THE GOLDFIELDS. KANIERI TOWNSHIP.

Evening Post, Issue 133, 12 July 1865, Page 2

THE GOLDFIELDS. KANIERI TOWNSHIP.

(FROM 1111! WEST COAST TIMES CORUSPONDKXT.) Too lunch of a good tiling, they say is as bad as none at all. The claim holders on the terraces certainly required one or two days rain, but having obtained the quontum sufficient, they are now waiting anxiously for fair weather, that they may be able to use the aqueous element. The late heavy rains lias flooded a good many claims on the flat, and of course they remain for the present in statu quo. I mentioned in one of my letters,e tters, that I believed that if the main bottom could be got at we should arrive at better gold than the one which is being worked, and I beg to state that some energetic miners succeeded in reaching it on Wednesday last, on the river bank, alongside the township. This bottom is a sandstone one, which is found in a great many places on the West Coast. I can't obtain any accurate information as io the prospects obtained, bufc it was rumoured that they obtained as much as half an ounce to the tin dish, and 3 grs. to the shovel, but perhaps in my next letter I may know from the parties themselves. The sinking is through a layer of cement, and about 7 or 8 feet below the level of the river, and from all appearances of the ground, 1 should imagine that it will require the aid of machinery. The paddock is now flooded by the river. The engines and machinery of the steamer Wakool, I hear, are to be brought to this place for the purpose of supplying several heads of

water from the river, on the terraces, at the back of the township. 1 saw Mr. James Bryant, a gentleman connected with this undertaking, and he informs me there will be no difficulty in carrying out this arrangement. The old business places are now disappearing, and the trees are following suit, and I trust that before the end of this week we shall have, at least, the roadway cleared. THE EIGHT-MILE. Saturday, July 1. The Pame causes that affect the Fivemile have the same influences on this place. Nothing lias been done here for the last few days. There are several parties, lam told, higher up the river working, but with what results I am not in a position to state. The Woodstock township still continues to hold its attractions. It appears to me that these are what they call a poor man's diggings. Men are making ii'om ,£3 a week upwards. * Some parties are conveying their washdirt to the river by means of a tratnroad, and from all appearances this seems to be the most comfortable and easy working ground in the district. Tuesday, July 4. Nothing of any importance in mining news ; but a great deal of excitement ensue! yesterday, in consequence of a fight between Dick Hill, alias the Liverpool Novice, and Bob Mead, of Sydney. The fight was arranged to have come off on the island, opposite the Five-Mile, but owing to the interference of the police, was put a stop to ; so they resolved to give us their patronage, The fight lasted one hour and a-half, and 68 rounds were fought, when the referee declared Dick Hill the winner, in consequence of a foul blow given by Bob Mead. There were about 600 people present.

Man is the most wonderful of animals. Amongst other strange things which he can do, he can eat poisons with a certain degree of impunity. It is only necessary to be prudent, regular, and careful about the doses to survive for a considerable period. A certain, quantity of opium kills. Four or five grains is almost certain to a person not iv the habit of using it ; but any one can learn to eat twenty or thirty g rains at a dose. It becomes the necessity of a second nature, and though it shortens life, it does it so slowly that its operation in this respect is not alarming' So coffee, tea, and tobacco are poisonous. It requires some hardihood to get accustomed to the latter. A drop or two of the essential oil of cither of these narcotics, or a very concentrated decoction, will kill ; yet how many millions of men use all the three every day of their lives. There is some derangement of the nervous system —some diminution of the strength— probably some shortening of life ; yet how few hesitate to use these fascinating luxuries. And arsenic is very decidedly a poison, yet there is at least one country in the world where it is habitually eaten. A young man of seventeen, say begins by taking three grains at dose, which is gradually increased until he gets up to twenty-three grains. It does not do to exceed this quantity, nor is it safe to leave off suddenly. When the arsenic eater arrives at the age of fifty he gradually diminishes the dose. The immense quantity of poison constantly passing through his system does not not prevent his reaching the age o f seventy or eighty. — Lancet. A Stibryr Cobbler. — " Pray, sir of what profession are you ?" 6aid a learned counsel to a witness who had come prepared to prove a fact, and who was not deemed a very respectable gentleman. •' Sir, lam a shoemaker and a wine merchant." "A what, sir," said the learned Counsel. "A wine merchant; and a shoemaker, " Then," said, the counsel, *• I may describe you as a sherrycobbler !'* Sir George Bowen.— The Queensland Times makes the following announcement with respect to the Governor of that colony : — " We are now enabled to state that His Excellency received by the last mail from England an intimation from the Secretary of State for the Colonies that, in consequence of the very satisfactory manner in which he had hitherto conducted the Government of Queensland, and the consequent rapid progress of the colony, his term of office would be continued uutil some better appointment

should fall vacant. As there is no present prospect of ivny such vacancy, the probability is that Sir George Bowen will remain among us fi r several years longer ; and, as his Excellency's popularity is evidently on the increase (caused no doubt by the public becoming better acquainted with the zeal iind prudence with whiuh he has devoted himself to the prosperity of the colony,) we expect that knowledge of this will be received with general satisfaction." A Vjctokiax Drunkard. — " A singular instance of niissused means and confirmed drunkenness was recently furnished at tho police court, Richmond "—says the Melbourne Age—" in the persou of a confirmed drunkard, named Eliza Marsham, brought up on the customary charge of inebriety. It appeared that from January, 1863, to the 2Gth ot May, she has spent, in the aggregote convictions, twenty months in gaol. Being in receipt of an income of £8 per month, the -amount, of course, accumulates during her imprisonment, and on «he last date mentioned she had £47 when liberated. The whole of this amount was spent during the short period of eighteen days, and lor her excess at the finish she was brought up on the present occasion. The Mayor, who occupied the bench, seeing from the police records how incorrigible she wnsi in the indulgence of her besetting sin, sentenced her to a year's imprisonment as the only possible means if keeping her sober."