AUCKLAND. THE GOLD FIELD.

Taranaki Herald, Volume I, Issue 16, 17 November 1852, Page 3

AUCKLAND. THE GOLD FIELD.

Wr. have received the Auckland papers to the 30th ult, They contain no additional information of a satisfactory character touching the gold fields in the neighbourhood of Coromandel ; and the question of the profitable working of the district is still awaiting confirmation. We extract the following from the " New Zcalander" of the 27th ult. " Additional specimens of gold have been brought to town, some of them which we have seen being of great jichness ; and although the quantity held by each individual is small, were the whole collected it would make no inconsiderable show. " It is to be remembered that hitherto no really efficient exploration has been made ; on digging a few feet below the surface, masses of quartz rock have frequently obstructed the work, and there were no means to blast or otller wise remove these obstacles so as to get at the deposits which not improbably lay under or around them. Besides, even the surface diggings were not made to yield in many instances anything like the quantity of gold which they actually contained, owing to want ofokillin washing, or want of proper implements for that purpose. Under such circumstance it is much' to have it placed beyond all douM the fact that gold does exist in some, at least, of the mountain ranges of the Northern Province of New Zealand, and, moreover, that it exists through a considerable extent of the country — specimens having, been already collected from localities several miles apart. The fuither explorations which will now continue to be made, with the advantage of increased experience and better tools and general appliances, will most probably very soon enable the public to judge of the value of the Field as a sphere of labour and enterprise ; and it is far from unlikely that the neighbourhood' of Coromandel will not retain its solitary distinction as Me gold producing district, but that in this Island, as in California and Australia, the discovery having been made in one place, it will be lapidly followed up by discoveries of other, and it 'may be more abundantly, auriferous tracts. At the same time, enough of uncertainty still invests the issue to check, as rash and unwarranted, the confidence that would dogmatically predict what a few months may bring forth." It must not however be lost sight of, that the authorities have tnken the matter seriously in hand, which lends weight and reliance to all that has been stated in favor of the discovery. The same article informs vs — " His Excellency the Lieutenant-Gover-nor purposes to sail this dny in the Border Maid, for Coromandel, that he may personally inspect the Gold Field, and take such steps as the occasion calls for. His Excellency will be accompanied by His Lordship the Bishop of New Zealand, Major Nugent, (Native Secretary), Mr. Johnson (Chief Clerk and Interpreter in the Native Secretary's Department) Mr. 11. Wood, (Deputy Surveyor General) and Mr. C. Heaphy of the Survey Department. Their return may be looked for about the end of the week, when we shall no doubt have fuller information on all the points on v/lncb/'additional information is now so greatly to be desired." Happily the executive in that settlement seems sensitively alive to its responsibi'ities, and is a'ready making active preparation to meet the difficulties which will inevitably come in the train of a confirmation of the flattering report which we furnished in our journal of the 3id instant, and from the unanimity displayed by all parlies there

arises a well grounded hope that Auckland will be spared the painful ordeal which the Australian districts are even now undergoing. The accounts from thence show something very nearly amounting to an utter disarrangement of all the elements of society. < Safety to life or property, there is none. Murder and rapine walk abroad in noonday with impunity ; and the wild jastico of a disorderly mob, is prayed for, as a desirable change. Should an all merciful Providence fail to avert the scarcity which, to human judgment is inevitable, the whole population of these places appear likely to be precipitated one on another like a flock of wolves. Those who may yet entertain a lingering wish to leave healthful and useful pursuits in peace and plenty, will do well to ponder on the matter contained in the columns of our last, and to day's journal.