NELSON.

Otago Witness, Issue 295, 25 July 1857, Page 6

NELSON.

THE GOIiD FIELDS. The • accounts from fhe'Aorere (says the ■Examiner of the 20th' June) ' are this week of a -particularly encouraging character, for they, show 'us/that gold is being obtained in larger qna'ntities than hitherto, notwithstanding the reduced number of •• hands who are: at present employed at-the'diggings, many having aban-' doned the work until lengthened days' and warmer weather shall render^the- work a little more agreeable". '"We give froni a perfectly reliable- source a (Statement of the earnings of four.different parties known to our informant : — 1, aparty-oi four'men obtained 69 ounces in three weeks ; 2, a party of five men obtained 17- ounces in one week ; S, a man and. a boy

obtained in five, days ahoye 14 ounces';.,^ a party of- five rniea obtained;-,^ foux days gold which they soli for £54' 1 7sC The party who had been- oat prospecting- ia the neighbourhood of the Xlppe* Motueka, have, been^ for,ced to abandon tHe^pursmt mr consecfuence 1 of '• the excessive cold; but they intend to -return: ib the same iield va ike, spring, being satisfied of its paying quality. -The -sample of gold they ob'isiimed was 'good, and netted- for them £12 4s. 2d. We give, an extract from, a letter just received frqni Collingwood by ,a friend : — : ' ; 15th June,' lßs7. * * * - Sandy Gibson and his boy made £50 12s. in five days'; Marsh and Pettit earned j £1-1 each, , the week before last ; two men j washed 17 ounces, and two others 15 ounces, in one week. Within the last few days people here are r getting quite excited ; some parties j are offering £1 per day, with provisions, to ' men who will work. Gold Fields. — The intelligence from the gold-fields at Aorere continues so' satisfactory that there can b,e no doubt but that, with the return of warmer weather and longer days, a very large body of persons will be attracted there from all parts of the colony, as well as from places more distant. The opinion we have always expressed, that exploration would lead to, the discovery of richer diggings than those at first worked, has been fully realized, for we hear that at the Slate River far richer diggings have been found. All the persons at work are now doing well ; and we may mention that we have heard from a source on which the fullest reliance can be placed, that one party of young men obtained daily, for four days in succession, twelve ounces of gold. The success of others, we are told, has lately been equally great ; and altogether those who have decided on "wintering it" at the diggings appear to have no reason to regret the step they have taken. The number of men employed at present in digging is estimated at from 400 to 500. — Examiner, July 1. Coasting Steameb. — It is with no ordinary satisfaction that we announce that Nelson at length possesses a steamer of its own for interprovincial traffic, and moreover that a better equipped and more complete little boat could not be desired. * * Our local steamer, the Tasmanian Maid, made her trial trip to Motueka and Massacre Bay on Tuesday last, the 23rd' instant. The Tasmanian Maid is a pad-dle-wheel boat, of 83 tons 0.m., 59 tons register, with a draught of water light of 4ft. 6in. The distance to Motueka is about fifteen miles, which was completed in one hour and fortysix minutes, giving the steamer a speed of nine miles an hour. Inteb- Provincial Steam Communication. — The steamer Ziitgari took her departure from this port for Melbourne on Thursday last, leaving the inter-provincial steam communication for the colony to be maintained for the present by the Wonga Wonga. This boat belongs to an Auckland proprietary, and has been taken up by Government, we believe, for a short time, until some better and more powerful boat can be procured. The Government was willing to have continued the service of the Ziagari, provided she had been fitted up with a new and more powerful boiler ; but her owners had sent out instructions that she ehould be sold. We hope that some arrangement may soon be made to extend steam communication to the whole of the Provinces of New Zealand. The Weather. — For the last three years the summer and autumn seasons have been much drier in tbis portion of New Zealand than on any former year within our experience, and with the exception of a few showers at long intervals, and these always*too slight to be productive of much service, no rain has fallen since December until Saturday and Sunday last, when at length the ground got a tolerable soaking. In the Waimea the river rose higher than it had been known to do for several year 3. It is rather singular that Avhile we have had to complain of something like a drought in New Zealand, the colony of New South Wales has been suffering from excessive moisture, for we observe by the papers received from that colony that the late autumn has been an exceedingly wet one. Provincial Council. — The fourth and final session of the first Provincial Council of Nelson was closed on Thursday last by his Honor the Superintendent. — Examiner,, June 20.