NELSON.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VIII, Issue 503, 29 August 1857, Page 4

NELSON.

By the Phcebe we have received our regular file of Nelson papers to the 15th inst. Some of the news contained therein has been anticipated by way of Wellington. Two vessels had arrived direct from London, the Melbourne on the 4th and the Lord Hardinge on the 7th of August. Itis stated by the' Examiner* that no excitement is apparent on the subject of the approaching elections. A meeting is reported as havingjnbeen held to forward the establishment of a second newspaper in the provincethe offer of a newspaper proprietor in Australia to bring over his plant on certain terms was accepted. A public meeting had been held at which vehement demands were made for the prohibition of Chinese immigration into Nelson. We extract the following items of local intelligence from the ' Examiner.' The Gold Fields.—-Notwithstanding the late inclement state of the weather, and rain has descended within a few weeks sufficient to compensate us for the long drought of summer and antumn, success at the diggings is steadily increasing; and by every arrival of. the Tasmanian Maid from Collingwood successful diggers visit us with well filled bags of the precious metal. The accounts which these give of their good fortune induces others to go over and " try their luck;" arid, as the crops are now pretty well sown, we believe another fortnight or three weeks will see one-half of the adult male population of Blind Bay digging gold at the Aorere. We hear constantly of new fields being discovered and worked, which show clearly that the gold extends over a large tract of conntry. Up to the present time the value of the gold disposed of in Nelson is upwards of £10,000; but the quantity which has, in addition to this, found its way to Wellington or elsewhere, we have no means of ascertaining, nor the value of that, and which must be considerable, remaining in the hands of the diggers.—August 8. The quantity of gold brought over from Collingwood on Saturday evening last, by the passengers on board the Tasmanian Maid, was about 500 ounces, 144 ounces belonged to one party of four men. The number-of persons nocking to the gold-fields is very great; and, if the stream of population continues to pour across the Bay at the rate it now flows at, promises to drain us very soon of the whoie of our male population.—August 12. Wangapeka Gold Fields.—A scheme, we hear, is on foot, for sending out another party to prospect for gold in the Wangapeka district; and looking to the beneficial effect which the discovery of a valuable goldrfield there would have upon the town of Nelson and the Waimea, every encouragement should be given to the undertaking. The party which prospected in the neighbourhood of Wangapeka a few weeks ago, and who were driven home by the inclemency of the weather, brought home with them samples of gold from the district; and it was, we believe, their full conviction that gold in abundance existed there. So soon as the weather will permit, we shall hope to see prospecting there resumed. The Tasmanian Maid.—Our little paddlewheel steamer, the Tasmanian Maid, has now been running between Nelson, Motueka, Collingwood and Wairau, for about a month; and the value of her presence upon the coast of the province is already appreciated, which is proved by the support she receives, although the season of the year arid other drawbacks have hitherto been to her prejudice. As a passenger-boat to Motueka and Collingwood, she will, doubtless, as the season advances, enable numbers of persons to cross the Bay, who otherwise would, in all probability^ have staid at home; and even a visit to the Wairau —when it can be made, in a pleasant little vessel, in about fifteen or eighteen hours, instead of by a tedious and fatiguing journey occupying four days—will no longer be regarded with any dread. The first voyage which "the Tasmanian Maid made to the Wairau was unfortunately timed, the weather being so exceedingly rough that it was not thought prudent for her to cross the bar; but on her second trip, on which she started on Thursday last, the weather being more favourable, she entered and left the river without difficulty. The Tasmanian Maid is the fastest passenger steamer we have ever had upon our coast, for in'sinooth water she will run 10§ to 11 knots; an hour; and even against a strong head wind she will steam from 7to 8 knots. In both her voyages through Cook Strait she has had the ill-fortune to encounter very bad weather, and on each occasion she has proved herself to be a very excellent sea-boat. On Tuesday, the 21st, when the Wonga Wonga was leaving Nelson for Wellington, the Tasmanian Maid cast ott from the wharf a few minutes after her, and a short trial of speed ensued, but the paddles beat the screw hollow.—July 29. , f Nelson Mining Company.—A meeting or the shareholders of the Nelson Mining Company was held in the Court House on Saturday last, when a report from the Directors was read,

recommending the purchase of a block of 300 acres of land at Pakawau, to which the Company layß a claim of lease from the Government. The shareholders adopted the report of the directors, and passed resolutions to the effect that a lease of 640 acres of land at Pakawau should be obtained from the Government, and 300 acres of it should be at once purchased % and in order to provide the necessary funds it was agreed that there should be a call made of £2 a share. We may observe that a trial of the Pakawau coal was lately made on board the Tasmanian Maid, and was found to answer well.—August 5. Valuable Importation.—From the Melbourne, which arrived a few days ago from England, has.been landed a very, fine cart stallion. The new blood which this will give to our cart stock is most valauble, and the speculation of bringing out such a horse cannot, we think, fail to be highly remunerative. Unfortunately, a second cart horse which was on board died on the passage.—August B.^ Fiee. —On Wednesday last, the residence of O. White Esq., Haven-road, was partially consumed by fire, together with many books and manuscripts. The fire broke out abont eleven o'clock in the forenoon, in the absence of Mr. White and when no person was on the premises, and is supposed to have arisen fromthe fallingin of the hearth. Fortunately, assistance was at hand when the fire was discovered, otherwise the entire building and its contents would have been destroyed.— -Ibid. An auction sale of Crown Lands took place yesterday at the Government Office. About half the sections in the town of Collingwood, lately laid out as the Port town of the Gold district in Massacre Bay, were put up; being those bearing the alternate numbers from the first to the last of the whole series of sections laid out. ' Tlae most valuable ones —half of those in the central hollow on a level with the beach were put up at £20, and fetched from £40 to £50. A considerable number of the sections were sold, realizing in the aggregate .about £41,500.' Of the rural and Suburban lands put up,- very, few were sold, except at Mahakepawa [Mahakipawa], a level valley connecting Queen Charlotte Sound with one of the branches of the Pelorus. For some of these sections there was some animated competition; but most were sold either at or a little above the upset price of 10s. per acre. About £1,200 worth of land of this class was sold. The remaining lands were the inferior sections surveyed by the New Zealand Company fifteen years ago, which have been mostly open for sale ever since; until the unfortunate provision in the present Land Regulations, which reduced ' the time during which lands not taken at.auction could be sold at a fixed price, from three years to six months, caused the main part of them to be withdrawn from sale and put up again at this auction.. --■■ ■ ;- - " v:t ...

We believe we may congratulate the settlement now on the extinction of almost all the scrip that remained unexercised in the settlement. About £1,200 of it—all it seems that could be rendered unavailable—was expended on the present occasion, leaving the remaining £1,500 to be paid in cash.—August 15.