THE Otago Daily Times. "Inveniam viam out faciam." DUNEDIN, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1862.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22053, 8 September 1933, Page 5

THE Otago Daily Times. " Inveniam viam out faciam." DUNEDIN, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1862.

SEVENTY-ONE YEARS AGO.

The recent accident to the Aldinga must suggest the great necessity there exists for a graving dock at Port Chalmers. With the already large amount of shipping resorting to the port, and its probable increase, the advantages of a dock for the repair of vessels can scarcely be over-estimated. No such provision as yet exists in New Zealand, and if one were constructed at Port Chalmers it would have the effect of inducing many captains to get their repairs done here, in preference to having to run the risk of a voyage to Melbourne or Sydney for the purpose. The diggers who set off in such haste to Coromandel, are beginning to return to their old "hunting grounds.' The Albatross from Auckland brings back forty-three passengers, mostly from Coromandel. , . .i ' The rush from Canterbury to the Dunstan diggings still continues. The Geelong brought no less than 107 passengers pn her last trip from Lyttelton, the majority of whom she put ashore at Waikouaiti. _ Some of the passengers by the Grasmere, from Glasgow, met with a fright and a ducking on Saturday afternoon, by the upsetting of a boat in which they were being landed at the Jetty, from the steamer which had brought them from Port Chalmers. There was much screaming on the part of some women and girls; but the unfortunates in the water were soon got out, apparently none the worse. The Canterbury settlers have taken the alarm at so many of their working population leaving the province for the Otago diggings. The Press urges upon the Government the necessity of giving more encouragement to immigration, and that at least fifty thousand pounds should be appropriated for the purpose. .. . . In reference to the new diggings, near the Mataura, it may be interesting to remark that in 1856 the following letter was written by Mr. C. W. Ligar, the Surveyor General of New Zealand, to the Superintendent of Otago:—" Sir,—As I deem it the duty of everyone in the community to increase the 6tock of information relative to the resources of this, our adopted country, I hasten to inform your Honor, that on my recent visit to the south part of the Province of Otago, I found gold very generally distributed in the gravel and sand of the Mataura River, at Tuturau; and that, from the geological character of the .district, I am of opinion that a remunerative gold field exists in the neighbourhood." Mr. Ligar s letter, which would have been sufficient in these times to set the. whole population gold-hunting, met with a very cold reception at the hands of the. then Superintendent (Captain Cargill). In opening his address to the Council, Captain Cargill referred to Mr. Ligar's letter in the following terms:—"lt is right, however, to observe that gold has been found for years past in Auckland and Nelson, but hitherto quite unremunerative, and that in no circumstances would it be advisable to allow any searcher to go upon a run without leave of the lessee, or upon a Native reserve without : leave of the Natives." - THE. NOKOMAI DIGGINGS. The discovery of a new gold field in the vicinity of the Mataura, which was. reported by our Southland correspondent, and particulars of which appeared in our issue of Saturday, has been authenticated by* one of the prospecting party, Mr. James Lamb, who has made arrangements with the Government for an extended claim as a reward for. the discovery. The locality-is as originally stated by our correspondent. Moa Creek, a branch of the Nokomai River, and on the run of Mr. John Cameron. . . .