IMPORTANT GOLD NEWS FROM THE BULLER.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume II, Issue 99, 20 March 1863, Page 3

IMPORTANT GOLD NEWS FROM THE BULLER.

A NUGGET OP THIRTY OUNCES OF PURE GOLD. [Nelson Examiner, Fob. 12. j On Sunday last, by the return of the steamer Lyttelton, additional and equally gratifying intelligence was received from these new diggings. Several large nuggets were brought up, weighing from six to nearly sixteen ounces each, besides a considerable quantity of gold mostly of a nuggetty character. This gold, which has been exhibited by Mr. Askew, of Bridge-street, is likely to lead to a rush to this new field, on which at present there are no more than 100 diggers employed, while there can be no doubt but that it would afford profitable occupation for many thousands, as the field must be a very extensive one. The large nugget of thirty ounces, spoken of as above, has been purchased by Mr. Askew, and it will be sent to Nelson by the next opportunity. The quantity of gold in the hands of the diggers is reported to be very large, there being no sufficient buyers on the spot, nor any arrangement existing by which the gold can be sent and safely deposited in Nelson. The reported success of some of the parties we are almost afraid to name, but every account concurs in the statement that ali the diggers are doing well, and that the field promises to be a very large one. The schooner Gipsy has since sailed for the Duller, full of passengers, and applications for passengers by the schooner Necromancer have been made sufficient to fill her, as soon as she shall return from the Wairau. If a track can be but opened from Nelson to these diggings, it will prove of the highest service, and although the road may not be what it should, still a dray can travel nearly half the entire distance. To the Lyall river, by the longest route, namely, Black Valley and Eotoiti lake, the distance is from 110 to 120 miles, and a dray-road, such as it is, has been made for about fiftyfive miles on the way. Should a pass be found through the Mount Arthur range, from Wangapeka to the Lyall, the whole distance will be considerably shortened, and the proportion of road made will be somewhat greater.

A nugget weighing thirty ounces, entirely free from quartz, has been fouml. Of this nugget, Mr. Burnett, Colliery Engineer, who has been inspecting the West Coast coal fields, and who returned to Nelson by the Gipsy, says “ that it is a mass of pure gold, without the slightest piece of rock or other substance adhering. It was found above the Inongahua river, to the north of the Buller, but below the Maruhia liver.' 5 Altogether the prospect of these diggings, save the one complaint of their present inaccessibility, is most cheering. Since, however, as wo believe, these remarkably rich diggings maybe made accessible from Nelson overland, we hope that no delay will be permitted in finishing the road already commenced in that direction, and which will lead directly to the Maruhia and Inongahua rivers.