THE SOUTHERN DIGGINGS.

West Coast Times, Issue 1659, 24 January 1871, Page 2

THE SOUTHERN DIGGINGS.

To the Editor of the West Coast Times

and Observer.

SrR — By finding room for the following remarks and statements, certain J am that you will oblige many of my friends the die/yers. hpqldps saving me much time in standing to detail what T saw and felt. I have been south at the Five-mile Beach beyond Okarito ; therefore, I begin there and come north.

At the Five-mile Beach, the population seems to me about 100, and one of the hotelkeepers told me there was an hotel for every eleven men, and he said the hotels numbered ten or eleven about the place itself. The diggers own statements arc very different, some saying " the place is done ;" others saving "it will last for years to come." My own opinion is that there is not so much gold getting of late. Nevertheless, all agree that they had a very fair Christmas, and are again setting in to work with visov. I saw some of the diggers jolly, but I did not see tipsj' men. The most of the ground is wrought by parties, and some of them pretty large. The wages given I did not hear named. All the people seem to me to get on in a very fair way, for although 1 hey have not given any limb of the lavv a living amongst them, they have even-handed justice dealt out to them by their esteemed warden, Mr Price. They all admit this.

The storekeepers seem to me to be pretty liberal in giving credit, but this is to those they really know, therefore I caution my friends and strangers not to go south unless they can support themselves for two or three months, for otherwise they will not be supported, and let no man think he is badly treated, for, alter he goes there and sees the difficulty and the expenses of transporting goods, his claims on them will appear very little.

At a distance of another fourteen miles farther south is Gillespie's Beach, and, according to hearsay, it contains a population of between sixty and eighty people. Many think that place is to turn out well, and the population will soon increase very considerably.

Other beaches still farther on are favorably talked of. This is all hearsay to myself. Now I come to Okarito, and to a stranger this may truly be said a town "to let," many large apd expensive buildings standing empty &nd rotting. I sold goods in it to the amount of 19a. There appears to me no digging nearer Okarito than the Three-mile Beach, and, coming this way, none nearer than the Saltwater, a distance of about sixteen miles; there the diggers number from thirty to fifty. One particular friend, whom I met, and whose word any man may depend on, said, after a lew hardships and failures, he was making wages, and the diggers know what that word means. I noticed some large and good huts, as if a residence was intended ; but what is strange, I was told there is not a lady about all the place. Therefore, to virtuous young ladies, openings are numerous ; but from the appearance of the men, I would say to the " ragtag" women, stop where you are. There are no homes for you in the south. From the Salt Water, coming still north, there are only a few, and very far-between scattered diggers along the track till you be in the neighborhoaa of Ross.

Ross itself, to roe a stranger, presents a very inviting appearance, sloping and dry, with houses and stores closely and well built, and the diggers' houses the same ; and on a Saturday night and Sabbath, the diggers are all well dressed and seem very orderly. Nearly everybody knows what is between this and Ross.

Allow me to mention further some of the difficulties met with in going round the cliffs. A digger with a swag has nothing to fear, although very lonely and wearisome if by himself, and should be be stuck up hy the tfde, he \vjl| npt hqve n^qre than

I two or throe hours to wait ; but to a strange man, with a strange horse, I would say, " do not be tempted to ijo alone, aud | then you must watch the tides," for ho will , \ find " crag ou crag nio^t strongly hurled— , the fragments of an earlier world.' To confirm my statement, none of the boatmen on the ditfd'rent rivers were , willing that I should go alone. I received the most marked attention from all. Ido wittingly acknowledge the attention of Mr Allan. Mr Bile, of Wanganui, sent his I man nearly four miles to see me safe. The boatman below him paid me the same compliment ; therefore, my little horse and I landed home with only some cuts and a good many scratches, but I shall never be so bold and so foolish as to attempt the same journey again alone. Let no strong man attempt to ford the rivers, although a small stream. He has to pay the boat anyhow, and they are worth paying for too-. I am, &c, JAMES FYFFE. Woodstock, Jan. 19, 1871. ♦ 1