THE Otagi Daily Times " lnveniam viam aut faciam. "DUNEDIN. MONDAY, AUGUST 25, 1862.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 212, 25 August 1862, Page 4

THE Otagi Daily Times " lnveniam viam aut faciam. "DUNEDIN. MONDAY, AUGUST 25, 1862.

We are sorry to think that the excitement concerning the newly reported Dunstau Diggings is assuming extravagant dimensions. Is we are to believe what we arc told, men are throwing up lucrative situations, ami comfortable positions with prospects of promotion, for the sake of rushing off* to the as yet, but little known locality. Again we are assured that at Tuaptka, miners are mad cnougb(we can u;*e no other expression) to abandon claims paying them far more than ordinary wages to try the venture of the Dunstan field. We will in sober earnestness argue with these excitable people, and endeavor tv persuade them of the wisdom of the good old proverb, 4inot to be oti with the old love until they are on with the new."

As journalists we. had no option but to state in plain language the particulars of the discovery of Messrs. Hartley and Riley. Whilst doing so, and giving all the information in our power, our readers will bear us out that we took particular care not to " gild refined gold, to paint the lily, or throw a perfume on the violet." Wt might have indulged in a number of glowing comments, and events have borne us out in doing so; or, which is by no means improbable, they might have been found very fallacious However, we abstained from all word painting, but the result which has followed seem? to have been equally the same. In plain words, people have gone mad without the assistance of the Pres?. Messrs. Hartley and Hiley's statement is no doubt highly encouraging, backed as it is by the tangible results of their labor, —but this statement is ca. pable of division into two parts: one which deals with fact?, the other that trenches upon surmise. We take it as established that some spot through which the Molyneux passes has at some time or other been very rich iv th. precious metal. The gold has for ages been undergoing a process of disintegration by the agency of the swift flowing current. The river bed] has been a natural cradle, and the bar? of the river have been the'ripples. For twenty miles, we are told, gold has been proved to exist, and on the natural obstacles or bars it is shown to have accumulated. Our two discoverers, possessing o knowledge of the kind of working and great j | natural intelligence, have gone over this sluice bed of nature, and have skimmed up or cradled the gold. Not two, nor two hundred, nor two thousand men could divest, in so short a period, the vast sluice of the riches that have probably taken ages to ac cumulate; but we may be very certain that, as far as in them lay, they have skimmed ! the richest portions. Grant that they gave over because they were frightened of being discovered and losing their reward for the j discovery, yet we may guage the value of what they were. getting by the reward they sought. They asked for two thousand pounds, equivalent to a little more than 500 ounces, or at the rate at which they were working, namely 12 ozs. a "day, forty-two days work. Under any circumstances they could have counted upon clear three weeks from the time they were discovered before a considerable rush could set in, and they would always have been able to secure a lai^e claim.

In feet, in their position a prospective reward of £2,000 seems very little for renouncing, as they have done, the earning a pound weight of gold a day. Believing, as we do, implicitly, in the good faith and honorable nature of the statement they have made, we look in it for an explanation of the apparent anomaly of their having left the ground, abstained from applying for a prospecting claim, and renounced 12 ounces a day for the sake of a contingent f reward of £2000. To our minds the statement furnishes abundant explanation of the anomaly, but this explanation seems to have been wholly overlooked by the excitable persons who are rushing to the spot. Part of the secret of their success was the power of roaming about from spot to spot, from bar to bar, from pocket to pocket, without being controlled within the limits of a defined claim. At the first clue to their discovery, they would have had to have selected and^confined themselves to a particular claim, and this they thought so little inviting, that they have not even applied for a prospecting grant. This fact ought not to be lost upon miners who are rushing to the spot, and should teach them to largely

limit their expectations. The next and not less impertant explanation of the anomaly referred to is, the iact that a large, if not the largest, proportion of the gold was obtained in spots which may daily be closed to the labors of the* miners. The Molyneux has been particularly low this season, and

taking advantage of it, our adventurous prospectors washed stuff from spots which would be inaccessible after a few day 3 hot weather had melted the snow, and caused the river to rise. Far away in the ranges beyond the Lakes, the gnow was waiting as it were to resume it* normal form, and rush to its ocean destination. Any day might have seen the foaming torrent seething down the rapid fall of the bed, and completely covering up Tor a season the golden treasure beneath it. We thus see that the prospects connected with the absolute loci in quo from which the bulk of the gold was obtained, are to a great extent problematical. That is to say, the successors to the first prospectors, will have to work under the disadvantage of arbitrarily defined areas, and of the daily to be expected inaccessibility of many of the proved richest spots. So far, then, the report explains to us why the men were willing to trust to the reward, rather than to continue to work with a chance of forfeiting it.

We now come to the part of the report which borders en surmise, and which, though comprising suppositions of a highly probable nature, is yet not to be accepted as a proved fact. That the surmises are probable, the prospectors evidently believe, as on their proving so they have to rely, to a ?reat extent, for the large production of gold on which their reward depend?. Thesuppositions may !>e more readily understood by a short reference back. As we have said, there can be no doubt that the Molyneux, at some time or other, rolled through some exceedingly rich auriferous ground, of greater or less extent. On that extent, and on the fact whether the water courses running into the Molj'neux have drained the surrounding auriferous land of its deposits, depend the suppositions to which we allude. Probability is much in favor of the theory that the Molyneux waters a large extent of auriferous ground, and that the river and it tributaries have only to a small extent performed the disintegrating process. Thus the surmises in which the report indulges, that the flats and hills adjoining the river will be found auriferous, and that a considerable amount of gold country will be found in the Upper Clutha Valley and towards the lakes which feed the Molyneux, are, to say the least, highly probable—but they are not proved. A few of those who are rushing off may be fortunate enough to work rich river claim?, but the majority must lepend upon the question oi\ the country, bordering the river, proving, as supposed, auriferous. We thus arrive at little more than the fact, that as far as a large oumberof gold diggersare concerned,they have only to depend upon the hope that country, which there is good reason to suppose is auriferous, will turn out as expected. A highly probable gold field has been indicated, ;it remains to be tested. It has to be prosj pected, and for thit purpose snrely an army of two thousand prospectors should suffice. About that number we estimate have already departed to the presumed gold field, and those who remain behind we strongly counsel to await the result of their investigation. We do not deny that there is every reason to look for the best; that the least sanguine see cause to be hopeful; but facts are facts, and probabilities should not be mistaken for them. Gold Di gg*ng w admittedly a very uncertain pursuit, and it is extreme unsafe, even from the splendid prospect already discovered, to assume as a certainty the knowledge of the particular locality whence the Molyneux has cradled its golden treasure. We say, assuming for a certainty, because nothing less than ths should justify men in renouncing claims already proved to be remunerative, or should excuse others for throwing up comfortable and lucrative situations. It is to be borne in mind that the expedition is of a " hit or miss character. Those who are successful will probably think themselves amply compensated for the hardships they will undoubtedly endure, but what consolation will there be for those who, suffering the hardships, earn nothing to atone for them. They go to a place where provisions will be exceedingly scarce and enormously expensive—where the limited supply of firewood will be speedily exhausted, and the road to which is be3et with difficulties of no * common nature. Besides the absence of provisions and firing on the road, they will have to undergo the danger of being snowed up. This is no slight risk. At this very time last year two miners only coming from Tuapeka, by the West Taieri road, were nearly lost. By way of warning, we extract the paragraph referring to the circumstance from the Witness of the 24th August last:—r

About two weeks ago, two men named Aitkin and Heudereon, who hud been unsuccessful at the diggings, were returning to town for the purpose of procuring proper toob and other necessaries to carry on