GABRIEL READ'S REPORT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 233, 18 September 1862, Page 5

GABRIEL READ'S REPORT.

By the courtesy of tho Commissioner of Goldfields, wo are enabled to publish the following official report, received from Mr. Gabriel Read, who was specially despatched by the Provincial Government to report upon the new field.

" Upper Clutba, September 13,1862. , " Vincent Pyke, Esq., J, P., . j "Chipf Commissioner, ie, &c. , " Sir. —I am afraid you will be apt to judge me j guilty of a want of diligence in having so 'ong de- j ferred a report of my opinions of the new gold-field. , Losing my horse between JheTaupek.l and Tala, Mr., j "Walter Millar's cart coming up at a time I had been j searching two days for the missing nag, he kindly ( promised to convey me to my destination. I had no ] idea that my journey would still be attended by ad- , ditional delay, owing to the loss of bullocks, &c, , Yon will perceive, that my idea of the prospects of ( the new fields are not so gloomy as those entertained by many who returned a« hastily as they had siet out. ; A_ wearying journey of one hur.d:cil i«i!es, attetided , with the incoßveii'CHco of swollen streams nnd htar- t vat urn does not dispose people to entertain veVy cheerful views of matters. Uut despite haidship and starvation, a large number yet remain and are doing ■ well. We have a population who v/ill thoroughly ex- ■ ploro the; country up to the Lakes, and not rest satis- . lied until they know 'what is contained in the country ' . Bouth of jManuherikia from Shag Valley to the Molj*neux. An.'.extension of the iseld. isv-rapidly being made towards the Lindis, and up the.Kawarau, on the latter streams eight miles /higher than its junction with Clutha, ji party, are employed turning one of its.southern tributaries. I regard this enterprise ' ■with considerable interest and am about to set out oa > five days'journey in that direction.- Consi- ■ derabl'e quantities of gold are coming in for pale, ' t%vo of tha banks are about commencing a branch at i once. Tliree pounds ten is the price now given at ' whick figure_digge« are little";inclined' to part with : more than will su@ly their immediate necessities A' • post-office is much required, a \yeekly braach mail i via the Ttiapeka woiild be a great b ion to the people up here. Provisions are very dear; flour, 2s. per 1b •', butter, 45.; bacon, 3s. &U: mutton, Is. to Is,' BJ.'; but as deal boaitls and cradles arc supposed "to pay for the present bsttcr than the necessaries of life, i am afraid that they wilt engross the attention of speculators. lam using my best endeavors to secure spoci- i mensbf the different l-ockson'thesvay up from Tuapeka, oh mrTvturn' from the Kawarau, I trust I shall ! have obtained a collcetion suffieiputy varied \ to be worth sendng down;" Between the Larataa'moor and , the Manuherikia^ many re- • port that . thf y have washed prospects ■ sufficient to lead them to try a further examination - of thatseciion ofcountry. lamof opinion that for , the present we have as many mouths as the surplus 1 carrjing power of the countrycan well keep fed, but , from the number of disputes, and the constant en- ( quiry for licenses, it is apparent that a large number , are doing very well. A party have reached '• this - place from Southland, via the Mataura ' and Wakatip; they crossed the mountains from j Eogers station, and came out on the river about ei^ht miles higher up than this township. They suffered greatly ou the way, having to take turn and turn in preceding the party for the distance of a few himdred yards, in order to harden down the trail. Some of them suifered from opthalmia^ induced by the glare or the snow. A%w of this party returned to the neighborhood of Lake Wakatip, having been shown a ■fewoufacesiof ye y gold dug in".':tlmt reg'on. The diincu]ties ot penning a letter in a recum:nt~_position on the ground, and a blanket for a table, are not at all trifling, and I trust will plea 1 as an excuse for this hasty scrawl. I have just learnt that an unfortunate man has been 'drowned' while attempting to swim the Kawaraa. Mr. Hele's Jittlo boat started on a voyage tip the'river, and it is to be hoped that there will soon, be a means of crossing that stream/: which, at its junctni'e, is as broad and dangerous as the Clutha. You will receive at my next opportunity of commnnicatiop, the resuto of my-observatio:i on the short up country trip on which I atti'abotit immediately to start. ; ,'■' .'*''! remain. &c, ' '■ »i- : "Your most obedient servant, - "(Signed) ; Thos. GABErci. Bead; Bunstan Diggings, - X sth Septemi>er, 18^. ?;To the Honorable J Hyde Harrw, - "Deputy Superiatendent, &c. "I have ttie. honor to report my arrival on the Dunstan Gold Fields. lam sorry to have to acknowledge that the loss of roy horse oa my way up retarded my journey, and compelled< me to submit to a delay, the occurrence of which I extremely regret, and which I had used my best efforts to avoid. • The road wliieh. I travelled passed through the agricultural Eett'eiD^f.t; of Tokoaiairiro, and the Woolshed, Waitahunrt, and Tdapeka Gold J^elds. I pursued this route with the view of asoertaining whether any iacllitia^ existed for communication between the extremes of the old an*! new"gold discoveries; ai3o, in order tliat I might' be in a po?itiou to observe how far prospectors had carried their operations from the present Dunstan fields, southeriyj in tie bed of the . Clutha.- ; ;-■ '-'- •. ■■ :.-- .'■■..'• ; ;• .-., ■/ ■■ , • ... . "Whilst journeying throu»li the older diggings, I remarked that they were almost entirely deserted byl their fornaer mming^ population, so intense had been the excitement; that it led to the - abandonment of teats, tools, and provisions, even claims which were promising prolonged and profitable employment, had been left with all the plant, in which coiifidc-raWe capital had been Invested. However; I had ?eareeiy crossed the 13eaumpnt before I encountered considerable numbers hastening their return. A cursory glance at the Dunttan fields having convinced them that they had acted with an unwise, precipitancy in abaudonlag claims which they had proved ..to. be paying for^in uncertainty on a uew field which many :of them thought might be very soon exhausted. Others, takiiifr a move Jiapeful view of matters further up the country, proposed retnrniog at once to the Dunstan diggings, when they could provide .• themselves'with1 cradles; aad auother large body were compelled to retrace their steps, from the fact that provisions were not obtainable, while at Mr. Gardiner's the general complaint was that they haxl suffered extreme privation, from Laviag had tocoufine themselves to a mutton diet, hot.bt'ing able even toobtain salt to eat Jhere^Vh, and I am afraid that tfielr position might have Been attended with greater disasters, had -not one of the nmholders been in a position to Bupply : them with flonr, limited to a paimtkin full each, in order that all niisht have aa bppoitunity of ohtaiuing onefarinaceous meal on the road. ;■■"''•.' 5;

" Our diggers have not extended \their researches much higher ap the Clutha than the point where tliat river is joined by the Kavrarau; indeed, takina: the west bank, where they attained to the latter river, they found that it interposed a positive bar to their further progress About one-third of tho^e who have ■visited these diggings have travelled up thus far— a ri<rtW third tnay, perhaps, have -been six or 6even jQiles higher than the improvised township, sifcnated on the Clutha banks, eight mites north of the Manu--berikia—others deterred by a representation of the difficulties and privations which they would have to encounter, have proceeded no further than the confluence of the Manufcerikia with the Clutha, (at •which place Stebbing's prospecting > : party have selected their c'aim), or else turned back before atiaininK that point. *-': :;-__ ■■':■:. - : lowfst bar in the bed of the Qutha, ,on •which gold digging operations.^^ are at present being Suited, is it themoutU of the river from winch circumetaneo, I am inclined to infer that^we shall ".vet^ seea popuSatibn tngaged in the bed of the river, it the favorable ■.■ points.w% may intervene r-tthif. stream andthe ja^tkn^t iletamorphie-rocka on botk^banksflfjie Cl^ha, between • those extremes appear tol»e of a uniform ■Scter>.anu the banka of the river between/the, : ■ Promontories are strewn with small basaltic SSr^^For^ abdut oneVUalf of its distance,;^, aSnelpfttem^ispontracted rocky Irojections. on which^ the graved and detritus, so pro--5 §Se-offgold,Kavenot been able; *> find,resting pE^hil|the^ihtervening.spaces consist of smooth itowbeachea worked up by tlm eddies; apd-which con., : S^he:present^; >of the -Dl^K^ncipal^olnd:lb|^|inV^^a^ >tr^S tniners^isy * that- the shallow quanU^of Sa. easily soluble, mußt be speedily wroughtout, ' of a different character are discovered.^ ?n SSia?where the- firftplaceers enUrely ZS\ 3%? he same character a? : t the wSare %Sm^proJecuted here,'ere the first grounds r> w^hSSl&tedk theirs original Tichness^the mountains them to;be. stdredVUh^tbei ..-. and .wymesj -?9?VVJr^. riwh*- Dresent .population IS^^Sdered, «U those, places wlachroffer-

fthe proßpecf of remunerative ..employment for any considerable time ; and from tlia earnestness with which incumbents of claims resist the encroachment of intruders on their ground, 1 feel justified in I hazarding the surmise, that' many who are not over i d -tnonstrative of their success, still have substantial •r utid for feeling satisfied with the iO3ults accruing lr>in their arduou journey to the Danstan. "It cannot' be too soon understood that the mere possession of a tiu pan and - fossicking knife i% but a very sorry equipment with which to commonce digging. Indeed irom the light flaky character of the $ynl«l which is dug in tho bed of the Cluth'a, coupled ■with the foot tliafc it ia found intermixed with largo . quantities of magnetic black sand; I am inclined to ' think tliab the operation of washing even with a small cradle miif.fc be a wasteful one. . It there has been more than the ordinary amount of repining and dissatisfaction, in connection with .the Dunstan digging*, we must remembsr that they came before tin public under peculiarly disadvantageous circumstances. The freqneafc successes which crowneJ the efforts of our diggers during the summer montLs in the plder fields, csupled with the fact that the large number of those thus employed had their homes and sympathies* in Victoria, induced many to' fly at the approneh of winter, what they considered an , inhospitable and rigorous cliniice. The remainder were induced to remain la the expectation that spring would be ushered in with somo startling gold discovery. Unfortunately they have had to experience more than the usual quota of interruptions nbd hardships occasionel by the unusual severity of our Inst winter. Contemporaneous with the first we.'k in the spring which was to realise tl.esi trMden hope", the denizens of Dunedin and the diggers of Otago were startled by the ftct that two enter-l-r'&ing men had deposited nearly 00 lbs. weight of t old in the DiincUn, Treasury. AH who had becu wiutinglonstandpaticntlyfor.fi now opportunity in our new,gold field, were eager to preis forward in order to have one of the oailie&t opportunities of gathering wealth at a slight expenoituie «if labor in the new Paetolus stream, forgetting tliat even the most brilliant success on gold fields are very seldom achieved without unwetiryino: and patient industry. I have also the honor to state that although a large nuinbsr have left disappointed, and with a \iow of returning either to the older fields or to Duiiedin, and although a considerable nuiubu1 who rwmain up here appear to be dissatisfied and unsettled, y^t a. large population arc diligently and profitably employed, realising results which would be Considered satisfactory on any other gold fields. The raturns of those who are working in the bed of the river mny be taken as varying from 2dwt, to 2 03. per dica per man. The greatest apprehensions which appear to prevail are. that the ground offers only a prospect of transient employment, and alsothal the river^ which is now reported by the settlers Of tbo district to bo at its average minimum height^ yrift b J likely to rise above the present levels, when an increase in the general temperature causes the snow on the mountains which surround its sources to melt and increase its volume. I otili think, that even restricted to diggings of the present character, the Dunstao will prove for a time capable of furnishing considerable quantities of gold for the escort; and the fiict that we shall have some thousands of cnterpi ising men on the spot, eneonraged by - 'recent success to prospect the surrounding country, afibrJiS ground for reliance that a region ascertained to:be'so generally impregnated with small quantities of goll msy prove as widely i>roductivc as all as may bo in« clined to hope. A gontfeman from the Tunpka, who travelled in company with fouie waggons which journeyed on a new'route, which, they explored, leading along the ridges dividing the watersheds of the Tnien from those of the Clutha, had an opportunity of witnessing some trials for gold qm the smaller streams running from, tho Knobby Ranges. He regarded some of the prospects as holding out inducements for a further examination of the country. I am sorry (0 have to report that, as regards wood suited for iuel purposes, the banks of the river are very sparsely supplied. As for any such thing as would merit ths designation of timber trees^ they are hot to be found. \ A number of pushing, energetic men, who carriffil p'.t i saws to these diggings, and intended to d«vote i their attention Uy tito' opening up of a lumber traite on the hanks of the Clufcha, liave been bitterly disappointed at not being able to find a field for their operations within a distance of twenty Hues. Some (jave already penetrated as far as the lake 3 from which. tkU liver derives Us sources, and ascertained that there are forests at a distance of 80 mile 3 from the present camp, and as they set out immediately with a view of sawing timber fh those localities, a few weeks will prove whether the difficulties atfi c"ied to distance and raftn^ may be profitably surmounted. Althoughour wood fu<:l is limited.'in quantity, we havo a coal ot* lignite which is considered about equal in quality to that ut the Ttupeka. It is found in narrow seams about th» flood level of the river, in the spaces between the rocky point?, and with the aid of grates may perhaps be made *o serve as a poor substitute for wood fuel. The season of theyear and the admitted superiority of oar climate will enable the population on the gold-fields to manage to get on without those fire?, which were absolutely necessary for health, independent of comfort, in, midwintetv The sun has ahone brig'itly each dajj for tho last fortnight. After sunset the atmosphere U sufficiently keen to render a full supply of blankets, agreeable. Parties, who, in prospecting", have been compelled to confine themselves to one bank only on the river, have the satisfaction now of seeing preparations for the immediate opening of ferry communication, i am in no doubt, from what I know of the enterpris. ing character of the digging population, that private enterprise will soon provide this accommodation at evay point that proujtiwa a, reasonable prospect of re muneration. At the different stores, the necossarie* of life may now be obtained at rates which only moderate profit the vendors who havo paid extreme prices for carriage, Ido not think that these suppHe* are more than calculated to supply the present inisnbira for mor& than a few days. A number of diggers are at this time existing on provisions, which they- themselves brought, up, and whoa their small stocks *re exhausted, and all have to rewrt to the stores, I am afraid their stocks will yet prove deficient. On' the' subject of the various riwis to the Duristan Diggings, that by way of Wuikouaiti seem- to find most favour with the earners, who. stats that they can bring up a to.i with, a three horse team. The way by the West Taleri read, occupies a longer period on the journey, wlrieh cannot be accomplished with such considerable loads. The majority of jhe teams from Tsnpeka have endeavoured to join the West Tatori line, somewhereat the west base of theLaniinennor.r range*; but a new road has been attempted via tbeiUerjumont and 'Tola rivers striking up into the Knobby Ranges somewhere near the Weugen-burn, (Menzioa 1) which is about half-way between Gardner's and Miller's stations, but; this line 13 at present very rough and ditScult, but capable of considerable improvement at a small outlay. Another road from, Tuapeka through which most of the dippers travelled to the Dunstan, is practicable only_ for pedestrians and pack-horses, and a few places which aro rather daagerou« at present for horses or cattle, might be rendered safe and easy if the large boulders were either broken or removetl, I will us© my bpßt endeavours to ascertain bypcreonal examination, fucte, the knowle<Jge of whliih i^ay be be valuable'to. our present expectaut popiilntion. Oiice on the scene, J trust I ahn.ll enjoy more' frequent opportunities of, regular communication. ''. "I have the honour to be, :,[■"■■::..: \: .: : . ■•-. -"Sir,"; •■■■[,. . ~••■.•.-■■ ■■..:' -■. " "i bur very obedient servant, * J * "'.TtfO9. Gabbiei. Ebid,",

In addition to tb& above, the following report from Mr. Kcddell has been placed at our disposal ;—, J .. ''Police Department, 5 ; •■■;'..'•.•'•■-;;■• ,Clutba Camp, llth'Septcmber, 1862. " Sir,—l have the honour to report the following particulars respecting the Cjutha field for your infor-. mationV , ; , ".. ': , ■"• . : }'■" '■"': ' "Since my last despatch the mining operations have steadily progressed, and are^ now assuming a move permanent character, A large number of miners are Asorldiig below the junction of the Manuheriki.* and the Molyneux, on thglbauks of the latter river, and I am given to understand that they have secured good prospects. They extend in tliia direction ; at least six miles below the junction. * The estimated populationat this point is^about 200, and is daiiyincreasing. It M reported that Borne have gone as far; '.as the Tevkt. -',- v: ~H ;:■ -^ -t ? ?y, T'"""' ■•''' ■';- -: " A Mr. Hill arnyed here on Tuesday, the 9th inst, aml'exhibitcii, for''my inforfiaationi a letter from Hia Honor t)je Deputy Superintendent, 6anctlon}ng his placing t^oMnta in ttie Molyneux under Ferry Ordinance. ■ Mr. Hill lias for the present two smallboat£ plying atthepointswhei'e heintends placing: the punts. The materials^ for building those he has brought;witb; him, and one is nearly' finished to-day and will beworkingtd-raorrow./aMiese; boats have been much required ; ':■■ " -. ■ ■; i;A . ; A casQpt accidental drowning lias jusfc been reported to me, "which occurred under the following circumstances;— The ground on the opposite aide of the -Molyneux, at ita junction- with -the Kawarau; ythe point where, the two streams, meet,; has lonj?-,. been covetid by tHe miners at the upper end of the Gorge,, and some few have swum across. The deceased; An-i drewMuirhead, attempted tliisat.'nine a.in.; to-day^ and; although a strong swimmer, sank in the current in? Tiew- ofc nisi comrades, who' iwere on ? either, bank—some ShavingSsuccessfully?;-crossed i Jbeforet I The5 body lia3 iiot yet be^u recovered,^ but was ob--served floating in the stream about three miles below the scene oi the accldenlf by some miners; ;

M.I -have thoJjionor, in. conolusloa, to report^ Una* several parties hay^ left for the workings on th^ east' [ W<*y bank of tlie Molyncux, and trust that ia a &hort time that the nrinars will have an opportunity i of trying the flate awl terraces ndjoiniHgthemer. Mr. Hill, tho lessee of the punts, has deßpatched one party with this object. " 1 have tlie honor to bs, Sir, " j " Your most obedient servant, "(Signed) Jaoksok Kkddew, "Subiußpector of Constabulary, in charge of Clutha Qoid-ftelds. ' "St. John Brniiigan, I&q., J. P., ' *." Commissioner of Police, DuueOin."