THE GOLD FIELDS. WAITAHUNA. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Otago Daily Times, Issue 159, 20 May 1862, Page 5

THE GOLD FIELDS. WAITAHUNA. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Waitahuna, May 15,1862.

If it Were likely to produce the smallest impression on the minds of those to whose custody is committed the public purse, then would your correspondent describe hair-breadth 'scapea from broken limbs —and, perhaps, loss of life—owing to the frightful state of the roads. The nlightest shV.vei- is sufficient to render the roads all but impassable, and yet, with a keen ucrception of the requirements of the country, those dangerous, sidliugs and abrupt rises are loft in their primitive condition, while a considerable sum is, I believe, being spent on the portion already made between Tokoinainro and Dunedin. It is ever the same,' lounl influence, and not the wants of those who really require i^si&tance, decides where the public moneys shall be expended. I presume, it is the desire of the authorities to retain as large a population as they can on tlic gold fields; yet, how is this possible if they increase the cost of living by raising the price of carriage, and render, through inattention, the means of communication with Duuedin even uncertain. How C'obb and Co. manage to , bring the coaches through with such regularity as to -the hour of arrival, I am at a loss to determine ; certainly the amount of skill and nerve required on the pai t of the drivers to make the journey on a wet day is by no means trifling. ' When you have to descend a hill aa steep as the roof a house, and see that the wheels of the coach do not " bite'; the ground, but slide over the greasy surface as though it were ice, you may well feel apprehensive thai that flax bush or large tussock will bring you to grief, and appreciate the skill by wjiicb. such a catastrophe is avoided. The Camp ha 3 been removed from its orignal position in the gully to a piece of ground behind Hill and Smithers' Hotel. The site chosen is> rather low, and lam afWiid will be flooded during the winter; but it is central, and will enable the Commissioner to reach every portion of the gold field with ease and rapidity. While here I saw a parcel of gold weighing several ounces, amongst which was a very curiously-shaped nugget. It w:is tooth-like in appearance, broken abruptly at the one end and painted at the other. It was found in old ground, and weighed over an ounce. How it iv that this ground remains unsystematically worked,' I am at a 10-^s to say. There aro no puddling machines, and but one solitary race is . being cut to wash ground known to be rich, and which could' give remunerative employment to hundreds of men, now only pottered orer by an occasional "fossicker." It surely cannot be that Captain lialdwin is so blind to the real interests of the gold field committed to his charge as to discourage the systematic working ot the old ground .by I puddlcra or sluieers. It is of the last importance that whatever gold is in the soil should be extracted, and if this 13 to be done by system and the expenditure of capital, inducement should be held out to those willing to invent. No doubt in such casos there is always a certain amount of monopoly granted to those who are enterprising enough to risk their time and money ; but the fear of a cry of tins kind being got up. should not deter the authorities from giving ail reasonable facilities for working ground now abandoned, or at the most only occasionally dug upon" by some solitary " hatter."

The Deep Sinking Association have sunk their i new shaft to tbe depth of 50 feet, and as they are now j testing ground lying between the old workings and a t new rush that has taken place to a hill behind tlic I old Post Office, they are -very sanguine as to their striking soractliins; good. On the hill referral to there hare been some firstrate claims, but the ground is very patchy. The sluicing parties on the river continue to do well, and the flat is being dotted over by the tents of | numerous parties who are engaged in stripping the j banks. These men have evidently made up their , minds to pass the winter here, and make themselves us comfortable as possible, by the erection of chimneys and sod walls round their tent*. There is plenty of lignite close at haii'l, and if it does snow or rain they can, at least, make themselves warm indoors. There are numerous binnll rushes continually taking place, and I have no doubt that with a return of population in the spring, new discoveries will be made, and that this gold field will rival Tuapeka in ricluiess and extent. ' , '», .