THE Otago Witness Dunedin: Saturday, "December 14, 1861.

Otago Witness, Issue 524, 14 December 1861, Page 2

THE Otago Witness Dunedin : Saturday, "December 14, 1861.

. " AND im~GALSMtf I-ATQRS.; ' ' Oun friends in ISngland will as yet have a veiy inadequate idea of the important gold discoveries recently made in New Zealand. It is true a Aery largc'nnmber of the Otago local journals iind their way to England, but unfortunately they go via Melbourne, and Melbourne journals profess to copy from them, r.nd give the latest news in their summary to England ; and English journalists doli.Ljlit in " latest news." They can form no. conception that amongst a number of journals a tacit Icind of organization can exist, to writedown a place whose advancement is likely lo be injurious to the interests of the colony they befriend : but that such is the cuse, we can ofi«r conclusive evidence. Tho Victorian journalists will extract irom the Otago news- ; papers all the matter that the}' can twi^L into ' + {b/lh"e i J rpvince. They. persist in declaring the gold fields workedjtJut, ' even i:i the same number of the papers that mentions splendid new discoveries'! in Wetherstone's Gully and elsewhere.' The persons who leive Oiago with gold in their possession to pay visits to their friends or to bring over 1 :" their families, they describe- us disappointed ' victims to the exaggerated statements of the richness of the New Zealand gold fields. The more gold that reaches Melbourne from Ota^jo, the stronger grow their assertions that it is the produce of the first claims, and that the fields are worked out. One journal even had the hardihood to assert, in its " Extraordinary" to England, that the New Zealand Bubble had burst. Besides the internal evidence afforded by their own columns, we have proofs of the one-sid^d views taken by the , Victorian journals, in the letters which reach us every packet from returned Otago miners, complaining that their contributions to the pres«, contradicting some of the injurious statements concerning Otago, are constantly refused insertion. ; We doubt if, besides being dishonest, these suppressions and distortions 'are not very impolitic, and calculated to defeat the object they have in view. Explosions are apt to be „ strong in, proportion to the amount of resistance they meet with. More explosive material cannot be found than miners in search ef a new gold field, and the more it is attempted to keep them back, the more will they rush away. Thus the miners, when, they find from private letters and local newspapers how much I their own journals have deceived them, will I be ant to rush in the opposite extreme, and throw up re.il.ly good claims in Victoria on the chance o!" finding :-i>nieiliiiig better in Otago. Neither for Victorian or Otauo is this desirable The really productive members of the community in V ictoria should be content to stay j where they are"; fuit those who have means at I\\lW coninmiKi to give tho Otago" gold iwlds a tri:'.l', and who ha\c nothing to occupy them elsewhere, undoubtedly may find tho journey not i:npro'it:ibJe. N'oi-,., .should Victoria grumble; Orago has been of essential assistancu to her. lUis-u--ing tlie opportunities at I her comiuiiiKi, Victoria has reared, a splendid • superstructure on a hollow lissis. She 'lias . allowed :i»proportiori of her- large goKl iicld ; population to roam about, lUagX fro" 1 " a »d to ' lhoHtb, saving up no mcans£fj|Sj, with no at- ] tractions to identify it \v]t|j ffigj^Pcene of its labours.. Her gold prodii'ccMrar fallen off, ' '. until in uniuisui.keab£e J ,figurc3 Tjrean be shown ] that, wlrilst'somtMuay'be doing \vt'll; thousands ( of her lhiners are earning 1 a r laborious; starva- ' tion . With her splendid cities, her prujecly,' nay, - . revenues,. iliuWes'sand want furk be- * neath, :1 fever the lines were applicable, which ( Sir- James Graham once so 'effectually quoted, it is 'to V ictol-ia. \ • •„''■ i '' 5 Y6 iH»jtid i j''to*triU'ii, ye slAt^imen x/tio sutWey" " '" The ljch mr.ri's .]oy^ iucroase, the poor's decay. J ■■" .'.'tis .yours to any how wide tlie limits stand, . t , Ijetw.'.'cn a sjilcndicl and a.JUappy lund. ? 1 j , _ Jn. relieving Yicioria of pen surplus unproductive la.bo tuV O tago' has' (lone her signal sex- t vice, '\{u& scores of her merchants aud men of i

business haVe been^sayed fjijtai feY ing an outleV'.j^rT'tnVl'^c^^^^cV^/^. goods thw,?co>ld.y 'firicl a'd'^arke^MfA'^l^ boutn'e. itooWyvraeT^orr^ J jotirftals haWmteVfire' Men guilty :ds'flftgrasv ing^a'tfttict^ Itt tVyi'hg tp irijure'th^.pl^'c^rp'd .. ,!^hi<lh Wey'haye.d^riSjibdVb mdcfrkdtffifttage'.rt , " But facts' ace sji^bf^titng^ *Xfi last' sW&$ , . mary we 'sh6\^e'd*h;6}y^acc^tu^ Ifet^' ,^\i)^a\wi' of their mining 'sarVeyots ki lo the.pppat'Mioijt?; -, on theg<AaAeld6i^and dividing the].vmiinber; ', info the aVerage of some of theirj.,l argent',ea,curts, the earnings '.of; the ' miners \6i% , amounted to* 7^ dwts. a week/ '■In'"the'^amd> 1 summary we showed- that the average earniag*i • of the Otago miners'" up' to Nov. 14th, -*er^ [ 1 oz. 5 dwts. ( a week per man', or^Si- |ii4^ t greater than those of the " Victorian SaiaeiW [ We will now strike aa av#ife of .the ' Otago. , miner's earniii^y IrtWce N0v.,,. 14th,' during 5 !. ■ which Wm'e U weekly escort has been running. 1 Out of a population of 15,000 ibcated.on the I gold fields T let us suppose that 10,000 are en- ' gaged in mining. This is a far larger propor- , tion than that on which the Victorian coldula- [ tion. is assumed. There the mining surveyors I estimate, that Jout of 239,917 persons only 1 j 108,000 are engaged in mining. Slnee.NtiVEm-V , ber 14th weekly escorts have. ArrMu, bringing ; in all 68,346 <>*&,.&£,, VIS four weeks, or the' > r average vsf i7,<>B^ O!z.''|lo dwts. per Week."—'- ' 1 Bivide this amongst 10,000 miners and' we; | % have the average per man of 1 oz. 1,4^7 dwts. , -/The Victorian ,escorts-^we^re t<r ' < calculated - asi -; -40,000 'oAvJve'etly/, whereas '; thejj \ have beeu as low as 28,000,.' and for some time . have not averaged 36,000. Again Victoria^ 1 has the advantage of machinery- to .the value of £1,3G0,00d,' whilst the gold in\ Otago ' obtained with simple pick, shovel and cradle, or sluice. Taking these reuilfs,' and with no desire to exaggerate, 'we' think we are justified - in saying that the Otago gold fields have' proved themselves as yet the richest that the I world has ever know**- ,''