AUCKLAND.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 231, 16 September 1862, Page 5

AUCKLAND.

TFUOM;OUB OWW COBBESfcONDJENT.) ■

* r y September, 6th, 18621 The news per Queen ofthe discovery of new, ex tensive, and exceedingly rich gold-fields in your vicinity has created an immense excitement here. Diggers who.wero patiently lounging about in the city until the arrival ofthe quartz crushing machinery which is daily expected ior Coromandel^ and where preparations for fixing Tit have been ] going on for some time past, were at once stirred/ into action, arid large groups of these men could be seen at every street corner/discussing the practicability of securing a vessel to convey them at once to the much praised locality. Our enterprizing merchants were not behind-hand in taking advantage of this state of affairs, and ere half-a-dozen hours had elapsed from tlie news being generally disseminated of the reality of ia new field for gold seeking endeavors, being discovered, (and whiih was to be so rich),- four vessols wer laid on for Dunedin, and arrangements made for the erection of berths on the wholesale system.

The splendid clipper ship Queen of the North, the steam ship Queen, the fore-and-aft schooner Lombard and Rebecca schooner, were each announced as prepared to depart for the auriferous region on very short notice, .0 and subsequent days have only added to tlie )■ list./1 now find the Vistula, the cutter Aquilla,

and cutter schooner Sylph, .advertising for berths at disposal, arid doubtless others will speedily follow. The Rebecca has been the first to depart, and started from the < Manakau with upwards of forty passengers, on Wednesday, 3rd; and on the succeeding day the favorite'schooner Lombard took her leave of Auckland- with

seventy-two diggers. • The s.s. Queen, will doubtless, in addition to the mails, carry its quota to

Dunedin, and.Hhe' Queen of the North will be

ready to sail on the succeeding day, Monday, the Bth, if sufficient inducement offers. In spite of this exodus, however, I do riot believe Coromandel will very materially suffer. It has not come to my knowledge that any.of the miners \vho have really tested the paying capabilities t f the reefs at Coromandel, have been tempted to throw up their claims witb the idea of bettering themselves on the Dunstan fields 5 and, adhering

to your proverb, quoted in advice to the Tuapeka nw diggers, have wisely stuck to the old love until da; they are on with the new. • cr £ Another reason has undoubtedly operated with n no small force on the minds of .our digging population, and that is the extent of road to be tra- y ll versed after disembarking, before tlie gold region is i can be reached. The muddy condition of the lin roads to be traversed from the landing place at ,j 0 Coromandel up to the Driving Creek, a distance of two miles, was quite sufficient to disconrage many v digger df little experience, who had any- Bt* thing approaching a heavy gwag to encumber th his movements, and I am not without information I ms of parties arriving at Coromandel, having despatched one or two of their party as pioneers to ex traverse the road, inspect the gold field, and n- ~i turn to them on the vessel and report; which in one recent instance resulted in n retreat being de- g, cidedon, and the vessel was put back without B j, further steps being taken to test the field. Thanks M to tlie fine weather however, which has recently q prevailed, the roads are now verymuch improved. ni But wbat must be said of the 130 miles to be tra- n , veiled from Dunedin to Dunstan, with the very iv- cc adequate supplies which must necessarily, fur a St time at least, be available on the different stations | 0 on the route? ol With reference to the present condition of a< affairs at Coromandel, I think I could not do & better than give you the words of a report sup- ra plied to me by a well-known ossayer of this city, j He says :— a My confidence In the auriferous quality of the ol reefs bas been strengthened by every fresh test that I have made, and I have not the slightest doubt that ai as soon as the first crushing machinery Is properly at work, we shall arrive at moat satisfactory results, l The following information has just been supplied me **; by one of my correspondents:—" Watson's compaay ai are putting a drive into the reef on the upper range f on Paul's land. All parties on the leaders iv the h Driving Creek are ban! at work. Keven's reef has been struck in each claim. Claims are being tak^n f( up last on all the five reefs oja Preecc's point, each of fi these have been found to contain a large per centnge J of gold. The gold on this #ide of the harbor is much tl heavier and of a richer color than that on Paul's land; v this land is oi<e ma&* of quartz. A large portion of the intended township of Kings tone is quartz recfa. -* Turner's company have driven in about 800 fte^. v Several reefs have been discovred near Pirth sc CoV. c mill, which are extremely rich. Four reefs hava V been found in the old creek, the Matawah Near to 1 the last place is a block of land full of quartz reefs; t the block contains about 14,000 acres, and quartz i crushing machinery may there be worked by water j power." " fi lam glad to notice that the complaint of the returned diggers from Coromandel, who have fa- , vorcd you with their presence, is in aMr way of E being removed. Several of our merchants have < become gold buyers to any amount, and diggers , will now have a fair chance of converting their j finds into current coin of the realm, without the t trouble and vexation of having to hawk them j about as hitherto to discover purchasers. The "Victoria Nugget," a quartz-gold specimen, , which weighed something over 9 lbs., and has ] been for some time on view in Auckland, was , crushed on Thursday, and yielded 40 ounces of t gold. , • The general news of Auckland for the lost , fojtnight has been singularly uneventful and un- , exciting. ' . , The Supreme Court was held on the Ist inst , before his Honor, Chief Justice Arney. There , were only seven cases to be disposed of—four out of this number being for forgery, one for eon- ; cealmcht of birth, another for robbeiy from the premises, and the last for assault with intent. Three of the. charges of forgery were proved against the accused, a man described as a'joiner, but who has figured here in many other capacities such as public lecturer, discussionist, ke. The total amoutt of the cheques forged, came to something over .£4O. He, was sentenced to be imprisoned for three years with hard labour. The fourth charge of forgery was proved against a youth who was canmiittcd for 18 months with hard labor. The young woman charged with concealment of birth, and who had previously lieen engaged as a governess in the family of a respectable draper .in the city, pleaded guilty to the indictment, and was ordered to be imprisoned with hard labor for three months. The two remaining charges were against soldiers, and both were found guilty. For the robbery from a dwelling house, a term of two years imprisonment was imposed; and the jury returning their verdict that the one charged with an assault with intent, was guilty of a common assault only, His Honor committed hira for four mouths. The cases created very little excitement, and the businsss was got through in two days'sitting. * Accidents have not been very numerous with us,—-neither by flood nor field. On Friday, the 22nd August, a deserter from some regiment, who had escaped into the Kaipara bush, and who was known there under the name of Charles Foster, was killed by the fhll of a " bunga" (ferntree) on his back. He was in the service of Mr. TJnthank, and was employed on the day of his death in felling timber forthe purposes of sawing, atKaukapakapa. / * //•/' / On the 23rd August, the skeleton of a man supposed to be that of Lewis Richard, a bushraan, formerly living at TMatakaua, but who had been drowned with two, of the crew of the ill-fated schooner John, which was wrecked near upon four months* ago,* off Gull Point, was brought to Auckland. * There were> some remains of flesh upon the trunk ofthe body, and this was covered with marine parasitical animals, truly sickening to look upon. The legs were quite denuded of flesh^nd j the head and arms were missing entirely. There ' were thick heavy boots and socks on;_thejfeet of i the skeleton, and these were the only remnants of clothes which could lead to identification. At /the inquest which was- held, a person- named !; Zochariafr Barnes, / living at Matakaua, an 4 | | formerly deceased's employer, swore.to the boots j ap having beeugiveri by him to deceased in part payment of Wages, and deposed to deceased haying taken his'departure for Auckland ih. the John, on her list voyage before g6ihg-down. -We have not been wanting in amusements of divers kinds.; Balls, ./concerts, lectures, and anniversary gatherings: have been tjie : order pt the day,* 5 and '■■ haveybeen '-/■very; successful. Miss Harriet Gordon and Mi^J; P.Hydcs, have, howover, been the/oriltfS professional performers appearing the Auckland public for the last few weeks, and these artistes take their depar-

ture from us, per Qneen. They have drawn good houses and created general satisfaction. " "- Markets havo been generally inactive ; and our dealers appear to, be well stocked in most commodities. The demand for live stock'exceeds the supply, and high prices consequently, rule Good dairy cattle command a • highly remunerative price, whilst young cattle meet with prompt sale at uniformly high rates. The fat markets still continue good. No store sheep are brought up for sale ; but the pigs which are forwarded from the interior are bought up at good rates,"/-/ :....7'.-:y- -:70-;:j y '77. '/''//.■-T//■. y//./;:' / "We havenowa Gas company established, with shares eagerly. bough fe up at a - premium. We may, therefore, hope to have our city illuminated next winter with gas. 7-7-7-777 ■ : Tho City Board of Works recently established i by order of the Superintendent, does not progrTess in the improvement of the city quite so expeditiously aud satisfactorily as could be wished. Internal dissensions havo resulted in a split; and the Chairman and one member/ resigned, leaving five gentlemen to conduct the business as they might think fit.-The vacancies have not been filled up, neither has a Chairman to tlie Board been elected as yet. . i / We seem now to be entering into genial, sunny, summer weather, aud are in hopes that the rains have passed away for a time, at least. The winter just passed lias confessedly-been the wettest we have experienced for several/years past. On the evening of Mouday, Septembor Ist, we were visited by a hail shower of considerable severity, and which lasted for several minutes. The degree of cold prevailing during; the winter has been noticed as quite unusual iv these latitudes. =