LATEST FROM THE OTAGO GOLD FIELDS.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVI, Issue 1608, 13 August 1861, Page 4

LATEST FROM THE OTAGO GOLD FIELDS.

We make the following extracts from the Otago Colonist of the 2nd August. In a su mm ary of lhat dote it gives a history of the discoveries at Tuapeka and goes on lo say : —

All the subsequent accounts are confirmatory of those first received. Other gullies have been prospected, and are believed to be even richer than that in which the operations have been hitherto principally carried on, but the want of water will increase the difficulty of working. The Superintendent and the Escort have paid a second visit to the gold field, from whioh (hey returned on Tuesday evening, bringing, however, only 2000 ounces of the precious metal. . The total quantity received in town is now about 5000 ounces; but nearly double lhat weight is supposed to be in the possession of the diggers, who appear to'Vetenacious of parting with the glittering novelty at the present price, until at least its real value is ascertained; and certainly seventy shillings; per ounce is a low figure, if tbe gold is really nsgood as it appears to unscientific eyes. The Sydney -teamer will, however, bring tbe result of the assay, and we may shortly expect the receipt of gold here to exceed

Of the whole export from the Nelson fields ks during 1859 and 1860 which amounted to . 12,000 ounces, re w ... at As the exciting intelligence of the gold st discovery became more widely known, c d t hastened from all quarters, t; " . ?t • , y and the province has been almost drained I of able-bodied labour, which is now conis oentrated at the diggings. We have no d t nows from Soutblond of a very c . . J c positive character, but we have reason - to believe that the same state of things r obtains there. From Canterbury there - j been a few a|.rivals and many more c . *• , • * j au.i 0 are immediately expeoted. Altogether r from 1600 lo 1800 persons have visited c the diggings, but of these many have n roturned and are still returning to town, n _. , . . ° . c Of theTemaitider, some are reaping an c ample harvest, though we think our con- , c- temporary's estimate, that one-third are t makh lg their fortunes, is a high one. s. o.t0 .t ° r „„.]•„„ nt nftV Wft ° hj„h , UU'ers are working at pay wages wnicii to although paid at nominally a high rate, i r is, all things considered, scaroely an im-1 or provement upon their present position, r W . „;,„,„.,, „,.*! „n„u, nova„ tn - Many have returned who ought never to d have started, being wholly unfitted lor c the fatigue and exposure attendant upon o „o jd digging, and without means to enable them to await the process of acclis. . i y matisation m idleness. Ihe weather was s unusually flue for some time after the d discovery was published, which no doubt r a jr on i B( i a ctronff tomnifltinn to many • r J"?™ 60* "r°n& ""P 1* T\° maU?' f but for the last fortnight it has been cold o and wet, and sickness has prevailed to a - considerable extent on tho diggings, c fch h thi _ Jg d .d , correspondent j.° J r o of ° ,jr contemporary. Ihe roods, too, o have been so cut up by the unusal traffic t as to bo in some parts almost impassable ; r and the price of provisions, which has t _._.._ l . . % , , buherto been reasonable under the cir- — CUmstanoes—flour selling at £60 to £70 d per ton, and other articles in proportion , —would be thereby seriously increased; , . , ,„,,,„••"'. r „ 'i ». , •„ - but the transmission of goods coastwise — to the Waihola Lake, by which the whole f cost of transit to the diggings is brought - down to about £50 per ton, wili probably I nvavont a „:__ tn „„„ „i ':„„',„,„ h P 1?™ 111 a nse to alarming extent. , Ine greatest order has hitherto beeu i maintained on the diggings, and a reso- , i ut j on has been unanimously passed t „„„:„„* .i, Q Q _i_ _!>•.,_ m.; 0 * ,;r„ s a ß amst lhe *al ° ofss Pitsr'ts- rh,s B™^/ c i"g State ot things, however, scarcely r affords an indication of what may be exg peeled upon the influx of a mixed popu-'»*».»•»«•"-»«f »"w —• »>r r Wednesday, tho Lyttelton steamer having c brought about 20 passengers from Cand terbury; the Omeo, 40 from Melbourne; g ftnd Lord Ash, fa 7Q f Sydney, d«,.._ „ . J J a «°'» en rotlte the diggings. . &nj altempt to predicate the ultimate - _ AO„i» nf ,i« V * „ iyr-^^-f-this^iscp^ery to the province, I and indeed to the whole island, would be d absurd. Its immediate effect has been - to put a stop to all public works and . •„... o„»_«-.-:«,— * i « n a private eoterpnaej-to leave our fields d untitled and our flocks untended,—and r to divert nil commercial operations into o the one channel for the supply of the necessities of the gold diggings. This, t , ... " c * Ulsg'"_. i *' *«•<»» , however will be but temporary; but we n may safely anticipate tbat the next six n months will witness a complete revolution s 80oiai oommercj a| and we fear moral, in f „,. , .. • . . t ' l all our relations and circumstances.

The followiug extraot from a letter recently received has been sent to us for publication, and will uo doubt prove interesting to our readers : —

You ask me to give you some information about this gold field on which I am now toiling; and, though sorely tired with my day's work, I cannot resist the claim you have upou me. The scene around me is, indeed, a strange one, aud straugely contrasts with our position but a few short weeks ago. I cannot describe our locality, but it is one with whioh you are doubtless familar from having j visited your cousin's sheep farm in the interior. Around me are grouped the everlasting hills in dark and frowning magnificeuce, aud at my feet nmnders j the little rivulet from which the place j takes it name, which yesterday was as i clear as orystal, but to-day flows a turbid | and unseemly stream. The hills, which ! are about 1200 feet high, reach the plain in well rounded and rapidly descending spurs, broken hero and there by a protrudiug mass of quartz, or the bard and , serrated outline of a projecting ledge oT slate. The valley of the Tuapeka is one of tbesjß clefts in the mountain range, extending some mile and a-half from the spot where it opens out into the plain ; aud this streamlet rises from a series of ravines which converge at its upper end ; here is a kind of basin alluvially filled up lake, which at present is being taken up by the newly-swarming diggers, and whioh, if systematically worked with Californian pumps, and the ordinary appliances, will be richly remunerative ; already a judicious perseverance has been repaid by a plentiful supply of nuggety gold, but the sinking is comparatively deep — some 10 or 18 feet— and in oonj. sequence, at this season of.the year, very wet. Throughout the whole extent the. labours of the diggers ate rewarded with varied success. Iv oue claim a party may be extracting 20 to 40 ounces a day ; while in that adjacent to it scarcely an ounce greets the scrutinizing gaze at the close of the day's labour. The same eristic prevails in the short anil : rapidly ascending ravines on either side.' A peculiar formation may intercept, tbe gold washed from the neighbouring heights, as in the plain a similar formation, causing an eddy in the stream, may be the origin of a richer deposit. On the whole, I think I may describe my brother diggers as a sucqessful'^nd satisfied class, and though sanguine per-

sons fix the average yield at an ounce per man, my observations would induce me uot to place it at more than half that quantity, and I am satisfied of these conclusions from the fact of labour being obtainable at a pound a day. You ask me how it is, considering the number of tueii at work, that the remittances are not greater, and I candidly confess you have fairly puzzled me. There cannot be less than 2000 meu on the Tuapeka and among the neighbouring gullies, and as you justly observe, the escort returns do uot exceed 2000 ounces. I believe that not only have large quantities found the way to town by private hands, but that large quantities are either waiting for higher prices, or unwilling to remit until they can own pounds instead of ounces; Of one thing there can be no doubt, that a3 a poor mau's diggings this gold field is an established fact, and go where you will within an area of several miles there will be found a fair day's wage td reward a fair day's labour. The mass of the people are extended along the banks of the Tuapeka; but nestling in every little nook may be seen arising from amid the mountain defiles. I feel fuJlv convinoed

that though our gold field will not produce results so astonishing as the discoveries in Australia, we are as yet only on the threshold of our gold domain, universality will be its characteristic, aud a liberal and uninterrupted supply easily obtainable, its chief fi aturi s. He who is not content with the ordinary reward of labour, with an occasional nugget of modest dimensions, had better remain in the golden regions of Australia. Our field is adapted to a quiet, law-loving community, that of Australia to an ex* cited fortune hunter.