospect the district, but who are, as iye are infonirSd from private''sources, recreating themselves in some I cases by the -manly game of quoits ; ifa'Olhers innp- ! ceritly. passing the time with pitch and toss, all fours, Sec , taking care, while the allowance continues, to report their firm belief in there being gold diggings, to the Government. A little later our ej'ca were opened to the peculiar nature of the movement. A-private-letter was shown us, in which the Coromandel diggings were highly extolled, and it was stated thatthe miners who had just landed were in the best spirits. We obtained consent to read on, past the extract which was specially designed for our benefit, wlien it appeared that the letter was from one of the charterers of a vessel to the Coromandel, and the disinterested individual recommended his correspondent, after procuring the publication of the glowing account, to charter another vessel, fill it with passengers, and consign it to him (the writer). The letter quoted above is strongly corroborated by the correspondent of the New Zeahnder, writing under date April 24th. "We have about 180 miners up here," he writes, "but I should say not above one-third "of them are at work." Now is it understood what we mean about the skill in bribery which the Auckland people are so highly gifted with. In plain terms, Government rations are given to a number of miners, and-in return they are expected to speak highly of the prospects of the field, and to furnish inexhaustible materials to the local newspapers. Other persons were also to be induced to prospect- gratuitously, and mennwhilc the Otago miners were to be tempted to prolong their stay. Undoubtcdly^there was a possibility, even, for argument's sake, say probability, of good gold being found; and the excellence of the end, we presume they considered justified the means—namely, obtaining

j-miners upon false pretences.- Some good specimens of gold and qmrtz have been found, [together with thin auriferous leaders, which argue the probable existence of a payable reef. We need not tell our quanz mining- renders that th*: evidence is not even conclusive; that such leaders are found fn.quently to ruu out; and that, often theyhave proved mere wiil-o'-tiie-wisps, to lure the unfortunate speculator into losses of thousands of pounds in the ardour to trace them successfully down. But these specimens have been inexhaustible wealth in the hands of the Auckland government. Day after day have tlv y been dished up in various forms, and o.tr.'.-.i and side dishes prepared from them, till the writers, like little hoys who flatten their noses •against pastry-cooks windows, almost imagine they taste the delicacies, the shapes of which they keep before their eyes. A .great Cfln i with them is a prospecting party, known as Murphy's, which the Commissioner and newspapers declare are getting out quartz which will yield "at the rate of 2£ozs. to the ton." Inferences are drawn of the splendid nature of this discovery by one newspaper scribe, who has ferreted" out that four and a half pennyweights to the ton pay the quartz miner in Victoria. Singularly they were silent as to the number of tons Mr. Murphy had operated on, to enable him to arrive at the rate of two and a half ounces to the ton, but we shrewdly suspect it was ounces instead of tons that were crushed, seeing that the strongest representations are made about the necessity of continuing to assist Mr. Murphy with rations, to encourage him to prolong his labors. A curious being Mr. Murphy must be, to require to be stimulated with rations to prevent him from abandoning a claim that will return him two and a half ounces to the ton. Another correspondent does a little of the flunkey business. A great many of our Victorian readers must recollect Mr. Bracken bury, who tried his hand as Gold Commissioner at Melvor and Anderson's diggings, and at both places, his enemies say, With equal want of success! Of this gentleman, Jeames attempts to make a little capital. " I " hear " says he " that Mr. lirackenbury, late li gold commissioner hi Victoria, has arrived " whether in an official capacity or not I can- " not say ; but he is a great favorite with all " up here, having been known by many in "Australia as a really experienced person. "It certainly argues well for Coroniaudel " that we should have such a visitor." The Southern Cross, which displays more prudence than its contemporary, seems to be like the young man who told his sweetheart,. : ...I've lots of love, as you do know,. Jsut hav'nt any money. This journal recommends caution in making further grants for prospecting purposes from the public funds. The following paragraph also from that journal, is well worthy of perusal:— In common with our' contemporaries, ire were shown several specimens of rich quartz last Monday, but deemed it prudent to wait for more authentic intelligence, regarding the circumstances nuclei- which they were found, than was communicated to us, before publishing the fact. However,1 uou' that the matter has been made public, there is no reason for our declining to confirm the fact that these specimens have come to town, and that they indicate the existence of rich quartz reefs in Coromandel. The naive manner in which it admits the doubts it felt as to the authentic character of the specimens, and argues that, now that the matter has been made public, there is no harm in confirming the fact, ' not that they had come from Coromandel, but that, they had come to town,' is exquisitely ludicrous. We must now give a specimen of the side" dishes served up." The JVeio Zcalai.der has nearly half a column occupied with an account of an analysis of some eight tons of quartz from Coromandel, sent to London in 1859 and which turned out —what do our readers think ?—two grains of gold, and twenty-four grains of silver, to the ton! To set at rest the non-auriferous nature of the quartz, the analyser tested the arsenical pyrites" with which the quartz was impregnated, and found it gave a return of gold. The analysis of the pyrites gave s£oz. to the ton but, like a needle in a haystack, it was so difficult to find in the quartz, that the quartz which contained it only assayed two grains of gold to the ton. Our deduction from this is that the quartz is decidedly nonaurifcrous, and that the pyrites exhibited auriferous indications which are most tisnal to pyrites. Pyrites of copper, iron, and arsenic almost invariably contain traces "of gold and silver. Another skilful dish of the' New Zealander was the extraction of a letter from the Mining journal, by which it appeared that from a quartz reef in Wales 4.36 tons had yielded 2384 ozs. of gold. Whether this extract \Yas given with the playful intention, qf allowing the reader to say it was " very like a whale," or with the view of showing that although there might be a rich quartz reef, the country was not necessarily a favorable one for the operations of the gold-minor, (and no vvillsaj' that Wales is) we do not know ; but certainly the inference should be unfavorable rather than favorable to the efforts being made to make Coromandel the scene of a rush. We have entered somewhat fully into the subject because we have reason to know that another attempt will be madetogetup another rush. Specimens are being sent down, for exhibition, . and a local journal, from the garbled extracts it admits to its columns, is supposed to be under the -sway of Auckland influence, and is expected to favor the design. If we thought the prospect a good one, we would not for a moment warn the miners from going. But the prospect as yet is more than doubtful^ No indications of payable njlnvial gold have been found, the country is almost inaccessible,.and the quarts reefs, if any exist, in anything beyond detached veins, are 'exceedingly..difficult to get at. In another article we will have something more to say on what will await the miners from Maori owners of the land supposing gold to be found. The, mail, despatched by the " Aldinga" on Saturday comprised 8825 letters and G275 newspapers. -..:'.;-.•■ Fortunately, the Queen had not left Melbourne before the. mail was' telegraphed, otherwise the I English mail woula have been detained for iiig Omeo. The -Queen may be looked for in the - course of the day. Wo would suggest to tho Postmaster the making up of a Supplementary English mail, to go by the City of Hobart. If .this vessel be fortunate, she will reach the Heads

Lv time to phi< o the bag on buarti tlie out-going stuuiuur. Supposing tho letters by the Queen arrive and be ili'livwwl to-day, nn-swers could thus be returned to them by the *ime mail—a feat never but nici; ucoojiiiilished before, —by the ill-fated Osou-. The first meeting of the Committee appointed at the public mteiing to t.gitatc the en use of Separation takes plai'e to-day. , It is to be hoped members will not be in thin attendance, and now that they will have an opportunity of Sir G. Grey's presence!, take advantage of it to sound ,lum oil the quistion. If it be desired to conduct li" the movement to success, activity and energy * •-. must be exercised. We may mention as intcrestingito our comnierciol raiders.l hat the steamer '• Planet" left this port on Thursday forthc Taieri River, with a full cargo, uud after working up the river passed into the "Waihola Lake, she drawing 6 feet water, and discharged her freight at the Clarendon Jetty. By this means a saving of 20s. per ton lighterage ■will be effected, on goods for Tokomairiro and the diggings by this route. SIR GEORGE GREY'S VISIT. "We "believe Sir George Grey's arrival may he now daily looked for. We understand rooms have been engaged for him at the Criterion Hotel, and arrangements made for speedy transmission from the Heads of the news of his arrival. A coach and four are enfaged to convey him from the Jetty to his lotel. In regard to arrangements by the inhabitants privately, we liave not much to chronicle. Indeed, something ol apathy is displayed in the matter in town, but on the diggings, we believe, considerable preparations are Deing made to give his Excellency a suitable reception. That we have not stirred the townspeople up in the matter, is because we believe the value of a legal movement such as this, is exactly in proportion to its spontaneity. On his own account, and in virtue of his position as the representative of the Imperial Sovereignty, Sir George Grey is entitled to a brilliant reception; but wo are sure he would not value the same if it were only accorded at the instigation of the Press. We say nothing, therefore, to urge—let it rest entirely on the feelings of the inhabitants themselves. TUB HJGHLAY DIGGINGS. There is no fresh news direct from Highlny (dig- - gings on Mr. Saxton's run), but from Waikouaiti the intelligence is entirely of a nature to confirm the payable nature of the new gold field. Several small paicels of gold have found their way there. About lOoz. of the gold have come to Dunediil. The quality appears good, mid the sample is altogether a very pretty one. A great number of people are on their way to the new field. IVom Dunedin they goby way of Waikouaiti, but from the diggings, we arc iufoimcd, a great many are going across country. The laborers about Wnikouaitiaresaidtobe leaving their employment, so as to be early on the spot. Mr. Bailey, the prospector of the quartz reuf, has returned to the field. We observe that a great many people are giving the new field the nnme of the Shag Valley. The inelegance of the appellation is obvious. The High lay Mountain, which is in the immediate neighborhood, is of a sufficiently prominent nature to justify the new field being sailed utter it, and the name is not unpleasing. ' -