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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume I, Issue 10, 5 September 1861, Page 3

(From the Canterbury Standard, Aug. 8.) It is evident that the intelligence lately received from the Otago Gold Fields has created a considerable amount of interest and excitement amongst the labouring population of this province. Judging, too, from the very general disposition evinced by that class of our fellow settlers to “ try their luck, 55 we feel assured that any attempt on our part to dissuade them from the venture will be looked upon with suspicion and distrust; but we nevertheless feel that we should fail in our duty if wo neglected to point out the risks inseparable from gold-digging as a pursuit. In the first place, then, it is very palpable that the great mass of those who have beeu engaged in gold-digging during the last 12 years, whether in California or in Australia, have been, so to speak, unsuccessful. Unsuccessful, that is to say, in realising the hope with which tfiey embarked in the°pursuit, namely, “ that of making a handsome sunr in a short time.' 5 We have seen hundreds of persons, allured by the published accounts of the success of “ Thompson and his par ty of four, 55 or of “ Smithson and his two mates," reported to have “ made their four or five ounces per man per week, 55 who, after sacrificing all they possessed in the venture, have returned from the diggings, heart-sore, impoverished, and disgusted, and compelled to begin life anew, with minds unsettled and bodies shaken by disease. We happen to know, too, that gold-dig-ging is the most trying of all labour, for not. only is if heavy in itself, taken as mere labour, but from the fact that the mind is at the same time kept in a constant state of excitement; the re-action in cases of disappointment makes the strain upon the physical powers very severely felt. To men accustomed to heavy labour, gold-digging may become profitable work, provided they be aided by intelligence, and temperale in their mode of living. "Want of success, too, to men of this class, is a matter of comparatively little moment, for they can generally obtain abundance of work, at remunerative rates, as husbandmen or road makers, or in some other of the many emjrloyments open to thews and sinews. But gold-digging is not fit for men of education, or of different habits of working and living. Besides the strain upon their physical powers, unfitted by pre-. vious habits for such arduous activity, they have to “ cat dirt, drink dirt, breathe dirt, get only dirty water to wash in" (and hut little of that) and ‘"have their bodies obscured in clouds of dust, and clouds of dirt, during the whole period of their labours/ 5 In wet weather they must be content to remain confined within the limits of a nari'ow tent, every thing around them damp and miserable, and pass the day abusing the weather which prevents them from working; in dry weather they are up to their cars in mud and water, and slush, in which they must work from “ruddy morn to dewy eve,” in order to make up for lost time. This may appear to many to be an over-strained picture, but let those who have tried the business deny it if they can. Then as to the prospects at the mines themselves, wo find that our neighbours in Otago, in imitation of Victoria and New South Wales, have already established a Gold Escort, and wo are told, that thousands of ounces are likely to be sent down every week. Still we feel assured, that calm statistics will ultimately tell the same tale of the Otago Gold Helds, which the}' have already related of those of California and Australia, namely, (hat the yield of gold, divided amongst the number of people engaged in digging, will give to each something less than the average wages earned in other pursuits.. Tried by this test, we have little doubt that the average earnings of the miners will prove barely sufficient to provide for their maintenance. It is true that the pursuit is a lottery, and that there are some bona fide prizes hut it is not less true, that for one who gets more, there are many who will get less than

wages.