THE TAIERI DIGGINGS.

Otago Witness, Issue 624, 14 November 1863, Page 3

THE TAIERI DIGGINGS.

\,■ ■ m We have received the following communication from » correspondent : — Dunedin, November 10th, 3863.

Sir, — Tbe conflicting accounts from general and special correspondents, in the Tims and other papers, about the New Gold Fields at the Taieri, in dueed a few friends and myself to visit the place, and endeavor to arrive at the truth. We started on Saturday afternoon, taking the now familiar route from the Kace Course Hotel, through Mullochy Gully, Fraser's Gully and Mutton Town, where some hundreds of men are at work, few of which would admit that they made more than tucker. On the read we found about an equal number of diggers going up and coming down, and I am sure we conversed with at least twenty of the returners, the majority of whom were loud in their complaints against the rush, and had got nothing but sore bones for their pains ; several parties, however, said they had done well, and appeared sanguine of a similar resu't when they returned, if not at the old cround, in the surrounding gullies, the general notion auionest those we questioned was that the ground is patchy bul payable with hard work.

We arrived at the township early on Sunday moru ing and found the piece crowded with loungers of every description from the worst, type oF the genus loafer to the shrewd hard-working industrious miner. Of the children of Israel there fe a Jargp proportion and a roaring trade was doing in canvas tents of «*very form and dimensions, grog-selling of course in pearly all. When, the rain Jell in the afternoon it^ was about as miserable a location as poor shivering humanity could occupy and the iievitable nobbier so freely indulged in," only deepened the shade of misery on many a manly countenance, which the boisterous mirth of the more noisy could not hide. We rested for the night on the softest de3l, in the only wooden erection yet put up. and not quits opened for business and started " early next morning on a tour through Nchola' Gaily, loitering over holes where washing: waa done ; in every case cold wa> got in the dish, from half a pennyweight downwards, and we saw an ounce taken out of a cradle, worked by two men for about an hour, who had netted upwards of 200 oz in a few weeks. All indeed, who have claims arc earning fair wages, and many doioe: well. Several claims were pointed out where the finds counted by the lb weight, and these claims were being reworked with success— the leads which sloped off upwards into the hills ' were soon lost, and those that dipped and deepened are yet to be found. Numbers of men were early .a-foot with pick and shot el en route for the surrounding gullies, but the half at least of the population, which cannot be less than fire thousand, are waiting for something to turn up, witbout the means ot prospecting on their own account. Many of these will return with the rao-t doleful accounts of disappointment and starvation unless some rich ground ib soon found, but the general impression of the m«Bt experienced miner is that all the surrounding country is auriferous, and only requires time to bs developed. On our return we endeavoured to discover a shorter cut, but missed the track, and rode about the hills for several hours, and I am sure we are within the mark in saying that we saw at Jeast fifty prospecting parlies, wbica will daily increase, and' let us hope success may crown their efforts. Till this occurs it is very injudicious for any one employed in Dunedin to shoulder hiR swa? for these digging*. Living is not much higher than in town, although the scarcity of some necessary article often raises the price immensely. Flour, for instance, was tn Sunday selling for L6O to L 65 a tun to arrive It was reported that large parcels of gold were bought by the bank m Saturday lasj;. but authentic information of this must be waited for, as the floating in- ' formation of the storekeepers, and the statemeats by the diggers themselves, cannot be relied upon. Oa the whole, I think by tbe time the rush sets in from "Victoria : fresh fields and pastures new will be opened up for ! all who arrive. The roads a*e dreadful, the climate variable, but with all the drawbacks more favorable than Victoria for robust health. I may just 6ay that storekeepers should be cautious in erecting expensive structures, as tbe population for a long time must be floating, and the centre of the auriferous district cannot be fixed for some time to come, although the present township is well chosen. I am, fair, yours, A.