THE OKITIKI GOLD FIELDS.

Evening Post, Issue 21, 3 March 1865, Page 3

THE OKITIKI GOLD FIELDS.

The good people of Canterbury are placed in a novel position, having " a goldfield thrust upon them." The Evening Mail, of the 27th Ult., thus describes the situation : — " The arrival of each mail fro in Nelson brings us fresh accounts of the prosperous state of the Okitiki goldflelds ; every craft which arrives here from the West Coast, and each scrap of intelligence which can be gathered together respecting ttie El Dorado of Canterbury, seems to confirm us in the belief that at length a goldfield has been thrust upon us. A rush has set in which promises to clear Christchurch of its surplus population very quickly. Vessels are taking away intending diggers by the hundred ; Cobb's coaches are filled by those who prefer the overland route, and troops of men with pack-horses, laden with diggers' tools, may be seen daily starting to the West. All this shews more forcibly than ever the necessity of our Government taking some steps which will enable us to reap the benefit to be derived from a valuable estate." The Otago Daily Times addresses a word or two of wholesome caution to those persons who are likely to be led away by the prevailing excitement, and publishes a letter from Okitiki, written by one whose veracity and good faith are unimpeachable :— " Letters have been received in town that ought to create grave suspicion of the reliability of the very glowing reports that have been set afloat. Whilst rival bell-men, announcing shipping engagements and urging the public to secure their berths, just as on other occasions they recommended them to be ' early in their seals' at the Theatre or Thatcher's, gather crowds about them at the street corners and feed the general excitement, it becomes the duty of all prudent men to weigh well the notes of admonition that come from those who have already yielded to the seduction, and are now repenting their incautious htiste. The letter we subjoin is from one of these. It has been handed to us for publication by Mr. Hughes, M.P.C., and although we are not at liberty to divulge the name of the writer, we are in a position to state that his veracity and good faith are unimpeachable : — '"Oktiki, 10th Feb., 1865. •' ' Dear Alick — I have now got here, and lam sorry I left Dunedin. This,place is the worst I ever was in. Well, Alick, I paid jG3 10s to come to Havelock, in the City of Dunedin, and when I got to Havelock, I had to travel 40 miles of a very bad country to Nelson, and then I had to pay £5 for my passage to this wretched hole, all that is here is a narrow creek, there is some doing well, but twenty men hold all the ground, and I cannot see a chance to make a living. Believe me, Alick, lam speaking the truth, find God above me knows it. lam here now, and in an other week I will not have a shilling, and what to do I don't know, and how to get back to Dunedin I don't know. I saw Mr. M'Farlane to-day ; he is working a claim here making about £l a day. But there is no chance of getting alongside of him, so Alick I pity all those that come here, for they will never know what trouble is until they come here. When I landed here I had to walk nineteen miles throug a swamp up to my knees in nothing but mud, so I will leave you to guess. And where lam camped the sun never shines, for the timber and scrub is so thick. So Alick lam too down hearted to say much, and I hope sincerely I will soon be able to come back again. I wish I was clear of this life. I would I had a friend to help me now, in this my greatest trial I ever had, for there is no getting away without sailing on the water for it. If I could walk it, I would not think so much of it. The prices here -.—Flour, per Ib, Is 6d ; tea 5s ; sugar Is 6d ; meat, 2s ; bacon, 3s 6d ; butter none.