THE WAKAMARINA GOLD FIELDS.

Otago Witness, Issue 652, 28 May 1864, Page 10

THE WAKAMARINA GOLD FIELDS.

(FIIOM THE DAILY TIMES CORRESPONDENT.)

"Wakamabina River. Saturday, May 21.

What could have induced so large a number of the mining population to leave Otago for Marlborough, I cannot conceive. Every day steamers arrive from Dunedin laden with passengers, who, as a rule, in thirty hours after, find themselves at the diggings only to meet with bitterest disappointment. I have read through the letter which I have addressed to the " Daily Time?," and I am quite sure they do not contain anything to justify the mad rush.which has taken place. I trust that by the time this communication reaches you the mania will have subsided. The steamers have been making a rich harvest n bringing over such vast numbers of men. They may most assuredly calculate upon doubling their profits by coming here

to convey them back again. Stop here, the

larger proportion cannot. There are at present really no diggings. an.l without men possess the means to keep themselves

through the winter, their case will indeed be most pitiable. We have had several days of very heavy Tain, which has flooded out the whole of

the river claims, and as winter has fairly set in, there will be little or no chance of these being worked again for some months. No new ground has been discovered, although prospecting parties have been trying in every gorge, gaily, creek, river, and hill. In the Kaituna and Wipaurau vallies, gold certainly •has been found, but not in sufficient paying quantities. A discovery of gold has been made in the Clarence River, but the locality is almost inaccessible in winter, the climate terribly severe, and the passes snowed up. The diggers from the Pelorus to the head of the river who have claims are quite idle, every auriferous spot being many feet under water. How those manage who have no claims, and no means of supporting themselves, Heaven only knows. Many are utterly miserable, and I fear also pinched for means to exist. country is bo heavily timbered and so wet that prospecting is attended with the greatest hardships, while the costofcon- - veying provisions on to the ground is so great that the necessaries of life are at almost famine prices. The Government has done little or nothing towards making •a track for pack horses to travel along, ' and the diggers, whose claims are at the j?ork, have to make a day's journey over a most frightful country to, obtain their supplies, and of course occupy a longer time in returning, burdened with a heavy weight. This week no escort has arrived here, there being no gold to take away. Still many men speak hopefully of the ground. Numbers have made themselves winter quarters, and intend, as they tell me, seeing it out. They certainly deserve a reward for so much courage and endurance. It is difficult for roe to pronounce whether more are coming on to the ground than are leaving it— hundreds are arriving, and hundreds are returning back. Many only come near to where I am located, which is opposite Wilson's claim, hearing the accounts from the diggers, throw down their swags, light their pipes, take a rest, and then return back on the road, uttering many a hearty curse at thoir folly. It is possible a different tale would have to be told if we ■were in the summer months ; but although the winter is not so severe here as it is on ■ some parta of the diggings in your Province, and there ia abundance of fuel, I 4oabt whether the long-continued soaking asm which pours down on us here is not *»ore trying. There is, certainly, a great feutonnt of sickness — dysentery and diarriwea being very prevalent—and Davis's for rheumatism, in great demand. While it is difficult to obtain provisions, spirits of the most poisonous description are sold in numerous tents and &ani£es along .the track. I spoke in my ■onner letters of the peace and good order "which everywhere prevailed. This, lam SWJrry to say, ia now no longer the case. Ji*ny very bad characters are on the ground, wno'jump claim*, which they regain by force of arms, threatening to shoot ■ those who would attempt to turn them out. If we do not receive police protection at once, and plenty of it, I anticipate theory worst consequences. AtOanva3 Town, near Wilson's Accommodation House, there have been several very desperate fights. Night disturbances are quite common, and have increased with the number of prostitutes who now infest the place. Respectable, modest women would not come on to the ground if they were aware what they had to put up with ami t mlnre. Some (a very few) are here, ■aiid 1 am heartily sorry for their sad portion, '.* is true those who take to the

wash-tub are making small heaps of money — demanding, and being paid, one shilling and sixpence for washing a shirt, &ncf a proportionate rate for other articles of apparel.

The Provincial Council will meet at Picton on Tuesday next, when, I believe, the attention of the members will be directed to the necessity of immediately improvising public works, to support a portion of the large population now sounprofitably employed, or cot employed in any way. I hear it is proposed to make a tramway between the Grove and Mahakipawa, which is only a distance of four miles over a tolerably level surface. This may give employment to perhaps a hundred and fifty men for a few weeks, and will be the means of maintaining a direct line of water and land communication between Picton and flavelnck. It is also proposed to muke a tramway between Picton and Blenheim, a work which would have been executed had no diggings ever been discovered in the Province. Blenheim was the original scat of government, which was subsequently removed to Picton on account of its fine harbor. Simultaneously, it is intended to ■ connect Blenheim with Havelock, by way of the Kaituna valley. This would be a labor of many months, as there are several engineering difficulties to overcome. These works, if they really are undertaken, will save a portion of the mining population from utter destitution during the winter months. lam informed that several of the Otago contractors have arrived at Picton, in the expectation of being able to tender for the works spoken of as likely to be commenced. The Marlborough Government does not owe a sixpence, and has, besides, a balance of over L 20,000 in the treasury chest. Quite a model province in this respect. I should have informed you that a deputation from the diggers waited on the Superintendent, some days ago, and asked his Honor to award a sufficient sum to pay the labor of sinking three or four deep shafts in different localities of the Wakamarina district, to ascertain what was on the bottom. The Superintendent refused to entertain the idea, but promised that the first party who sunk a deep shaft and obtained gold from it should receive an extended claim, and he would also recommend the Government to give the discoverers a bonus. The Superintendent is an old digger himself, both in California and "Victoria, and does not believe in the Government prospecting for the miners. His answer was "If the gold is there the diggers will find it. If it is not Ido not see the use of Government incurring an expense for nothing. We will cut them tracks that they may get into the country and search for themselves, but at present we can do nothing more." Havelock" is progressing towards a settled township rapidly ; buildings are being run up in all directions. In my first letter, written three weeks ago, I informed you that two buildings — one an accommodation house and the other a store, with a house in the course of erection and one or two shanties — made up the township. Now there are more than a hundred buildings small and large, and as many commenced or about commencing, but the whole are constructed with the frailest material and in the most temporary manner. Several Dunedin traders have purchased building sites, but the most of them propose to "bide a wee" and see the probable result of things, present prospects not being very cheering, or offering much encouragement for speculators. There has been a heavy abatement on the prices asked by landowners for town allotments, and there is now even a great difficulty in finding purchasers. Large steamers have gone up the Pelorus Sound, to within four miles of Havelock, but the channel is too intricate and too shallow to approach nearer. Indeed captains of steamers appear to have a great dread of the Pelorus Sound. Large quantities of goods have been shipped from Duoedin, forwarded on for Havelock direct. Most of the shipments, I am informed, have met with ready sale, but adding for freight and other expenses, leaving only a very small margin of profit. Nelson still holds the monopoly for supplying the gold fields. It is near at hand, and most of the storekeepers are Nelson men. My opbion of Havelock has greatly changed within the last few days. I do not think it will- become a great business centre. It will doubtless serve as a depot for receiving goods and general merchandise, which will be conveyed to Canvas Town where the bulk of the retail trade will be done. Canvas Town is a good seven miles nearer to the diggings, and is situated at a point where the Nelson road joins the Wakamarina track. Here, at present, there is a very large trade being carried on, i many of the store-keepers I should say making fortunes. I am informed that a branch of the Bank of New Zealand will shortly be established here, and that the Marlborough Government intend erecting a gold receiving office. The land on one side of the road is the property of the Maoris, who appear thoroughly to

comprehend its value in the high weekly rentals they demand for permission to squat on it. I observe in a number of the " Daily Times" that you mention not having received a communication from your correspondent upon the arrival of a steamer which brought later intelligence from the gold fields. The reason I have to assign is, that my letter was written but I could not fall in with anyone to convey it to the port. About the time the steamer was leaving I was engaged in the exciting pastime of pig hunting, which operation is performed after the following manner, or was, in my case. You make companionship with a man who follows pig hunting as an occupation. Pie is the owner of one, aometimes two dogs, well trained to their work. You, under such guidance, dive into a fern gully, and in a few secouds you find your boots filled with water and your clothes saturated with moisture to your skin. By and bye the hunter stops, a*nd with a sdgn sends his dogs forward. You shiver with cold and wet; your companion sits on a dead peice of timber and lights his pipe, which he * smokes placidly. You envy him, and wonder what is to follow, and you are not long in being enlightened. There are one or two low growls from the dogs, followed immediately by a loud squeaking. It is the do»s holding on to a pig. The man rises, takes the pipe out of his mouth, and, replacing it in his pockets, shouts out, " Hold her, boys." He follows on their track until he comes up with his game. There is a pig struggling on its back, and a dog holding on to each ear. The hunter has a sheath knife at his girdle. In a twinkling it is in his hands, and almost instantly the pig is pork. Disembowelling follows, and, throwingit over his shoulders, it soon after becomes aliment for your digger at the small charge of one shilling per pound. My friend had cleared something like ten pounds from the result of four days' hunting. It is a pursuit aometimes dangerous for the man, but more frequently for the dogs. A hu-je boar with enormous tuaks is not unfrequently met with, who will throw the dogs off him with as much ease he would grasp a fern root, i and then make a\ the man, who, if he is I not quickly up a tree, would be knocked down and instantly ripped up with the monster's tusks. Several men have been killed, and many seriously injured, during the last three or four years in this Province while following this rather singular calling. ' • For some hours it has ceased to rain, but the clouds are again becoming overcast ; the wind sighs among the trees, and there are signs of a coming change. The diggers are piling up huge logs on their camp fires. Storekeepers commence to remove goods exposed in front of their tents. Your correspondent, as he writes, wishes for a more comfortable billet with better fixings, and amidst varied uncomfortable sensations is puzzling himself how he will get his letter forwarded. All that I have said, or may have to say, is summed up in the following. There are now really no diggings, for all or very nearly all the claims are under water, and no new ground has been found. There are hundreds arriving and hundreds hurrying back. There is great difficulty in prospecting, and those who have tried have generally been disappointed. There is much discomfort everywhere. Provisions are dear and have to be carried long distances. At present there are no Government works for the unemployed to fall back on. It is a weary journey for men to come only to learn their own folly ; and it is a wearier jonrney back when the hopes which? buoyed them up have left them.-