HOKITIKA.

Evening Post, Issue 70, 1 May 1865, Page 2

HOKITIKA.

(from the otago times correspondent.) [Our correspondent details the numerous boat and other river accidents, the particulars of which have already appeared, and proceeds : — Hokitika, April 18. This makes the seventh boat accident within the space of fourteen days, and in the same time six men have lost their lives by drowning. The high tides have now come on again, and the question as to whether the Storm Bird or Nelson are ever to float again will be decided. For several mornings the former has been almost surrounded at high water, and sways to and fro with the surf. This morning she was got some few feet nearer the water I hear, and she stands a far greater chance of being saved than her sister in adversity, being much nearer the smooth water of the river; in fact, she is just at the corner of the spit, which the river is steadily washing away. If we had such useful pieces of mechanism here as some powerful screw jacks, I think little difficulty would be experienced in getting both off without incurring a verygreat expense ; a sloping platform or " ways " leading into deep water would be necessary to which the jacks would raise her, and whence she could on a fine day be launched. From the various diggings the news continues to be of the same description as when I last wrote. Rushes and re-rushes are constantly taking place, and although no very large find is to be recorded, the amount brought down here is steadily on the increase. The day before yesterday an application was made in the Warden's Court for a prospector's claim, on a creek running into the Arahura. The «reek, named after the prospector — Macdonald, joins the Arahura about fourteen miles from the sea, in a southerly direction, and the gold has been discovered some three miles from its junction with the river. It is stated that the prospect was £oz. of fine gold lor two hours' sluicing. A large number of diggers have left to try their luck, but I do not think that the ground ¦will be found very rich. The rush to the Houhou Creek has subsided ; there are 300 or 400 men on the spot, but only a dozen claims or so are obtaining gold worth speaking about, and these cannot boast of yielding more than £6 or £8 a- week per man, at least a third of which must go to support life. The Waimea still continues % ift favo«jf ;

the creek itself is of course fully occupied, but recently good finds have been made by glnking on the terraces adjacent to it. The largest amount I have t card of as having been taken out of the creek is 600 ozs., amongst a party of five. This claim, a double one, was on the left bank of the Waimea, and was secured early in January last — it is now nearly worked out. Fox's Gully is snid to be paying high wages to those who hold claims ; the ground is all secured, but I am told, on good authority, that the claims will keep the men at work for five or six mouths. Of Callaghan's J? oxes, and the Maori Gully, I have obtained no authentic information lately. The recent heavy rains will be gladly hailed by many of the diggers, for the supplies of water for sluicing purposes have been scanty during the late dry weather ; and the less remunerative cradle has been in many cases called into requisition. It at all events is a good sign that the ground pays for its use. I have reasons for belieymg that in a short time new ground will bo opened up to the southward of the Ttitara Gully. The country has been but little prospected ; but where it has been tried has proved auriferous, and some parties have left with the intention, of giving it a two months' trial. The Maoris on this coast declare that a good harbour is to be found some seventy miles down the coast where vessels can be safely rnnored. If this be the case, and another gold field is opened up in this direction, the population of Ilokitika may be considerably decreased shortly. I believe that Captain Gibson will take a trip down the coast soon, to ascertain whether the alleged existence of a sheltered anchorage is a flict or not. No gold having been despatched by the last Nelson steamers, the amount now rendy to be shipped is about 8000oz. It must be borne in mind that this has taken more than a fortnight to accumulate, and there are some 800 men over here. The Canterbury Escort was sent back to ChiJl^lchurch a few days since, their services being of little use for the overland track. By the way, Canterbury setms to be wonderfully j^aloui of the suppo a ed benefits that Nelson is reaping from her gold fields. The public press ol Christclmrch and Lyttelton teem with articles on dray roads, sa-ldles, and gorges, and to those who are here on the spot, many of the printed remarks appear silly and childish. To make a dray road across the ranges, and through the dense swampy bu«»h on this «ide would sink a sum utterly disproportionate to the value of the fvld ; and if a late writer in the Lyttelton Chronicle who animadverted on the supiness of the Canterbury Government in not commencing the work, had ever paid a visit here he would have let his pen remain dry. A road fit for drays could only be made at an enormous expense, and when made would be almost useless. Goods would never he sent by the route as long as water can inge could be obtained, even at the present high ptices for freight an.l insurance, for the outlay of transport by land would pay sea carriage and loss three times over. In addition to this the time occupied in the transit would in most cases he greater. A track fit for cattle and horses would be useful ; beyond this any attempt at a road would be waste of money. At the same time, a good example has b^en placed before Canterbury by her sister province of Nelson, of what can be dore in a mountainous country by means of tramwa}'s. The coal fields on the river Grey aye now ascertained to be very extensive ; and in future years a work on a larger scale than, but similar to, the Dun Mountain Railway, may be found essential in the absence of any adjacent harbour, to the utilization of this permanent source of wealth by a narrow gauge tramway across the ranges, constructed on the American principle, •with wooden rails, would be, comparatively speaking, leas expensive than an ordinary road ; and the outlay, unjustifiable in consequence of the uselessneas of the latter, would be more than balanced by the increase of trade which the former would stimulate. A good harbour may, however, be found to the southward ; in which case a tramway along the beach, connecting it with the Grey, might be found to be the moat appropriate method of overcoming the difficulty, although the entailed necessity of constructing bridges across the numerous rapid rivers would make the undertaking a most expensive one. 15th April. The market here at the present time is fully stocked, as no less than eleven vessels, several of them large schooners and brigantines, arrived inside the river. Had the heavy S.W. weather continued, and so kept them outside, prices would doubtless have risen again. The horse market is glutted, and those who send horses here must lose by the speculation. Good sound draft horse 9 are obtainable at £30; pack horses at £\5 to £25; and light hacks, £6 to £15. The Nelson Examiner of the 25th, has the following remarks : — " The^rrival yesterday of the steamer

Omeo, from Hokitika, has put us in possession of late news from the diggings, for the particulars of which we refer our readers to our correspondent's letter. A considerable portion of the gold which had been accumulating for the three preceding weeks was forwarded by the Omeo, and 9850 ounces passed the Customs for the Hank of New Zealand and the Bank of New South Wales; while the gold purchased by the Bank of Australia will arrive to-day in the Wallaby. " The fleet of little steamers which had been so long weather-bound, by southerly gales, and whose detention had caused some anxiety, had all arrived in safety ; and we are gratified to hear that the Eleanor, which had been reported as wrecked at the Grey, has been saved through a flood iv the river, which washed away the bank on Jwhich she stranded. She is now being repaired. The steamer Storm Bird haa also been got off at Hokitika. " The sheep taken down in the steamers Bruce, Wallaby, Waipnra, and the Maid of the Yarra, sold steadily at prices varying from 60s to 70* each. There a great scarcity of horsofeed at the diggings, caused by the unusual detention of the steamers. " The Omeo discharged 270 tons of cargo outside the bar at Hokitika by the aid of small steamers. She has brought up 225 passenger;, chiefly for the South."

There were but few cases before the Resident Magistrate to-day, possessing no public interest. Mr Ireland's T> ight i** the Bosh. —On the recent visit of Mr. Irel nd to Wood's Point, his party were obliged to camp out, unit the ex-Attorney-General turned in with lv's boots off near the fire. Next morning, the boots b ing wet, would not "come on" —just at this moment Judge Copa arrived, nud found Mr. Ireland quietly whiffing his weed, with his trousers rolled up to his bare shins in pure Hibernian fashion and his coat tails turned up, as if he were standing at the dr.iwing-room fire. After the greetings which might be expected on such an occasion the cavalcade > got under vra.y. The horses tired, and the road bad, the gentlemen had to tramp, ami Mr. Ireland having secured a staff, took off his coat and stepped out baiefooted for a journey of four miles over an unenviable road, half tin's, time nearly kneedeep in mud. He did the distance bravely ; and on being asked by a horsemen who overtook him, " how on earth he was able to stand it ?" he exclaimed very much to the man's satisfaction, " that lie came from a country whore the children were all born without shoes or stockings." The following night the party would also lmve been out were it not for the Judge, who announced at the next stage their approach, ana when nisrht came on, half a dossen men went out in anarch, and having found them, piloted them three or four milea with their buttles and candles." —Victorian Paper. Thr Lovk Wojiiov op America. —Not least of all the fields for exertion and Christian charity opened by this war is that presented by womanhood. The war is abstracting from the community it 1? protecting an>l sheltering elements, ami leaving the helple«s an.l dependent in vast disproportion. For yeai'9 to come the averajro or' lonr> women will be largely increased j und the demand, always preat,for some means by which they may provide lor themselves, in the rude jostle of the world, will become move urgent and imperative. Will any one sit, pining away in inert grief, when two streets oif ars the mi might dance-houses, where girls of twelve, thirteen, fourteen are being lur&l into the way otswifl destruction ? How many of these are daughters of soldiers who have given their hgarts' blood for us and ouriiberities ? Two i>oble women of the Society of Friends have lately been taking the gauge of suff -ring misery in our land, visiting the ln.spitalii at every accessible point, pausing in our great cities, and going in their purity to those midnight orgies where mere children are being trained for a life of vice and infamy. —The ChimneyCorner, in the Atlantic Monthly.