The Westport Times AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1868.

Westport Times, Volume II, Issue 175, 21 February 1868, Page 2

The Westport Times AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1868.

Tor Queensland, oh ! Such we suppose will be the cry of the miners on reading the news published in our extraordinary of yesterday, and also in this moruing's issue. Gold has been found in the neighborhood of Maryborough, and as it is over a thousand miles distant and no definite news have arrived we suppose that this will be sufficient to induce a rush. We say definite, because all telegrams circulated by shipping offices must, to say the least of them, be looked upon rather doubtfully, as the first idea of a shipping agent is the number of passengers he can obtain. Ruinors have been prevalent of letters having been received by several inhabitants in Westport from miners at the new El Dorado, but on making inquiries of the parties indicated we can find no traces of any news having been received, so therefore we can only come to the conclusion that the rumors have no authority. We do not for one moment wish to dissuade any miner who has any authentic information of a character likely to better his conditiou, from giving the place a trial—on the contrary we say by all means let him go, but to those who merely depend upon " hearsay" evidence, we would advise them to pause ere they venture upon leaving New Zealand for Queensland, which has always been a land of rushes from the time of the establishment of PortEssington, and in almost every instance have they been failures and resulted in disaster and destitution. It is now nearly as possible about ten years since that the Port Curtis rush broke out —a rush we suppose without a parallel in the history of rushes—and what was the result ? A terrible story of distress, and to such an extent did it reach, that the Government of Victoria had to despatch a vessel to remove the luckless miners from the district. Later still there was the rush to the Peak Downs ; and later still, although it can hardly be called a Queensland rush, yet in many cases it presents features akin to it—the rush to the Barrier Ranges where it was said gold cou'd be picked up in pounds weight, and

the result was that many a poor fellow left his bones to whiten under the terrible glare of the tropical sun. The new diggings are about 50 miles from Maryborough, up the Mary Eiver, and are situatedat the junction of'and along the banks of a small creek called " G-ympie's Creek," which is dry in summer. '1 hey are in latitude about 25 degrees S. and might almost be said to be in the tropics, as they are not more than a degree or so, from the tropic of Capricorn. The heat is something intense, and the inhabitants of Maryborough are only too glad to seek the shelter of their houses from the fierceness of the sun's rays. These diggings have been in work for some months, but yet in the latest newspapers to hand there are no reports of anything extraordinary to warrant a rush. It must also be remembered, that should the ground be of any value, Queensland possesses a superabundant population, who a short time since, petitioned the Government to undertake some publicwork in order that they might obtnin employment. Such being the case, it would only be natural to suppose that they would seek the neighborhood of the diggings, but it does not seem from iate accounts, that the distress in Queensland has abated, and therefore the diggings do not seem to h.ve had much charm for those who are either on or near the spot. The effect of climate on anybody having this colony for Queensland is very great, fevers and other diseases being prevalent. While it is next to impossible to work for any lengthened period during the day. As usual in all diggings, some claims are doing very well, but the gold is patchy. In conclusion, we would certainly recommend a little patience, and if the ground is only hair as rich as rumor reports it to be, there will be room not only for the population of Queensland, but for all Australasia. Diggers who have not leen in the north of Queenslaud can form no conception of the climate, and the manifold disadvantages under which a miner would labor—the West-Coast may be bad enough, but it is a mere bagatelle compared with Queensland.