MARLBOROUGH GOLD FIELDS.

Otago Witness, Issue 659, 16 July 1864, Page 15

MARLBOROUGH GOLD FIELDS.

(l/rom the Marlborough Press.) Wairau Valley.

Wednesday, 6 h July. Since my last communicaiion I hive visited a number of cullies, both on the north and south side of the Wairau, ami have found miners scattered throughout lor a long distance, hut could not ascertain fro<n those that I spoke to that anything bad as yet been discovered to warran 1 u< in looking upon this porti m of our territory as a gold field. Still, at the same time, 1 leirne that the color was 'htninable in any of tl c ravines or creeks running iut> the uuin vallejs but that there w.issuci a strong boly of w-tter p-ivolafing through the drifts, that it was a matter of iinpovibility t-> bottom ; and my own impre-si n U tb.it it cannot he ao'oraplishel, particularly 'at tiiU season of the year, unless a large bo 'y of men were to set in with a will, anJ were prepared with, all ths necessary npplknces com n-,n'y used in sinking through tb* ailuvhls of Vicbn-ia. U the same tim'i I must confess my diaippointmenfc at not finding the miner* tryiug ttie spurs md point> leading inio the various gullies p.'id where they have acbinee f bottoming without baing t oubl d with wat'r, and where, fr»m my experience in pining, I h ive every reason to believe ricb auriferous deports must and will be discovered.

The majority of miners who were working in Tiiuuis' Valley have left in consequ nca of the ate rains, which completely flauded them oof,u f , but all lnok forward with a degree of eonfiJeuue to the coining apring.

There are s. veral parties workirg in clo*e proximiry to (Jreenlaw's station, but upon my visit they were not ii the commui.ic.itive mood fhnt Ic>ukl Have wMiod, consequently 1 obtiina) ve;y litt.!e information beyonu" th it they were making '• tucker" and nothing wnie On Bartleits Creek fiere are a few intelligent parties at work with vaded sue :ess, and appeas der,-rmined to giv« tUu |tl.ic3-a ftir trial. Some pieces of aold that I saw here averig°d from five pennyweghts up to half an ounca, perfectly rounded und water worn, and L am coaviic'd, from the conforraa'ioa of fb.J surrouniing country, that hea«y deposits of gold will either be &un*l in the creek or in the spurs leading into the creek.

From Baitlett'j I processed to Fabian's Gully, find upon a loading spur running into the gully, just iidovo Mr Pipe's rasiie'ica, was pointed out a quartz reef, a lesritim .te quaitz rejf. Iv fict, after travelling throigh the whole f the Province of Otdgo, I can s-aftly assert that there is nonius,' in that province i"i the alupe of a reef that will beir the slightest oonpa Unn with It; bat 1 remember in (Jasllera line, in Victoria, seeing the l>o!ivh Reef, which is a fac simile of the one in Fabian's dully, the *' blow up" of which is abjut s x feet ab)ve tin surface, and about eight feet through ; ths q «anz is very cellular, and deeply stained with ihe oxide of iron, and in many instances filled with iron pyrites; all cpeakirg very favorably t > tin existence of the preciom metil, probably some feet below the cap of the reef.

From Fabian's I crdsse-l to the south side of tde Wairau, to n phce called M Ouilum's Gaily, which U situate a little beyond Captain Bailey's station. Here f found two 'liffirent parties sinking on the poiuts ; they were down about 16 feet, ami going through a very tough cemented gravel. They into.medj me that they had, obtained the color ia the bad of the creek, and that determined

them to sink upon the points. The gold they o'ttaiaed they sai I th<y had given to the Rev Mr ■iult They al-o st,at-«il they had been up thp Wailopi, but coald nU iref (he color. If these men obtain gol 1 in p.ijable quantities in ''I ullum'd (july, in wiU tenj to confirm a theiry tint I have he'd >ince my arrival in this Province, that a hatvl of aurifenus rocks exist >ll the \avfrom Pieton, and should ero3S the Wa'rriu Valley either itnrae liarely near M'Oullura's or &omewheie '--bive it Howt-v^r, a short fcim will prove as to whether my theory is right or otherwise.

Your readers will remember that Kicholas and party started a sho t time back to prospe»t the Clarance district. Y-'ur eorrespon'letir met them O'» the Waira-J, and was told by them that rhpy had found it impossible to reich the Claianre. in consequence of the. various passes being filled with snow. However, th>y had prospected th° Waihopi nearly up to its source, but without tli-i B'itrhiest sue 'ess, and Ni liolls exp-es^et id na fiia opinion that it w a tin bearing district and thit no gold will ever be foun I there. His opinion la certainly de«errintr of -ome wf ight, wnen it, is borne in mintJ that h; was working in the tin mines of Cornwall for upwards of ten years, and has followed gold mining ior almost a similar period. They propvse trying the Waiiau. J^ews h's just come in by about twenty men that a miner from some part of the Wai au had sold a considerable parcel of gold on the Waka'tiariiia, and they are huntiog all the galließ in seat eh of his whereabouts. Thus is certainly a tedious undertaking, but I have no doubt in a little ime the place will bo discovered. In concusion. I may state that I have heard from various settlers that they feel satisfied that numbers are walking on the sly, and some doing well; they arrive at this conclusion by the quantity of stores they are continually supplying different parties with.