THE RUSH TO QUEENSLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 851, 21 March 1868, Page 1

THE RUSH TO QUEENSLAND .

(From the Daily Times, March 12.) It is not very likely thut the mining population of Otago will be much affected by ihe rush now taking place to Queensland. Those who are now on the Goldfields of this Province are for the most part too profitably employed, and have too much capital invested, to he attracted by reports of a few large find 8, to a country in which so much inconvenience must be experienced and discomfort endured a* in that Colony. The miners of Otago have liad sufficient experience of the nature of a rush, to he cautious how they forsake that which is reliable and certain, for prospects that oven at a distance scarcely dazzle. From every part of the Province the accounts received speak well of the prospects of the miners. If there is an absence of that feverishness that is invariably attendant upon the attainment - of sudden wealth, it is not a sign of a decreasing yield, but that, those who have devoted their time to that branch of industry are satisfied with the results of their labor. It is not the practice of •those engaged in particular occnpations, to boas*-, of the profits they p.re making. Noisiness a> out large finds .is peculiar to infant gild fields or gold countries, and is characteristic of novice 9 in minine. Those who are accustomed to the work become the less inclined to boast of the proceeds of it in proportion to their experience. A large find cannot be concealed. It will get talked about, but it is only where it is uncommon that it becomes a theme for ironder. There is not really anything so very uncommon in the reports that have been received from Queensland ; while, on the other hand, there is sufficient ■drawback to render it unwise for anyone to be excited by them. But apart from the fact that the inducement to emigrate is insufficient, wjere evfn the wildest estimates of the richness of the Queensland diggings correct, there are many considerations that ought to weigh with every prudent man before moving from a country like New Zealand. To the miners of Otago they will most probably commend themselves, because, as a rule, they are not of the class of which rushes are made up. Most probably they who leave the Colony will be from the West Coast, and only those will go who liave failed to realise the expectations that led them there. And to what will they go 1 'To a country in which the heat is almost intolerable, and to diggings -which art*, as far as is known, of limited extent. It must be borne in mind that Queensland has been lone a gold producing country, but has never been foundto be a very attractive one. So far as is yet ascertained, the Mary river diggings are not capable of affording employment to one-half the population alreidy gathered together upon them. Already every good claim is represented as being taken up. This was sure to be the case with a people on the spot, well acquainted with the ground, and quite as eager for gold as any new comer can be. Thousands have already flocked to diggings, probably only capable of sustaining hundreds, and what can the last arrivals expect but to have the weary task of prospecting for new ground, in a country unfavorable to human labor, with which they are unacquainted, with provisions and necessaries at famine prices, and themselves utter strangers to all around them ? Then, loss of time and cost of +mnsit are serious elements in the considera^on, when it is proposed to forsake a land where a certain "living i 3 obtainable with very moderate exertion. No miner, however few his goods and chattels, can move from one place to another without expense ; .and the cost of a voyage to Queensland, even under the most favorable circumstances, cannot be very triflinsr. He must, therefore, add to the expense of passage the loss he sustains in the disposal of what he leaves behind him, and the value of that gold he would be almost certain to have obtained had he continued working. Let him thea consider that, in all probability, he has determined to go to a land not one jot richer, if so rich, as the one he is about to leave — that he know 3 the inconveniences and difficulties to be encountered in the one, while those he must meet ■with in the other are altogether unknown — that his experience has enabled him to render the one country endurable, while the other may be utterly nnsuited to his health and constitution, and any sensible man will pause before he leaves the appreciable for the mythical — the substance ior the shadow.

There is yet another circumstance that ought not to be lost sight of. The NewZealand' Goldfields are not nearly prospected, nor are those that are known worked - out, or even developed. The Goldfielda of .Otago present every inducement to those on the West Coast seeking new fields of labor to 'turn the^ attention to them. Those who'are leaving for Queensland cannot be altogether the unsuccessful, for no man can move without the means, and the very fact of their undertaking so distant a journey implies that they have something to fall back upon — or of all people they will be the most to be pitied. But if so, why should they not give the preference to Otago, where there is room, rather than to the Queensland rush, where there is said to be none. Since first sold was found in this Province, immense advances have been made. Instead of the cost of living being so high as to absorb nearly the whole of a man's earnings, food is obtainable in abundance, excellent in quality, and at moderate prices. Thriving townships are springing up all over the Province, where luxuries are obtainable at moderate rates ; good roads, and means of crossing rivers, facilitate internal communication ; and there is scarcely a district where lignite is not abundant and easily accessible for fuel. No hazardous and expensive journeying 3 have to be encountered ; and so great is the demand for labor, that immediate employment is procurable, if working for wages be felt to be preferable to gold -seeking. At any rate, this may with certainty be said, that though there are ma&y risks in going to Queensland, thereat* comparatively none in visiting Otago, while the former presents no better prospects of success, even if so good, as the latter.