ARRIVAL OF ESCORT.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVI, Issue 1689, 7 January 1862, Page 7

ARRIVAL OF ESCORT.

14,014 OUNCES OF GOLD.

TheEsoortthat arrived yesterday afternoon brought from Gabriel's Gnlly, 10,079 and from Wailahuna, 3 935 ozs. of gold ; making a total for tho week of fourteen thousand and fourteen ounces. The general tenor of the week's news' is still of a favourable character, and we doubt not but the largo addition's we have this week received to our raining population will speedily produce a considerable augmentation of our weekly escort returns for although we have no very striking discoveries of new fields to report, it is well known that'there still remains a large extnt of good payable ground yet unbroken iv the immediate vicinity of the fields already iv course of working. i With a moderately steady accession to our working population, and n modification of our present Mining Regulations, we may hope for months yet to come to bo able to write cheerfully of our prosperity aud prospects..,' waipokj. J We last week announced the discovery of gold upon one of the tributaries of the Waipori, and stated that a messenger had been despatched by Mr. Commissioner Branigan to examine and report. We now subjoin the report as furnished to the head of tho department: — Police Department. Dunedin, 20th December, 1861.

Mounted Constable Garvey reports, for the information of the Commissioner of Police, thatin compliance with the instructions of yesterday's date, he proceeded to the diggings on the Lammerlaw Creek, which empties itself into the Waipori river, distant/rom Duuedin about 40 miles where he found about 400 miners, 300 of whom were at work on the banks of the creek for a distance of five miles Tho crack and ils tributaries and adjacent gullies shew the ordinary indications of a gold-bearing country, and may yot be found a very productive gold field ; but but at present no good yields have been obtained, except by the p'oapecos. (Hughes and parly), who stated that they had got 50 ozs. of coarse gold, in which was ar nugget 2 dwts. and 14 grains, the result; of four weeks' work; 36 ozs. of which they found iv the bed of the creek, the result of four days' work.

The length of the creek is about 9 miles its width varies from lOOyerds to 40 feet. Depth of sinking from 3 to 10 feet, rocky bottom ; very little wash-dirt procured in the crevices of the rocks, which rise to the surface.

There were about 1000 miners on the creek on the morning of yesterday, the most of whom came from Tuapeka and Wetherstone's gully. They were leaving in hundreds to return to the scene of their former labours. Several were met on way to Dunedin to spend the Christmas. The want of provisions is seriously felt by those now on the diggings, and several were compelled to leave on that account. It is very probable that about 100 will remain to thoroughly pjospect the place. There is no store of any description on the creek. The nearest place where provisions may be procured is at the accommodation house on the Waipori river, distauce 8 miles.

Notwithstanding the somewhat discouraging character of the report, we have reason to believe that a really good payable gold-field may yet be developed. A large number of those who left priucipally from the scarcity of provisions have since returned well supplied with a stock of their owii, and intend to give the place a fair trial. Many others are preparing to lea\e both Gabriel's and Waitahuna. upon the first intimation of a well founded prospect. We have received information of several large "finds," but as the diggings, are at present confined to the bed and banks of the creek, they are obtained 7 duly at immense expense ofrtime a*ad labour, in cutting races; and the limited claims at present allowed is a considerable With the. .facilities of larger claims and convenience of stores which, jifcre,, fast making their, ■ appearance, we .mayexpeejLtb hear good news" irom Waipori yet.— Colonist, Dec: 27 .

Commercial. — The business of JQunedin. during the past week has exhibited no marked change, although there is an evident disposition of a fall in prices of most articles of genera! consumption ; and unless the the shipments from Melbourne are better regulated, a glut .must ensure,. Flour has fallen in price, and may .jiow be quoted at from £15 to £17. The potatoes from the Chatham Islands, ex Traveller's Bride, are we hear, fetching £12 per ton. Building materials are also a shade lower. " The Import Duties for Monday, Deo. 23rd, amounted to £898 14s. 2d.— Daily News. The Traveller's Bride, which arrived here from the Chatham Islands on Friday last, reports the total less of the schooner Eliezer, of Auckland.. She Was

wre/blsed"at Wai'tarigi about the" enfi of i September, but fortunately all hands yvfre saved, and have been brought to this? port by (he Traveller's Bride. The Eliezor went ashore during a heavy gale from the S.W. The harbor of Waitangi is described as very dangerous, the harbour being often filled with kelp, inside of which lies a reef of rocks. The Chatham Islands were all quiet, and only 63 European residents on the Island. — Id. The Harriet Hope, bound for the Kaikoras, from Hobart Town, with sheep, has unfortunately lost about 800 of her cargo, and had to land the remainder at considerable risk to the ship- — Id, We hear that cousiderablo anxiety ox- I ! istsin Gabriel's Gully in consequence of the mysterious disappearance of the Manager of a certain weii-known. Mining Company. He was last seen one evening Just week going up v spur behind the Commissioner's Camp, aud soon ,afterwards one of bis men was seen leading his horse, down the. gully. Since that time no tewce of him has been discovered, although the most dilligent. search has be.eji made, as he was summoned as a j witness in an. important case for the day after that oii which be so strangely disappeared. It is rumoured that considerable deficiencies will be found to exist in the accounts of the Company. — Id. In spite of the Lachlaa Diggings we may expect to have a large number of arrivals from Sydney. The Hirondello, from thence, which has just arrived, states that she was filled up before the news had arrived of the. late large shipments of gold, aud there were several vessels to, be laid on for Otago. The intelligence from here, which was received in Sydney four hours before the departure of the Hirondelle, had' created considerable sensa- | tion. — Id. By the s.s, Storm Bird, Capt. Mundle, which arrived here yesterday morning, ! we have received news from Otago up to the 19th hist. The weekly Escort arrived at Dunedin on the 12lh inst., with 16,141 ounces; and again on the 19th with 14,000 ounces. The ss. Aldinga, from Melbourne, arrived at Port Chalmers on the 10th inst., after a quick passage of four days 22 hours. She did not convey tho Euro pettu AJ ail to" Otago, as Captain Hooper informed us; it not having arrived at Meltyxirne, previous to her sailing on the 4jifDecember. Another rush hud commenced at Melbourne for Otugo, in consequence of the receipt of intelligence, of the arrival of 41,000 ounces of gold by the Aldinga,. Owing to this, (says tho Lyttelton Times,) there is no prospect of the English Mail coming via Otago, as all the steamers are fully engaged both with passengers and cargo. ' . * _ The Ly Helton Times of the 21st inst., says — •• A special messenger who came overland from Invercavgill in 22 hours brought news of the loss of s.s. Oscar on her way to Melbourne at the New River. She had crossed the bar when she struck on some rocks on her starboad side. No further particulars were known except that passengers, gold and luggage were saved. .Jyhe is reported to have broken her back. The Otneo aud Guiding Star were to start for the wreck immediately, so that the former will not come on to Lyltelton. Captain Scott has arrived to get off the Victory; it is expected she will be afloat in a few weeks. The following is from the ' Otago Daily Times': — SUPPOSED NEW GOLD FIELD NEAII DUNEDIN, GREAT EXCITEMENT. PROBABLE ESOORT. Great excitement was caused at Tupeka by the arrival there on Tuesday morning of a man named O'ETara and his mates, with the report of a discovery of a new gold field. They had with them 34 ; ounces of gold, which they sold to the Union Bank It was of a coarse nuggety description, interspersed with quartz and conglomerate. A prospecting claim was granted them. It was found on one of the tributaries of the Waipori, on the West Taeiri Road about eight miles north of the Waipori Ferry. It was obtained by turning the bed of the river. The excitement at Tuapeka was immense. Nearly 2000 men were proposing to start yesterday morning, but the rain prevented them. Major Croker is going to visit the spot himself. It is about 27 miles from Tuapeka, and the same distauce from Dunedin. The Escort this week from Tuapeka is 9693, 0z5. 10 dwts. The Waitahuna contribution will probably bring it up to about! 14,000 ozs. The s.s. Aldinga sailed from Otago for Melbourne on the 11th inst , with 23,675 ozs 13 dwts. of gold. ;The brig .Safari*; (v6m^ 'Auckland had arrived at Otago, with -80,000 feet of sawn tiireber. '•'•'■ ' ' ■ „ The 'Aiainga on her last trip' to Otago broiigjiit' 4own the largest mail that ever oamie from Melbourne, thßre being nearly 5,000 letters, and a large number of newspapers. •■-. The Chili from London, arrived at Port Chalmers on the 10th inst., after a passage of 101 days. The Oscar had brought an addition of four troopers to the Otago Mounted Police Force, Arrival oi. the ' Escort with 16,141 Ounces. — The weekly esoort arrived at Dunedin on the 12th inst with 16,141 ozs. of gold, of which 10,953 ounces were from Gabriel's^Gully, and 5,187 ounces from Waitahuna ; and six prisoners. .. GOLD. IN THE NORTH. Mr. Reymaii%ho has been prospecting fofr Mr. J. Jones in the north, has just

returned with bis 'report' tvhicb 'we subjoin; there caw be no doubt that a.five; field exists in the direction he has been, but possibly it may take some time to.de-; velope. Some regulations should bermade encouraging prospecting, and r doubtless; many experienced miners would disperse themselves over the country, and new fields would be found. Mr. Roy man has brought down half an ounce of fine gold, which he obtained during his tour. He returns at once, with proper equipruents,to the gully running into Duusian creek, where ho. found the best prospect, Th.c deep holes he. could not hottom, owing to the foul air and want of roprt. In Dun- | stan gully he' "and his mates sunk fiftyfeet without finding a boitona, Ho will however, direct his a'tentjou to the shallow sinking or {surfacing. The g-uliy is about two miles long,' "by a quarter of a mile wide, and he could wash gold under' the soil all over it. : . .Dunstan ...gully is situated thirty miles from the Liudis, on Mr. Black's run. The following is Mr. Reyman's report : — " DanedH), 12th December, 1861. " Srn, — I am pio'ased to inform yon that I have discovered gold to the iioiuY; ; of this province, iv the Mannberikiii valley, but not in paying quantities at present. I found gold over a large extent of country, and I firmly believe before long I shall discover a -good 'lead, as the country has every appearance of a gbjd field. 1 should not recommend any one to go tliete until I" return On Monday next!! intend to return noilh with tools and provisions, and in three or four weeks I will send you the gold, and let you know what a man can cam per day. I left Dunedin on the 30l|i Sept., nud prospected for six or seven miles .round Waikouaiti, but found, no gold. I then pushed on to the Dunstan mountains. In a large : gully running to the Dunstan creek, I sunk one bole 17 feet, and got a half pennyweight off the bottom. Two holes further down gave tie same result. I\bcn went a mile and a half further down, sinking two feet, and ota a false bottom found two feet of wash dirt, yielding about the same result of gold. Under that is hard cemented gravel.. We sunk 5.0 jfeet and found no - bottom; it was dry. We then tried the false bottom in twenty places; alj.gave the same results. I should say they would go 1£ dwts. the load. I have sent you half an ounce for a sample; it is fine gold, walenvorn ; there is plenty of water, no wood, only firewood, and plenty of. coal. We could not get provisions there ; we were three days without food ; we made to a Mr. Black's station, but that gentleman's servants had received orders' not to let us have anything to eat, so we remained without fi od for two more days, although we had had nothing but grass roots for three days previously, ami offered to pay for what they would give us. He did not want gold diggers" there. You will see prospecting is no joke in New Zealand. I remain, your obedient servant, A. G. Heyman. J. Jones, Esq." On the principle of better late than never, we ought to be highly gratified that the Bank of New South Wales has, at last, consented to give a return of, the amount of Gold remaining on deposit, on account of the Government Escort. It. appears that the balance on hand from: the Waitahuna Gold Field, on the 12th December, is 12,325 02s. lO.dwis;, and^at the same date from the Tuapeka Gold Field, 34,620 ozs. 18 dwts., making'a total the two places of 46,916 ozs. 8 dwts. •The amount of gold that has come, down by Escort, is 177,624 ozs. so that more •than 25 per cent, of the total produce yet remains on deposit, besides the immense qnantity still vesting in the hands of the miners. These figures effectually prove that the miners are not working for mere subsistence wages- Here we have an amount of .something like £160,000 accnmlated iv . a few months into the hands of an entirely fresh body of capitalists. This is better than Victoria, where the miners have to sell their few pennyweights weekly to purchase the cost of subsistence. The s.s. " Oscar," which sailed yesterday, for Melbourne, took 9,984 ozs, of gold ; the Hydra, also for Melbourne, takes 250 oz-s. 7 dwis. The Customs' Duties, received at this port, yesterday, amounted to £732 9s. lid. The amount reoeived during the week ending Deo. 14th exceeds that of the similar period in 1860 by £1,933 2s id. The Customs* Duties received at the Port of Dunedin, during the past week are as follows : — • Monday, Dec. 9ih £544 2 2 Tuesday, " 10th • 567 15 4 Wednesday, «• 11th 177 3 5 : Thursday, " 12lb 50 KJ 10 Friday, " 13th 543 17 5 Saturday, " 14th 462 6 0 Total £2,345 .17 2 , The amount received for, the corresponding period in 1860, was £412 15s. jWe observe that, the hard-labor prisoners are now engaged in widening the line of street round the beach to ; the Gouri-house, and with "the material thus obtained, are reclaiming a small portion .oif the harbor near' the same place.. v Something like, a disturbance took, place on Saturday at Waitahuna. The accounts 'that have reached us are conflicting some speak highly of the conduct of the police, others attribute unnecessary violence to them. It arose out of an attempt to arrest a drunken man, and whos.e. resistance was more or less abetted by a large crowd. Sergeant-major Bracken, ou horseback, charged the crowd with a drawn sword; We will shortly be in- possession of further particulars. . . We would caution returning diggers against taken gold on which the duty has not been paid, the consequences of detection are forfeiture of the gold, and a liability to a heavy fine in addition. We believe that the police have instructions to take the necessary steps to prevent the smuggling of gold in this manner ; and we must confess that, taking into' const-

■^ —■ ————■—Mai- ■ ■' .. { firatjon the- fact that- the; property^of *rf tniuers is brought^dowrrat'a'great cbst^ by escort, and. kept., at the hank fr^s tiAu charge,. we.:eati; haveftio; iympiiUiy wijd^?? those who attempt to , evade the payment of export duty. *- .ejK '\r'■-*s'£ : "*'ii-~'' The Squthamploniook from Melbourne,: to London 37,078 ounces: of gold from t New Zeulftn'd. This^will be a conclusive; ; proof to pur English, friends^ "~tliaVthev> .New Zealand bubblo has nol burst," as 5V the-'-'Age ventured to insert in its last extraordinary to EngJand. , \ v Mention has been made in the llelbourne papers thatfgreatputnbers of men .have b^en ;cdmpel|edL ;s ;: to wdrlc on tlie'roadirat ss; per' day]' '~-\V°s- may* : * state-that there is not in the employ .of the Gdvornrnent, in or ■ ont^'df -toivn,; -200 meh^ and / tbesq are getting six shillings por, diem.. - '>. r,r; Ths following-tables of arrivals and departure*.. ---. will be '---;' ;- '.-■..

; Arrival's aS-'the Point *oV DaJrEDiNy- '-..■'■- - : . , . frqril Ist Jan. to llth Dec. 1861. '- V . .-.:-■ ; Whence ' Males Females Children- - Melbourne ; . . 12,195 ... r 279- ■;-"••• "" 184^ '-- ■:/- Gee1png... ......... 141 .;. 2 '.'.: 4 - ; Newcastle, N.S;W .. 138 .;. '1 ..."'■ 0':. " Hobarfc Town.'i.^i..-. -. 631 ... 40". ... 16 Lauticfsfon ........ 390 "... 3^.:..- •' : ■■ .-6 ' ■' • Sydney J. T55 - ... IS ■ ... 15 Leith ;. ;". . .'• :Bd\ ... 47 " „'. • " ''40' ' London 101 ';...; C 4• ... 'Bl r - G1a5gpw;:. .:"...........; ,500 ..." 330 - ..;- 30^ ; .-' -: Parts in New Z§al?ind 2,§57 . .' . 218 - „ .; •'-■ : - -'' . : \, WpU\' i. 17,797 IOiH '%^U?Departures from the Port of "DvsisDTSt f 's\i '■'•- »■ from Ist Jan; to 12th Dec.-18&1^ ! ' ■-".-'•; •• -. Destination Males Fem'alesChildren r - Melbourne, ,-.':'' - 3,110 : * 62 .' ,22: Newcastle \,BB . 1 " 6 * Hobart Town 350 • , : 2 0 Launcestoh "]'.' .105 ' 0 :0 -" Sydney; ' . •' - -Ho ' - -1- - "- • 1 ■■"■ London;'"''. '' ';'"''. ' ! "24 : 11 .'.•': ILVPorts in'lifew Zealand 1060 75 ■ 57 -..'. . ' T0ta1.. .. 4,853 ~i43 •■ 91 ■••■- r