Hews From Australia.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 1, Issue 80, 28 October 1890, Page 2

Hews From Australia.

We have been permitted to make a. ftfw; extracts from a letter sent by Mr Edwin Booth to a settler in the Sounds, which contains much useful information, and .ishould«.be sufficient4o give encouragement to those who have faith in the mineral resources of the district, and also to outsiders:—

; Creswick;; Victoria. /' • ii, I suppose you have often • wondered ' what has become i of'ine,' but ; to tell you the truth I ;have not done: very , much in Australia,' although I have ' now got a .billet >as engine driver on a quartz reefing claim. I have been'ljtere; arid the wbrlc Id high'f and' I.day, in eight hour shifts.. This last 1 fortnight" I' have lv beeni .working., two, |,shifts per day, as we were short !S of ; a \ .] 'diriver, of course! get double pay, 8/4 I per shift, buhl am, tired' of sucFlpftg; j hours, and shall welcome the advent' of another driver. I could, have:get a job here almost the day I landed,; but you are compelled to pass a local, examination for u ah engine-driver's: certificate,.and the examinations were.', postponed from time to time,, .till I was: tired of waiting. Where I am iipw,located is close- to ; where gold waV'brigihally discovered! i in Victoria, the alluvial diggings were*.j immensely rich, and I pass over ground!! every day where, fortunes were. inades i ( out of claims 12'feet square, the quartz ! from the reefs here -appear about the j same as at Nydia Bay, with' the eicep— j tion that it proportion, j of pyrites, which' are extracted from \ the tailings, and undergo a separate" process as they (the pyrites) contain; the largest proportion of g01d,,. .Formerly they were thrown away, but their' presence in -the'-iquart? <is<nbw looked. ' upon as a good, indication'.;;.;; The country rbtim¥a'boiit ■ nere;' con-*' sitting of low hills; looks very beautiful, just how, with the grass all green and: ! the ground is* v"ery good* ahd'lhVhighest' hills! are ploughed •,and-j cultivated totheir" very summits. tf The from Melbourne, on Adelaide. It his streets 8 ..chains'wide', with two rows ; of bluegums' planted Soori after, I came to Melbourne I nuefc an old friend ofimihe;•(!). Craig,..fctii merly benchman at Duncan's, attdih& invited me, ; ;up t ,,tq^i,s. elose;,t»4 .W.angaratta, and! stayed sbme'toraeV with him, till, he leasfe'd his farm amcH took' a hotelih'!'Melbourne,*and I<'.have< teen staying with him ever since till I came up here. I was ■■) lodged'-and! boarded like a prince for- 12s per week. L hive;'travelled-a 1 good) <bit about* 'Victoria, and have met ..many. of them tile land'la¥Mihg.' ! *'Whafc , nas' induct them to stay here is the liberal laadl laws, EjJO acres of landl at 20s p4rac'rel*and3o in at Is per acre per year, but most of them complain of the great heat and droughts of summer, and would return tb New Zealand if,land was easily get-at-able. ■■ ■^'•U'-A There is a great rumpus in Melbourne ■ about the strike, but of course you, know all about that through the papers. ] Melbourne' is a-:»fine -,city bui, very badly drained,*and the; sliencni frfrft the Yarra is something awful. Since you were in Melbourne the 'river has been so widened and dredged that it is now navigable for ships of 23 feet draught.; The . Victorians are great gojalie ; ad people,* ahd they find money for any likely spec without any trouble. I think if the Marlborough' reefs were , here they would soon be developed ■ 'and suppose you still keep f . you:"' eye.--, opeti jbhl , reefs at Nydia Bay, I still fancy there is gold in them, the bed rock is the same here as there—sandstone and jrbtten slate—and [the fact; of the gold not being visible is no'criterion, as it is seldom seen in the reefs about here. I saw severaL.of, the big races •on the Parramatta river?''' : u'Connor was,nojyher^,alpngsideTStansbury. I wen L t s ;up,,tlieVHawkesbury river'twicsV the of it is like the iv S6uhds, very.,steep, hills, t only 'they' 'are'riot so high. I s 'had; "often, rfcad' of the '• beauty, of -Sydney Harbour,and it is' well described as "being one of the the best in the'wbrld, I like Sydney much better than' M'elbburne. • It- is'much cleaner, with any amount-of beautiful parks and ; -gardans,"-and* on< account of its being a - freetrade .colony every-., thing is very cheap, I bought a. good, "pair of elastic [boots lor, 7s 6d. ; , Jgruit is very cheap., there, too. "When I arrived there last February -they were i retailing beautifulT grapes at twopence per pound, or you could get a case of 3plb for about f 9d. Oranges and bananas, too'; are'very cne'apJu*' It has been very cold here in Victoria this 'past winter,- much coldeE than I expected to find it, only a fortnight ago the water taps of the! h(duaa-wherp I am staying were frozen, and had to be th'a!we4 w|th : warin water, '* Wehad the fy'st fall of snow I had seen for many years, ■ ancl' they- tell! me/ that the summer is fearfully hot, so that there'mußt be a'gteat rangeof temper,* ature. The bush here \% ym unlike New Zealand, Th^on,ly tr.ees,idejatioal as far. I ha,ve seen, mka^ka,

pungas, and the hill-fern. A good deal of white pine and rimu come to Melbourne from the Bluff.