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Otago Daily Times, Issue 361, 16 February 1863, Page 4

"We exceedingly regret being unable to publish the names of those who were, ssitfed from the wreck of the ill-fated Orpheu3. The particular^ of the disaster will be found in anofcueivcolumn, taken from, an extraordinary published by tho Wellington Spectator. It is just possible that our Aueklahl correspondent found time to send ug the names of those who were saved, but wo were unable to procure our letters yesterday from tho post. To a letter carne'stly' requesting' them, tho Postmaster returned a not very courteous answer in the negative. It is dreadfulto think of the agonising suspense, into which some;, hundreds of people at home will, bo thrown for a whole month whilst waiting, to: learn the names of the survivors. If the) information is laying in the post; we do. hot .eavy.;the ( Postmaster his feelings in being the medium of preventing the .intelligence:; being published which will saire from the dreary uncertainty of a whole month of suspense the. friends and "relatives of those on. board the, lost vessel. It is scarcely necessary to say that at home no delay 'is permitted on any account in supplying letter* through the post to newspapers. . Ii a Postmaster were to venture to refuse them, and keep tho whole country waiting for important intelligence! an indignant outcry would be raised. Possibly this refusal of the Otago Postmaster may bo the means of keeping tho . people atjr Home a whole month in ignorance of the names of those who have been lost or saved in. the., Orpheus. What will Mr Crosbie "Ward, say in explanation when the authorities at Home ask him.the meaning of the1 narrow-minded.bigotry winch refuses to the public press its letters immediately on their arrival, and dooms a whole nation' -to a mopth'suncertainty. Even supposing the particular information we are referring to has; not come down, we are prevented "from publishing the latest intelligence from Auckland, including, probably, the fate of the .Ordinances passed last session by the Provincial CouncU. It is needless to say that we should be quite contented if the, delivery were made to us'after twelve o clock, on the Sunday night so that there would .be no pretence of Sabbath breaking. , ; ■ The streets were very much thronged; ?h Saturday evening ; the 800 passengers by the City of Melbourne having oeen brought up by tho Samson and the Golden Age. Tho Arcade was at times almost blocked up with loungers.

A proclamation by the Governor in the « Gene* ral Government Gazette' of the 7th instant, no*tifies the dissolution of the Otago Provincial Council.

The usual meeting of the Dunedia Debating Club will be heldthU evening.

We understand that Mr Greig, the passenger by the Aldinga who attempted to cut his throat, is progressing favorably, under tne care: of Dr Hocken. • Mr Wcldon, received official intimation on Saturday morning, that his""resignation, of the office of Sub-Inspector of Police had been accepted.. We believe that Mr Weldon will be placed at the head of- the Southland force ; a post ..for which we aie sure he is in every way admirably fitted. ■ . y; ';S;

The ship Chile, which will probably elenr for T-iondon to day or to-morrow, has on board 2,030 bnles of wool, -weighing 710.887 lbs, and of the estimated value of £43,707 Ss 61.,, .The quantity •f gold which she will take is not quite settled as yet; bat it will certainly not be leas than 25.000 ounces, and will probably be a good deal over 30,000 ounces.

On. Friday evening, Mrs Alpenny delivere-1 a lecture in the Court House, Port C;iulmers. The promotion of literary institutes in colonial communities formed the subject of lecture, and, by interspersing her text with frequent readings from some of the best authors, Mrs A'penny not only communicated a considerable amount of sober instruction, but afforded also some pleasant entertainment to her numerous and evidently much gratified andience.

The document published in another column from the OtagO; Chamber of Commerce, on the advantages offered by Otago a3 the New Zealand Port for the Panama line, is worthy of perusal, as showing to what large dimensions the trade of Otago has attained. It appears that its shipping is fifty per cent, in excess of that of the four other principal ports united.

We observe that the Postmaster has adopted this mail tlie very singular courpe of closing the mails via Marseilles before that by: Southampton. Surely, as the Marseilles route is used for the most important letters, it should be kept open the latest. Such is .the course always adopted elsewhere.

The passengers, by the John Duncan, including more than 100 assisted female immigrants, selected and accompanied by Miss Eve, were brought up from the Port on Saturday, by the Golden Age, ■which arrived alongside the new Jetty about two o'clock.' The female immigrants appear to be of a superior class^ an 1 they all looked healthy and .in good spirits ; their procession from the Jetty to the Depot attracted a great deal of attention.

' The races, as the time approaches, are regarded with more interest. A great nnmber of horses are already down and more are expected. Revoke and Ultima, both in the Champion Race, arrived yesterday. The former has many admirers, and ]not a few think that she is going to secure for Canterbury the blue riband of the colonial turf. Mormon is, however, decidedly the first favorite many going the length of saying that he cannot lose it, whilst others assert that he is somewhat stale. Waimea has many friends, as have also Shelelagh and Anto'nelli, both reported to be in tip top condition.. The Maori Chief is spoken of as a well looking The final payment of £50 each horse is to be made next Wednesday, when it will he seen how many accept for the race. Those who pay are likely to' start, the time being so near at hand.

Mr Hyman,'of Piinces-strcct, has at present 3G50Z5 of gold—a beautiful sample, coarse and scaly—got on the Shotover, and which he has purchased from diggers within a few days. On Saturday, he bought 120ozs from a party of four men, who have 288ozs each as the result of about two months' work.

A small piece of quartz, remarkably rich in gold, was left with Air Hyman, jeweller, Princes street, on Saturday, for the purpose of being broken, and having the gold melted. It is to be hoped, however, that this will not be done, for, as a specimen, the quartz is most worthy of being preserved ; and we believe that Mr Hyman will purchase it' for "that purpose, if possible. On the upper side of the quartz, there is a thick cake of gold, and Jthe precious metal runs through the mass in small- veins, rather than in specks. Nearly one-half in bulk of the interesting little

mass must be gold ; and one might imagine that,

while in a liquid state it had been, by enormous a pressure, forced into. the stono. The reader will, of course, attach just as much importance as he pleases to the story of the present owner of the sample ; but if that story prove true, it is not too tnuch'to say that a discovery of greater importance than .that of the Dunstan even has teen made. The' owner says that he got the quartz himself on Moa Creek (one of three or : four streams of that name), about 18 or 20 miles v this side of the Dunstan." To uso his words, •' There's any quantity of it about," and he adds that there are fourteen parties now at work in the neighborhood. The sinking1 is very shallow. The extreme richness of the quartz is a fact of which any one can be convinced by calling at Mr Hyman's ; and unless the story told that gentleman is a fiction, we shall speedily hear more of Moa Creek, on " this side of the Dunstan." i