AUCKLAND.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 203, 2 August 1862, Page 5

AUCKLAND.

(FROM OCR OWN COHHESrONDEST.) t Auckland, July 15,1862. I I hasten to avail myself of the opportunity ~ afforded by the Storm Bird, wliich sails to- } morrow, having taken the place of the illfated White Swan, to send you the Auckland / news. A very short time ago, the news of a J fortnight in Auckland would have been an } almost inappreciable quantity; but happily J that state of things is passing fast away, and J every week seems richer in news than the J last. Some excitement still existed in Auck- : land until yesterday regarding the White I Swan disaster, as our news on the subject was : of the most meagre description ; indeed, it was not until the arrival of the Storm Bird that i we learnt anything of the shipwrecked mail, and whether any of it was saved. I hope that my letter was in the fortunate bag that escaoed destruction, although I suppose the chances are not in my favor. Our Coromandel news is of a more decidedly gratifying character ( than it has hitherto l«en ; in "despite of bad ) weather, which we have had in abundance, t and its accompanying difficulties and dis- s couragements lor diggers, great progress has ,; been made by the man employed in the gully ' or rather water course before mentioned. All j the claims seem to have yielded a sufficient a return to keep the diggers in excellent spirits, 1 m spite of the severe hardships entailed upon * them, hy the utter impossibility of keeping c themselves dry, day or night, conjoined with ''. the state of the place, which obliges them to i carry all their provisions over a fearful bush i road lor a distance of three miles. In most of I the claims the work done has been principally ! of a preliminary character, such as trying to " turn the course of the headlong mountain ] streams which comes down in great force from < the high ranges above. Some of these new * water courses are 7 feet deep, and that for some '', considerable distance along the bank. In doing ; this sort of work however, much gold is being i found by nearly every party; last-week the largest > piece of mixed quartz and gold yet discovered l was picked up by one of Watson's party, and ( named by them " The Welcome ;" its weight , was 0 pounds 7 ounces, aud it was reckoned i as containing 50 per cent of gold. A great many i other specimens were likewise fouud, and sent i to Auckland, where on Saturday morning last, " Mr. S. Jones held a gold sale in the Brunswick ] Rooms, at which eighteen and a-half pounds i of specimens were offered for sale. lam sorry < to say that as yet there are few men in Auckland who care to become purchasers of gold, at , least in this form, and perhaps stiil fewer who ; at all understand the business; this was very ap- < parent on Saturday, when it was quite a ' matter of difficulty to obtain a decent bid for ' the very finest specimens. The " Welcome " ' indeed was sold for Ll5O cash, and some other fine specimens like wise changed hands, although evidently, at something below their value. It > is to be hoped, and I should think expected, '■ that we shall soon have an Assay Office in this ' city, and also some merchants who understand the business of gold buying; as such inadequate returns as were obtained on Saturday must have the effect of preventing sales here, so that we shall lose the returns of much of our gold. There is a good deal of gold certainly in the hands of diggers at present, one party having had as much as six or seven pounds weight on hand on Friday last, whilst the others less fortunate, ranged from five to two; none of this has come to town yet, but most of it is in specimens of great richness, as much as 80 and 90 per cent being common, and some of it nearly pure metal. On Saturday last, I examined some pieces recently broughtup in company with a gentleman of considerable mining experience acquired in Australia. He gave it as his opinion that some of the pieces contained a larger proportion of the precious metal than any he had seen in Australia. Although the original Paul's gully is as yet the centre of attraction, however a good deal of work is being carried on quite independently of it. Several parties are reported as sinking or driving elsewhere with various success, but all in good spirits. Nothing apparently is being done at Keven's reef now ; I suppose it is at a stand-still until the expected machinery arrives; meanwhile the shares seem to be rising in value; as much a ten pounds premium being offered, and in some instances refused. We have more news ofthe Mercury Bay party, whose brilliant prospects I mentioned in my last; they write in the highest spirits, aud not apparently without very good reasons, as far as lean judge, but owing to the floods they have as yet made no discoveries of alluvial diggings in the strict sense of the word. Quartz in enormous, almost unprecedented, quantities, and of great richness they seem to find on every side—indeed they say that the whole range of hills is covered with white quartz cliffs, while great boulders lie about on every side, and the ground is in some parts seamed with reefs of the same rock, cropping out upon the surface. In all these rocks, whether boulder or reef, gold in considerable quantities is easity discernible, sometimes with the naked eye, sometimes not without a magnifying glass. I hope soon to be able to give more particulars of this district, which seems likely to prove a very rich one, and will doubtless be tested effectually in summer if not before. As gold is so much the topic here at present, I find I have filled np a very large space on that subject; this may not perhaps be much objected to by your readers, as gold has, doubtless, strong interest for thera at all times* With regard to the Assembly you J will doubtless be better informed by this time j than we are, but as some anxiety may be felt regarding the amount of loss entailed by the White Swan's wreck, I am happy to say that a great part of the lost documents can be supplied from hence, and are i actually goin<* down by the Storm Bird. By '. this means, I hope tbe business will not be so s much retarded as seemed at first probable. ; Wiremu Nera, who is making the road \ j from the^ Waipa River to Raglan, has

been in town himself for a few days lately; and, from his own account, I learn that he.has not gone upon King Land; nor has he been at all molested by the Kingnatiyes, only when he approached the boundary of his land he found a body of 40 of his Majesty's body guard encamped on the other side of the river, apparently for purposes of intimidation. Nothing more has been attempted—and that did not frighten an old warrior like the roadmaker. He has, he says, actually cut a great part of the road where it goes through feiji land, and has cleared tlie underwood through the part that is forest. Having done so much, he will not vex the sensitive feelings of the royal guards by remaining near them, but will return to Raglan and begin to cut the road through the forest at that end. The household troops will probably retire before he gets into their neighborhood again. The Auckland Gas Company has been formed, and will, I have no doubt, be a success. It is to be incorporated as a Limited Liability Company, the shares to be of £5 each. Entire capital, £20,000. Mr. Smith, the engineer, stated in his report that £16,000 would be quite sufficient for present requirements, and his widely extended experience is quite sufficient guarantee for the general correctness of his estimate. I don't know how soon we may expect to see Auckland lighted with ga*. Mr. Smith said four months from the works' commencement. AVhen that will be, however, I cannot say yet. The Customs revenue for the first twelve days of this month amounted to £4,000, a sum greater than ever before collected in the same time, save iv June, 1858, when a sudden increase of duties was experienced. And this is the more remarkable, as only two English ships arenow in harbor, threeothers r tbeUlundell, the Itoyal Charlie, and Northern Queen, being now due,

This has hitherto been the wettest winter (save one) that I remember during the many years I have resided in this Province. Now, however, a change has come at last, and this is the sixth day of such splendid weather as I fancy is only to be met with on a dry winter day in New Zealand—clear, with a light breeze, or quite calm ; ( bracing, but not cold. Merely to live and move out of doors in such weather is positive enjoyment. The price of line flour has risen to 17s. per lOOlbs., and ofthe 21b. loaf to 4id.