OTAGO.

Colonist, Volume V, Issue 470, 25 April 1862, Page 2

OTAGO.

(From the Daily Times.)

GOLDFIELDS.

[from our own correspondent.] Waitahuna, April 8,1862. The Waiiahuna goldfield is for the present under a cloud. The old workings 3till give employment to a considerable number of men; but they are not working in that systematic manner which is certain to ensure success. There is no more favorable ground for sluicing in the country, and puddling machines could even bo worked with advantage Yet there is evidently no one who has the courage to undertake either operation. I am convinced that whoever haa sufficient enterprise to go to the expense of cutting a race and sluicing the old ground, large portions of which were in the hurry and scramble of the first rush but imperfectly worked, that they will not only do well, but make something more than mere wages. The excavation of the lignite by the contractors, Messrs. Hill and Smithers, ia being successfully carried on. Already about a hundred and fifty tons have been raised, and stored m a lar»e iron roofed building erected by the Government for the purpose. There appears to be any quantity of the lignite on the flat, so that any fears a3 to the want of fuel by the miners during the winter may bo said to be at an end. The seam now worked is in some places over 10 feet thick, and haa been struck at a considerable distance from the present workings.

The proposed township is being surveyed on the flat, and to-day Captain Baldwin laid off a site for the camp, which is in a short time to be removed to this spot. The situation is a good one, being on the main line of road, and approachable on all sides.

The erection of the bridge has not been commenced, although 1 notice large piles of heavy timber on the ground. It appears that the absence of the pile driving machinery is the cause of the delay ; but as I understand this is on the road and expected to arrive by the end of the present week, no doubt the work will at once be commenced. For all who are concerned in the traffic on this road it cannot be completed too soon.

I am informed by Captain Baldwin that he has organised and started a prospecting party of five. The party is fully equipped, and is under the leadership of Mr. Mead, a gentleman who has had considerable experience in mining in Victoria, and is, I believe, in other respects well fitted for the post. They take out a month's provisions, and it is to be hoped that before they are exhausted the party will be successful in discovering some new and pnyable ground. The parties engaged in washing the drift from the river bed continue to do remarkably well, but are constantly engaged in frivolous and vexatious disputes as to the back water flooding the claims of their neighbors. As the new channel is straight, and about as wide as the tortuous windings of the old bed, it is scarcely possible to conceive how this can be the case. Under any circumstances, it would be a pity to see bo plucky a party, after they have successfully overcome so many difficulties, now seriously inconvenienced.

I understaud that the requisite number of names have been appended to a petition praying to have a Mining Board created for the Waitahuna District ; so that, in a short time, we may expect to have two Boards in existence.

The bad weather has, as at Tuapeka, told with severity on the yield of gold, there being a falling off in the amount sent down by escort to the extent of several hundred ouncea. Population fluctuating.