THE "WELCOME" NUGGET.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 477, 13 March 1869, Page 3

THE "WELCOME" NUGGET.

( To the Editor of the Westport Times.") Sir, —There has been considerable discussion as to the aize of the nugget lately found at Dunolly, compared with the renowned Welcome nugget of 1857. An article in your paper, taken from the Dunolly Express, describes the nugget found there as the largest mass of gold the world has yet seen. There are many who contend the truth of that statement. If you possess the requisite information, will you settle the question?— Yours &c., Miiter. Addison's Flat. [We are scarcely in a position to do so. We notice, however, that a recognised authority, the Australasian, says this:—" The largest nugget in the world has been found at Dunolly. Never before did so huge a mass of gold present itself to men's wondering eyes as that which a few days since rewarded the perseverance of two industrious miners. Its weight was 2121b., and it was sold for £9,600. It was found at only two inches below the surface. If this nugget had been found in the South African diggings, or in the Leickardt ranges of Carpentaria, what an exodus of miners would have taken place. Tet Victoria has produced six or seven nuggets larger

than have ever heen discovered elsewhere, and the present discovery surpasses all the rest. The Welcome Nugget, the Blanche Barkly Nugget, the Canadian Gully Nugget, the Lady Hotham Nugget, any one of these would have made any other country famous." The same paper says : —" The good ship Beigate, which sailed on Sunday for London, carried away the produce of the "Welcome Stranger," the largest nugget yet found in Australia. It was re-melted in three lots in Melbourne, and turned out in five bars, yielding 2,2670z. 16dwt, troy, and 7|dwt. of scraps.]