AUCKLAND.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 217, 19 August 1862, Page 5

AUCKLAND.

[from our own correspondent.] Auckland, 7th August. It is now veiy nearly a month since an opportunity has occurred for tending you Auckland news, a misfortune which, I suppose, is osving to the loss of the White Swan, although that scarcely accounts for the long and apparently, objectless detention of the Queen at this place. In this case, however, the want of opportunity 13 of the less consequence, as, owing to the continued bad weather, since I last wrote you, news has not been very rife in Auckland. This state of things, however, cannot possibly be of much longer continuance now, and it is much to be wished that, for the future, no 3 leh long detentions as that of the Queen may take place. Of all our news, of coarse, our digging news is most liable to be affected by the weather, and this has been the case in no ordinary degree. Even continued and considerable success is hardly enough to keep up man's spirits under the depressing inSuenea of almost uubrokeu bad weather, they themselves living in a consjant state of damp, day and night—their mounds and embankments carried away by a succession of '•freshes." The roads over which they must bring their food is in such a state a3 to bs almost impassable to man or be*3t, and a large proportion of their time, such as to prevent thurn from working at all. All these combined, make up a total of difficulties such as would not be contended against for a day for the sake of any 1e.»3 powerful inducement than that of gold, and gold, too, in coasiderable'quantifies. That this inducement does exist at Coromandel is undeniable, in spite of the discouragement to its sale, which is caused by a want of buyers. Specimen gold has continued to be brought in for sale ia large quantities, but, owing to thr. same evil—already a crying one—without any great success.

The gully on Paul's land, from which all the !ar*e specimens have beeu obtained. is itself a very small one, and only one part of it has been worked, the claims extending 1500 feet by 12 feet in width, vet iv spite of this very small extent of digging ground, the quantity of gold taken from it, ten days ago, had certainly amounted to one thousand ounces,' which is reckoned to be of the value of about L 2 ocr oz. This although being a small proportion to the quantities obtained irom some of your own gullies, is certainly (or at least appears to us) a good substantial fact upon wmeh to build nope? and expectations for the future when instead of one little gully, hundreds may b'~ worked, not by one hundred and fifty men, but by same thousands. At present the work of prospecting we district U all bat impossible of accomplishment! from the fart that it h all forest of the densest and most impassable character, wliich csmbined with the weather makes the task one which few indeed would attempt. Oue or two adventurous men have indeed tried, and one of these, with whom I was talking a •lay or two ago, tells me that he saw good wasoato conclude that Paul s gully was neither the only nor the richest.gold producing gully in the district." He also showed me many specimens which he had picked up in his wanderings, and from their weisht and appearance I shou d say he held a valuable reward forhis exertion-?, which had extended over a fortnight but over only a small portion of the district. Although no other piece equal'in size and richness to the •Welcome' has since been found, yet some of little, if any, inferior value are being chipped off some o the quartz leaders wnteh strike Paul's gully. One was brought to Auckland a few days since wei-hin- 18i lbs, which upon being crushed in this city Yielded 6tJ ounces of pure gold. New reefs, or more probably spurs of reefs ar* being fouul every day, and piec^ sent up to Auckland to be assayed, yielding in every ca% an amount of gold which if"lt were a fair sp<>cimen of the present reef would be absolutely fabulous but which can scarcely be suppos Ito be such. The Mercury Bay exploring party, towhgse brilliant but damn prospects I before referred, have returned to Auckland, having found the weather too bad for this purpose, fhey report a country which seems a perfect wilderness of quartz re:fs and boulders in the higher leveU, and at present a swamp or something like it in the lower ones; so that although they have brought home many specimens ot quarts for the assayer, they liave been unsuccessful in their mission, which w^ principally to test the lower ground for alluvial deposits. This also will doubtless get a fair trial in spring or summer. One part, indeed, they were not allowed to prospect, where gold has already been found, bat which is jealously guarded by the native owners, who warn off all white intruder upon their domain; tins will not, however, lasfc long, example being very infectious to natives as to Euiopeans, and already signs of such an effect are visible at Coromandel. Peter, whoss land adjoins Paul's, has iust entered mto an agreement with the Government for thei digging over his property and that of his tribe. Thw will yet further extend the field of operations when hprmg arrives, and will moreover set a cooJ example to others. Mr. Maclean has likewise succeeded m buying about 12,000 acr^ on the Mereurv Hay side ofthe ranges, although of what character is not yet known. From all that I have said it will be cvment that success, although dawning upon our cold seeking exertions, is not yet of so brilliant a character as toi be a proper inducement to men who are doinanything:elsewhere, to rush thither; on the conti-ar? that until spring is well advanced a large influx o*f diggers would certainly be a misfortune, as disappointment would be nearly sure to follow; and indeed, desmte of al hitherto discovered and slaid about Coromandel I still incline to the opinion, thit although much gold will certainly be found there it will never be a place for rushes, never, in short a poor mans diggings. I may mention "here before closing the subject, that some pure cold has been washed in more than one instance from the alluvium in the claims now being worked in Pauls Gully; one party in what is called the junction claim, are said to have washed thirty ounces of pure gold out of their claim, an others following the example are reported to have had coiwiderable success ; these statements however I cannot vouch for, as I have uo sure intelligence from reliable sources.

Next to our gold fields, our native maters are to us, and will I suppose be to others the most intending of our news. In this tlie most important feature probably is, the state of destitution to which a variety of causes have reduced most ofthe unsettled or King tribes in this neighbourhood. These are credihlv reported to be all but starved, livin* indeed chiefly upon fern root, to which they were onl? occasionally reduced even in Captain Cook's time This state of things may be distinctly tracedtothe S«S moTCment.itaelf, because thera is no doubt tha? the constant excitement produced by the arrangements for this new government which were carried oKuch after the fashion of children, formed a eompleXr to their setthng down to any steady or useful w^rkwhile on the other hand, their wnstant fiw of ant^omsm to the British governmen^Ta^ Sulfation of their lands appear almost a waste of time,> Sf« aa w?S- inig mi.at anym <>ment destroy all the re«l ;i 3 Uam Tho I mpson ' and Perhaps-a few others, saw the dagger, and strove, as it appears in vain, to alf.i lt- 0f f TJf. m Ps^ indeed it is^d.that when called upon for his quota of men for the King's body gmird of household troops, he refused to send any, rlfi?'£f tUa^ Pla°tiD,S Potatoes was greatly more profitable work. Be the reasons however, what they may, we are now rather concerned with the results of the state to which these things have brought them And here it is a exeat satisfaction to know that Sir deorge Grey, who knew so well how to deal with the starving Oiffres at the Cape, will probably make any Rood use that am be made of this state of things in New Zealand. In case you should not think ft of sufficient interest to your readers to publish the reports obtained by Government from their Native Commissioners and Magistrates, I will endeavour to g>ve yoa some Wof idea of the state of things which discbse Mr. Gem's, which refers to the 2 Waikato tribes, contains an able statement ofthe nature, working:, and reasons ofthe King movement! In Hhe-plainlvshews how powerless for £5Sd purpose the whole thing is Sven anion*tWlmS w,o^* 0 itS Runaagi f^gdS schoolboys, and result, because scarcely any one takes any further

notice of the enactments thus passed. The inipre after leading this report is, that the King mov^enthasd^ene'ratealnto a movement for unbounded^ difcsris'e .:to, make Ja^3,and an equally unbounded license to break them when made. The only other yet published is Mr. Turton's report, and has reference to the state of the Natives,-prinei- ? ally on the Thames and south-east coast; of this rovince. In it he gives many very curious and sometimes amusing examples of the" Bunanga or Native Court and parliament system, for it appears to combine both in-one.? Perhaps the most amusing case was one which happened in the Thames Valley. And old woman was accused of having slandered the daughter of a petty chief, by calling her ataurekareka, or slave. A Kuuanga was he'd at once, and an old chief appointed Judge. Two 3 roung men were employed as Roias (Anglice, las-yers), with a fee of 10s. each. _ The counsel for the plaintiff opened the case, aad in a very few minutes succeeded in effectually puzzling the poor old judge. Thereupon, the other began also.and both parties vociferated at the top of their voices, accomptoying their speech by horrible grimaces at one another out their tongues, shaking their fists, and indeed, ail but fighting. The damages had been hud at fifty pounds, and a lame family party were presentto support by their presence and assistance a causfe; which seemed to promise so good a thing for the family. Excited by the lawyers' animated discussion, all these began likewise to lift up their voices in support of their relative's cause. At one time it appeared as though they would certainly -win by dint of mere shouting and grimacinsr, but suddenly the defendant herself, aa old woman, cleft her way through the crowd, and taking her stand in the middle, began a harangue in such a key as commanded attention. She abused the lawyers* the Judge, the company in general, and the plaintiff in particular, repeated with strong assertion and marked | emi>hasis the libel complained of, and f-hallen<»ed the whole Runanga to'silence fer. Upon tfiis, confusion became worse coufounde j. A host of friends immediately sprung up to support one so well able to uphold her own rights, and *as everyone* felt it needful to express his or her feelings by shouting and making horrible grimaces at the opposite party, the scene must be rather imagined than described ; nor could any approach to order be restored until Mr. Turton consented to act as judge, to the great annoyance of the lawyers, who, doubtless, feared that he would not be quite au fait to their mode of procedure. He finally gave judgment for the plaintiff, 10s. damages, a result which pleased all parties—the plaintiffs, because they had succeeded, to some extent at least; the defendant, because, as she proceeded to inform the assembled runanya, she never had liad, and never was likely to have' such a sum. Loud applause followed this statement of her a2kirs, and an extempore col ieettoa was made of small coins, clothes, He, tb aa u-.aoa.ifc greiter than th fine Thase were laid at ta-s feat of the piaiatiS's mother, and all rriireJ ia the highast state of gratificition. This, although absurd enough, is the most harmless view of the wording of this system with which Mr. Turtoa's report presents us. In genera!, its results seem to be the utmost oppression to individuals where it can be enforced, and utter contempt when it cannot; in some cases a man has been known to constitute himself a runanga for passing a prohibitory law concerning som? niese of ground; so that all trespassers mignt be fined. In another, a man has beeu fine! a young norsa for merely carrying a pistol contrary to regulation. In soim places a law has been passed forbidding any sale of wheat under a cartaia price per bushel, and grain has even been seized in" the trader's hands, in accordance with this law, and forfeited to the use of the ruaaiiga. Cases even worse than ih*se often appear to grow out of this system, threatening a wide spread immorality amongst them. Prom all".the facts narrated in these two reports, it seem 3 pretty clear that the oaly hope for the Maori lies in his being by some means brought under our laws a^s administered by ourselves ; the present system jis clearly infinitely worse than useless.

In Auckland, the Gas Company to which I referred in my last as being likely to be formed, is now in actual existence, with a capital of £20,000 in £5 shares. Considerably feiore than the foil number of shares was applied for at once, so that it will bave a most promising start: it is honed that active precautions for lighting the city wiif not be delayed "more than a very few months from tliis time." I don't know how Dune3in may be s:tuated, but I should think no city in the world could possibly be in greater need of light for its streets by night than Auckland.

Our population has received a small accession during last week, by the arrival of three English ships the Queen of the North, 112 days; the Royal Charlie, 127 days; and, lastly, the long-expected Blundell, 157 days out Together their passengers amount to between two and three hundred, —a small number if judged by a gold colony standar i, but yet by no means despicable in itsel£ Among the passengers were a considerable number of female domestic servants brought out by our Provincial Governmeut. Such a ruthvras caused by the announcement ofthe arrival of this scarcest of all articles in our market that the poor girls hardly knew how much wages to ask, or how little work they should engage to do. They were very quickly disposed of at good prices. Auckland's literary activity, which showed signs of life lately in the establishment of a daily paper, has budded apin in the production, of Ur. Chapman's New Zealand Magazine—the first number ol" which was published on the Ist of August, I suppose some will find their way to yourjnarket, sa I need not enter into any discussion of its merits here.

You will be glad to hear that our Customs' Revenue has been greatly on the increase of late, so much so indeed, that despite the non-arrival of three over-due ships, the revenue collected during the raontb of July amounted fo £3373. ■' °

Som? time ago you publisher ia a letter from a digger in Auckland to h s friend in Otaso, complaining inter alia,o f the dulness of our Northern Capital with respect to amusements. Ifl remember ri«-at he pronounced it to be "as dull as a coffin." ff he has not been driven away by our wet weather and lack of "free-aud-easies," he must have changed his mind by this time, as for many weefcs back there lias been a constant succession of entertainments, musical theatrical, kc, kc, of various degrees of excellence '- and excellent they would require to be to induce ladies and gentlemen to wade through the mud in moonless nights.