THE NEW RUSH AT WESTPORT.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 656, 2 April 1870, Page 4

THE NEW RUSH AT WESTPORT.

By the s.s. Murray, which arrived in port yesterday morning, we have late Westport papers, containing the following details concerning the rush, mentioned in our telegrams : — The prospects said to have been obtained by the prospectors are from a grain to a grain and a half to the dish. This is their own statement, and we believe it is under the mark. General report describes the prospects as from two or four grains to the dish. The contents of three dishes from the prospectors' claim were yesterday handed to the Warden,* who toot them to town, and had them washed at the Bank of New South Wales ; and the result of the" washing from three dishes was thirty grains, or one and a half dwts. of gold. The stripping so far, has only been from two to six feet. The wash is gravel and black sand, intermixed with rubies—its depth from three to four feet ; its breadth from eight to ten feet. The gold is rough and scaly. , The terrace stands not more than forty or fifty feet high, and is evidently the outline of a former sea beach — the latest of a series of anoient sea. beaches which exist along this coast. By the prospectors it is said to extend apparently as far 3s Cape Foul wind, approaching closer to the present beach than at the lagoon end, where a greater mass of river debris intervenes between it and the sea. It is, in fact, the se.i-front face of the pakihis— the terrace which, Avhether auriferous or not, may be traced at the same level, on tlio north siddH>f tho Orawaiti, starting from Mrs Malonoy'a, now Mrs Hall's,

public-house. It is not more heavily timber-covered than most parts of the country adjacent, the prevailing timber being birch and red pine. Withtimburthus abundant, with water accessible, and with "spuds" in galore on the ground, tho first fewclaimholdors should be sufficiently supplied with the means of sustaining life and work at a moderate cost ; and the proximity of the whole terrace to Westpur t is a circumstance which, apart from any extreme richness^ should enable it to be worked at a much smaller cost than any of the terraces in the interior. Should it prove to be auriferous for any distance down the coast— and, as the diggers say, " it is a good long road to Charleston "— the discovery will be one of the most important that has been made in the neighborhood of Westport, as it is at present one of the most interesting. Of course, its extent and value are as yet a matter of ! speculation, but the situation of the ground, its superficial appearance and its geological formation all favor the supposition that a substantial addition has been made to t! c already developed diggings of thisdistrict The prospectors have meantime marked off a double claim, after consulting with the Warden, and it is expected that the Government will cancel the agricultural leases, allowing compensation to the leaseholders in the event of the ground being proved payable ,'and mined upon. • The I ordinary way of adjusting such compensation is by arbitration. On each side of the prospectors, claims have been taped off superficially including their cabages and potatoes, but these esculents will soon be raised and consumed if the ground prove otherwise profitable. Already business sites have been marked off, and local habitation has been found for a branch of Brown's Camp Store.