OTAGO.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 30, 20 February 1863, Page 2

OTAGO.

fFROM OUR OWK CORREBPONMJWT.J DUNEDIN, Monday, 16th February. I send this communication by the Aldinga, which leaves here this afternoon with the English mail, calling in at the Bluff to land passengers and take off the Invercargill instalment of letters for the home country. It is with the most painful regret I cammence my letter with the melancholy intelligence of another fearful wreck having occurred on the New Zealand coast, and on this most appalling occasion attended with the loss of one hundred and eight y-seren human lives. The sad news came to hand last (Sunday) night, slid has caused profound aensation throughout the city. The Wellington Spectator gives the following ' — " The 8.8. Wonga Wonga, Captain Benner, from Manukau via Taranaki, Nelson, and Picton. arrived in this harbor yesterday afternoon, bringing intelligence of the total "loss of H.M.S.S Orpheus, 21 guns, Conynodore Barnett, on the south spit of the Manukau liar, on Saturday, the 7th February, by which sad catastrophe 187 lives were lost, including the Commodore and all the officers except the second lieutenant of the Orpheus, three midshipmen, the' paymaster, and Lieutenant Young:, who was on bis way to join the ! Miranda. Captain Benner proceeded to Sydney in the Airedale immediately after his arrival, and we are indebted to the steward of the Wpnga forthe following narrative, who was an eye. witness to the sad event. " The Wonga Wonga sailed from the Onehunga • Wharf, Manukau. on Saturday last, the 7th inst., 1 at twelve noon. On arriving at the bar at two p.m., she noticed a vessel in the offing, apparently , a man-of-war, but the eignaLbejng up io taka (bo South channel^ the Wong* prooeedod o» bar eowrae.

On f ir«ir«^ 0 f th»'^wJ unabJ ?: U)V«ke thVNortkftliiui^JoS pilot'iitationbjtbeSoutb channel.™ cliarffoofthegcwndireut^nt.ndV™ Kraner then learaed ib«tt]b)B^TMse]^H was BT.M;S.S. Orpheu9, r 21 gUfis,H ;B«rnett,eiifhidayf ou|?f rom^diiejjßj ■ fbr-;H. >\jEv ; •liips on tfo 4B ; pilot, then w^nt on;boa^ \tbe]t^ov]^t£ii^^ »ea was mßkihg'.a wtnplete^ tbim fplmd UJwm imp^ible-tp thcb<^tß, m^eon^uenra : of : t : - b&at« were > tbe«l^^puJled>'aßWclo»eK uhd»r the jib)b^ them called to tW,cre*tto and they: would pick them up; a» it WjK chance left- of »a»jbg.;their^^;^ ; mj^ttmpedqnt^hiß^a|w:|i^w;ergiß[ i the boats •'ibutßorae^were^ i^the iurf by the dfawbackr^/At^thyK proceedings the scene was m^t^appaliMjs vi^^^e^ojlti^^w^^^H^^^^menflß steaming as cicxe-Mptagible: to theifijffi wreck/jind was fearfullj-tos4Mtd:a^uijß ' niultuous'^^;^XbAAbinAta' . then TetuH »j^?«weir jflßf adopted f^ restore ahimation^ by the i^t /iroiL blankets;; in^d^dth^j{iemw.ießv:J^B Jw.eris wputidedjind^ wounds dressed and;^ • them. . The boats itf.«)iß.rge vioif; tjiit^^B ' natit again gallantly^ -put off to the wriK ceeded in rescuing iieveral* from By this tirneit w^ibieconiin'j dark, l^K not deeming.it pVudent ijS^ui^B remain.inth* position she was then i^B, a short distance into- the channel t^B' At this tim 9 theories of the euffererj^B flgonisin^ "and appalling, the cr«w' of Tessel. thiaking that the Wijngawaa.al^K them to their fearful fate. ; At about^p the nig^t;beVrigTery dark, the j foren^p: the board, casting.aU the ppor fellow^K; ; clinging" to it into; the raging billo^K diately after,' the'main*' and muen'niJ^K the si^e; carrying the tlait of: tbiecri^Rj Puring all this' time, the most Bupei^Btiong were beingtnade bv thoiiecpnd ii^K hiigallantcrevvstore»cu"ehiß;Unfortun The two boats arid a boat belonging tiWr. were pulling about; atoidst breal^» midnight. All hopea of; ■aying a^Bt having vyanisned, the^ plnoace>itt 'dK 'r. •econd lieutenant returned- with seJKt the unfortunate crew, to the ;Wonga ( Hv ter proceeded into the pilot station, b«h' fetch the Wonga, and lauded seven ■f ; crew in safety, including the son o^t,' Barkly.tiVe.tiorernor of Victoria: wli^tj as midshipman on board the Orp&eui^p of the Wreck, and who was saved aftflßa spar'iiorxUpwardg gf tw^jbours^Bi burnt blue lights, and showed otl:erJP c daylight in hopes of picking up anjfl|fi unfortunate crew who might be floatiHie wreck. At dayjight, the Wonga proc«^K a the wreck, but by this time a very smMin the iH-fatedvessel war to be seen; Ba ( then steamed in towards tlie pilot stima thsre met by H.M. steam tender At(Sti< Captain Jenkins, of H.M.S. Miraiii»n The whale-boat .belonging to thepilolflm learning the disaster, had immediat«ni to Onehunga, and iuformed thogtß'n H.if.S.S. Harrier of 1 it, when a meaße 1 mediately despatched to Captain Je flbir Miranda, who lost no time iaimmedSffi]] orders for the flarrier and Avon, lywg'flKtr i kau, to get up steam and proceed nu ox to the wreck. : .; - ?S p\ ' " Unfortunately^ on the Harrirfj |fg way, she took the ground, and was -i! je .to render any asai«,tance.; C;»ptaia ; >h proceeded in the Avon, and on an (:t Heads, immediately proceeded oil nj: Wonga. Finding that erei'y thing 1 ie that could-' poisitily be done tinder -vl stanceei he transhipped the remainde as fjrtunat# crevr into tho Aron, wbictf fe proceeded towards the pilot's statii )f board tho crew of the cutter, the rest ci were saved* and proceeded to On hi noon, for the purpose of obtaining. fit til treatment for the crew. The Woe; ut eeeded- on her course to - Taranaki, c' Heads about noon.' There were67j«br lives lost, out of a crew of 257. -BW " Commander Jenkins returne.i tßt^i tain lienner, his officers, and fch'jß'g] Wonga Wonga for their praiseworß^ and unremitting kindness to the suffißy^ " One of the captains of the m i 2 ™Bf< one of the boat's cr^w, gallantly jumißTl? six times, and on each occasion aucctßj 111 & shipmate from a watery grave. iß' " The Commodore was last seen-(Bj ar rigging, and is supposed to have becßJ 110 falling of a spar. Bj W! " One boat, under the charge of tSJ&t nant, in leaving the ship with was driven "by a sea against the bowerfß" 1 was hanging over the bo^§, and tkelNP) and the boat and crew lost. ' fiff ci " Amongst those saved were tbJfiH n ' nant of the Orpheus, and Liautenantrab 1 "' was on his way to join the Miranda, tj^P.^ men, the paymaster, carpenter, aadaffi* 1 " rest of the 66 were a portion of the ctW° v . ( "The wind was about W.S.YT., jag •" sea on, when the Orpheus went ashow O1 I must now turn from the conifiji p such a terrific catastrophe, andp^, form you of matters occurring ijfipon A rush has set in which equals, il* P> exceed, the first we had here somwSJ.' fifteeii months ago. No less thanE ■ five hundred men, •wonien, and "fiffi set foot in our city within a p«Sf .. teen days. In one twenty -four, St.. the past week, two thousand paMgF -; brought up from Port Chalmengl ■ j moment every lodging-house "JeE -' living freight. Hen are sleepinsgs? ".^ thirty in lofts or in tents, or eat^k^j capable of holding with any degrffi^; v or decency one third of the nump^tri and children are huddled togi&fiad parlors and outhouses, looking dwj|pvi fused, and miserable beyond wefgS^t nately the weather is magnificeS??s ul ing in the open air just -now "witll*^ covering would even be e n dura!?|p^ days those or most of those' whpjg|!^ c will have cleared out for the the cry is "still they come," Nflls s< of immense tonnage are being c||raii we are told to expect ten tti»e;. ' souls among us inside; of the neftout for it must be understood thatgp

I of winter is now the inducemifeiTj | and, not as heretofore, to goKfld ( ! arises out of the general belief ttfcvin I diggings will turn out fabuloißig i the rivers have fallen so as to afl|of I and bends and bars to yield Brer | sures now " fathoms deep'? in mt co ! all may turn out as well as maw g _, I fear that without very large aEf % rous country are discovered ■Kay, -will not be sufficient room for ■feme come or are coming, and that vB : Tl tress with many will be the coiwoto The Aldinga, I am told, w 9uc I seventy and eighty passengersß l ff b and the Titania, which leaves M fJ* day, has all her berths engage®! which sails from here early® £ c jj| week, takes with her 30,000 (M , ne , and 2,030 bales wool, valu-d atHjj -y sterling. This is a valuable lj|old, vessel from our province to car R poi lish port, and will cause usHB to < known and our resources mor«Mi«r than anything which you ne\«°?" ] can do for us. " Summaries™ dar are not always received as gA co ' ) ' and wool carry with them theiiß- f nials, Kvitb There have been very heavjm the horses landed here during fmture weeks, — I think altogethefßraei hundred. The consequence Jljjght flesh lias declined so much in wife 1< shippers have sustained ver ?r* "Several head brought to auct» u «i yards on Saturday last did w retl freight and feed • since landing**^ really excellent hacks ao^.Mto . down for sums varying from v j,j,j{ pounds. Those\,pricea woul realised. at the port where the .-, j n shipped' from, but.q^ners »«* » l G« mto haog 06 Iwd" wait for » ' i?a 1 r^ *

llSiiSlSkely: ta:ftWttojj^ttt . Iraßjefofe l^l»W^|N ii^^2 Kgiiipm^^p?^ jßtockih^!: I' Eh «&*£ W^%!?sss* fyffi&z* ■' Bfthtf'let: ;me^con»iaere(a 'Is.*?s': |S xeminaed ■ xm- to vfafbrin ■Servant gir) market .$ ftlso^ery K^:knd;^un^)adje^>vho,a^w v Ekiciefe;?from ,her- J lastvScryant^ ■Sent^bwßfto- *2Q pef annum ; , If Se^iuibyirig ' to v then^ than > required to^be, K£JBp£ Saviour. I :premteie ;: tmrt PESniiot; now: obtain^pioy-i-^^KPv have lowered their dei theinselve^lhe jttxwry % account otthe^trayagantly, ,r wages which,; liar been;^hng ; i«s idea has prevwlecl ampngvniost-r SbatSev would .fina,h»!.bailds;to; liters are n-ot, aS a rule,rraarxying Sfare looked upon a^alencuip-, S^caniohly be depoxtedtothe goM- |^| atan average fare rf J*^q I^«d •S^dupoU, gr oss weight;^EerM riot speak hghtly pn^Oi«erious There are re»Uy many respectable ikvinir for seivice, without -being ttairi' "s■^.an.d'.cast .upon. .our city Inland without means ,-t.o .subsist* rerices possible to ariseiQufc. of suchhing9 is melancholy^to-think upon; .• devil" is greatlyoiythe^inCreasem■Jith all its l surroundings of robbery,gpiaebauchery'andrioting. After rii^iiumber of " soilied doves " eeen thoroU ghf areß is a cpntemplation &ht-thinking. '„ The i ship, John rrived here .on the' .I.2th, bringing in of »1V passengers, a majority of young fen} 11168 * accompanied by- ■ These are, indeed,..* very superior '{a Vomen ; but I greatly fear many I not equal to the exigencies- of such as is looked for in a new '[any« no doubt, will find engageshopwomen, a few" ns governesses .keepers ; but the bulk, who will cept service as . domestic servants, fitted for the occupation. With ■ and the fern ale passengers come e'verv splendid fine-woolled meiino. signed to Judge Harris. The whole Without a single loss, arrived to hand • and considering a sea voyage of .a half months,, in splendid condi«tion for Superintendent for the" •will shortly take place ; Major m and Judge Harris are . both in the ie judge has issued his address, the ; n ot. The latter appears to be of lat if the electors' dp not know: his id particular leanings they ought s Their fault, and not his. Judge nes before his constituents with a eEned policy and' liberal Tiews. her good things he says :— carcely say that to the goldfields is lmense increase of population to which jded. Seeing, as I, do, the results c already sprung from these spurcts,— ition trebled, new industries" called tence, the producing wealth of "th» stty augmented, colonisation promoted, interior of the province becoming prepared for permanent settlement, — ie blind to the benefits which have om the goldfields, nor to the wise ( till further developing them. What ntries are bidding large sums to obtain to us as -si gift. It is not top much to say rovince of Otago is the most visibly ret gold country considering the extent ■mended on it, of any in the world, and I ■congratulate my ohi fellow settlers on' |le an accessory to their eairly efforts at ■on! What couW be done to fully he mineral wealth of the provinct, I I would lose no time in making the as easy of accesß as the physical >f the country will permit, by the of efficient broads, and the improveiver and lake navigation. The facility phic communication ought also to be thii> their reach. In short, I would hing undone to aid the miners _in exercising the spirit of enterprise brought. them amongst us. ißt coast of Nelson is, it is said, likely the Dunstan, Wakatip, Gabriel's, and her goldfielda put together. Here ing startling for you, and what is telnee. It i 3 from an extraoidinary the Nelscm Colonist, which came to , night:— Btiller River, 28th Jan. I are looking first-rate here. There another Urge nugget found, weighing I was got in the same claim as the last [o?t. A digger was lucky enough to claim for £15, and the party got three days. There is another claim i's) getting a pound weight a day, and iher claims are paying well, snot a man idle, and the Maories are t-rate. The name of the creek is Lyall id another one has just been discovered; said there is no doubt of a large field covered. Therp is one or two Maori irking with nothing but tin dishes, and 0 or 12 ozs. per day. ge nugget is a splendid sample of gold; c pure. Two Maories bought it at £-1 ison for so little gold cpmint: to Nelson c price is so low ; and the diggers are »g just enough to buy provisions with. I that it is the finest sample of gold I seen in all New Zealand. The price tre is the same as in Nelson, Extract from a private letter.) Lyall's Creek, Jan. 27, 1863. 11l be somewhat surprised to learn I am fing my luck on the diggings ; the so cheering on my arrival that I could ; the temptation. So here I am about es up the Buller, working in this creek, k tributary of the Buller.

had juse three days work, and we have . over 46 ozs. of gold, &c, and with it a :get weighing 30 ozs. clean gold. There >f us in the party an^ we expect to do \et, but I shall be well satisfied to do as we have been doing. Yesterday we over 36 ozs. of the precious metal, been too busy as yet to go exploring, a most awful country just here. All is some two months dry weather ; it raining evety other day since I have c. I have really no time to say any out it at present as the canoes are )aily Times here, is always the first >ld of a piece of news worth, i eading wing. The following important and ng intelligence is taken from the of this trorning's- issue, respecting >very of a practicable road or pass to t coast of this Province. . Symms and Sutoliffe, the alleged dis if a track to the "West Coast, called on us day, and from the circumstantiality of ement, we see every reason to believe in Their account is to the effect that they hotover to proceed to the West Coast, and succeeded in effecting their purpose and ng to the seashore. They were 21 days the coast and returning to the Shotover. they describe as very good, when once is reacbed.and with a little money spent racticable Tor drays. We are afraid to the wonders of the country they passed . "Wherever they tried they obtained gold, but they desire at present to be silent s portion of their discovery. They have id to us several specimens. One a small quartz with several, specks of gold in it, ined right on the sea shore. Another very I dark blue crystalline specimen, appears to r copper or cobalt. This was also found the coast, with a strong lode running inhere are also water worn slaty pebbles, with iron pyrites and a crystalline speF the same mineral. A little cube of dark xture, very hapd and brittle, they picked nracn«e deposits of the same character. ight at first that it was petrified wood, but ure leads to a contrary conclusion. s. Symros and Sutcliffe very properly nuch importance to their discovery, and c rewarded for it. As we said in the case ly and Beilly'B discovery, so we say now, ise economy to encourage successful reto. proportionate rewards. A few thouiid in rewards, are sure to be more prothan the samearnount expended in prosIn Victoria immense sums have been a Governmentpfospeoting, and not a little R. expended in .ibo -pxac way in Otago

jeaionable Teriture. v lt 19^ m ' 'iVijulef; ?iisfsr&sl Qfcouwe/^ ■ jjorftctnesi^o^to&i* ■ ' ; jKoryi; *i^ft*^^er»taßd/ h&rof therew^ toe'gtiite^ jeif -A' third;party^fc) abidejtne; pirobf '-, of -thetruthlpf ■i' In addition tff whit \rp^havo stated as the result ' of th&yerbaliißS'6rMatiq& .afforded us,; we, have the: following wHtl^patticulawlroni Messrs Synims : Vd'Sutciif&:#^ : - v />"i^::;vi.:.s, : ';r^,- . •.•/.■■' ;,V^Thocount*y.;ptßßjßd; through by tia from our Btartingj,po>flit i#:our.ihaking the Pass.wasof a very r jigged and iirpk^characCerj'and .in many places .ektiemely J>recipiitou4 ; ;tbt whole front of., the KJnge bejD^Bpxered witfi jnowii. -The rocks are of thesaraa (Je*prip*iqn'a3 those O n the Shotover, but immediately or jwithihea few miles of entering the Pass, the country takes so sudden a change for the better, thai'jfc- is almost incredible, and must be •seen to be believed. Gentle undulating hills stretch ing but iri'tjp flats and 'gullies, with conipal shaped jranges on. eatheVside/a'nd those possessing tinolber of ho ordiimry;' 'dimensions, ana many of thern^ ■Covered witli tKe'rieh'est pasture, take the place of the:cold,sterileY.arid bleak mountain ranges just passed by..~ IJhe rocks continue to be of the same formation, witli'only one noticeable difference— as ydu"apprbach;the .coast granite is to be seen cropping out on the surface, and many of the hills are covered wjth fragmentary quartz, with quartz reefs, traversing them, and being visible on the surface for some distance. As we are not making an application for a reward for the discovery of a new goldfield, we wish to abstain (at all events at present) friom' stating the actual results of our labor, 'but ; at the! same time we wish to be de»tinctly understood that metals and minerals exist right through to the very coast, some few specimens of which we havehanded you for inspection. " Traces of the- Moa bird are found in' numerous places,'in some instances laying upon the surface, in other* from 6 inches to 4 feet deep. There kr© numerous': creeks and streams running tb"'the coast, upon which there are plenty of wild duck. The wild pigeon is also pretty plentiful. There is also a<peculiar species of rat, being large and-black, and having a long thick flat tail. This, with the information we afforded you on Saturday, is as much as we feel justified in stating."