EPITOME OF GOLDFIELDS' NEWS.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Volume I, Issue 45, 3 October 1863, Page 2 (Supplement)

EPITOME OF GOLDFIELDS' NEWS.

DLNSTAN.

On the west bank of the Molvneux, between Mutton Town and the Manuhenkia Junction, a number of parties are doing remarkably weli; on a spur of the flat called Sluicer's Point, some very extensive operations are being carried on ; here, the stripping is rather deep, being from twelve to eightetn feet, but the miners have a first-rate plan of getting over that difficulty: an extensive race has been cut from the Fraser River, supplying a full sluice head of water to about twenty claims, which is allowed to find its own way down the face of the bank, in places where it is desirable to remove the soil overlaying the wash-dirt, which it does in a most effectual and rapid manner, on account of its light sandy nature, requiring nothing more than a little assistance from the long-handled shovel to keep it constantly in contact with the water, which carries it without further trouble into the river. The depth of wash-dirt varies from one to five feet, but does not extend to the bed rock, that being impossible to reach, but is a very coarse gravel containing numerous boulders lying upon a substratum of gravel, but of a much finer description and not containing boulders. From this to the Junction the same run of auriferous ground continues, the gold deposit in places being within a foot of the surface, although sometimes seventy or eighty feet above the level of the river. The dirt is carried down the steep bank in bags to the river, and cradled when a head of water is unobtainable.

Along the Fraser River, below the falls to its junction with the Muiyneux, a good few parties are at work; they are doing nothing great, but obtain moderate wages. Same very good reports have lately been brought in from Nevis. As a geueral rule, the miners are all doing well. A considerable Dumber of men are leaving for that quarter, also for the Eawarau and Bannockburn. The rash between Lake Wanaka and the Kawarau has proved an failure, and on Tuesday evening last was abandoned to all save the prospectors. Several parties succeeded in getting payaoie prospects with tne tin dish, but upon working the ground it was fouud not to be remunerative. A party whom I am acquainted with sunk three paddocks eaen in different gullies, but neither were tbr.nd payable.

HOGBURN. A prospecting claim has been granted to Samuel Clark, Nicholas Coogan, Thomas Mulvey, and James M'Laughlin. The c!aim is situated in a gully three miles long, and was discovered on the 18th instant. The pi aspect is two to three grains to the dish, depth of sinking two to three feet, and plenty of wat er for sluicing. The rush is about sixteen miles from the Hogbuni township, and about nine miles from the Kyeburn diggings, m a gully running down into Dansey's Pass, or, as it is described in the map, Murru-Wenua Pass. The directions given by the prospectors for reaching the place from this, are "To the little Kyeburn east, distance six miles, thence due north over the Survey Ranges (Kakaaui Range), following a spur to the bottom, distance nine miles, thenec a gully leading to the right hand (east) about cue mile." The prospectors state that in the gully opened up by tbem is a splendid quartz reef, in which the gold is clearly visible, and is, as one of the men says, " as good a reef as any he has seen in Victoria-" A regular rush has set in, and hundreds have left for the new £1 Dorado. All the goods will have to be packed from here.— Daily Telegraph.

TAIERI. A valuable discovery of gold has just been made by a prospecting party about sixteen miles distant from town, and only a short distance beyond the Taieri River. Our informant describes the locality as consisting of very precipitous gullies, similar to those at the Shotover. Provisions have to be packed for a short distance across the ranges. The stripping is three or four feet, and the prospects most encouraging. Gullies of similar formation to that now in work abound in the neighbourhood.— Daily Times.

THE RUSH AT THOMPSON'S. There are about 400 mines on the ground, and every one making a very satisfactory living. We have no Gabriel Gullies at present in full working, and therefore, in these modest times, ten pounds per week as the indisputable average to every miner on a rush, I fancy cannot be very ** sickly." Such is the average at Thompson's. The gully in which the prospector's claim stands has been nomenclatured the " Devonshire," and the sinking in it is about eight feet, and as a general rule, not more than a foot of washdirt can be depended upon. The sinking on the hills on either side of it is fourteen feet, and the depth of washdirt four feet; so the hilly ground is much'preferable. One of the most experienced miners from Victoria at the present in the province is Mr. Hammond, of Kedbank, and he tells me that a doubt does not for a moment exist that Thompson's will prove a field that will increase to a most extraordinary extent. He has a claim there, and deems himself " booked'' for a Tery desirable terminus.— Telegraph.

NELSON. New Route to the Buller.—Mr. David dark, who has been for some time engaged in exploring for a shorter track to the Buller than the road now travelled by Black Valley, has just returned, bringing with him the satisfactory intelligence that he has found an excellent line oi road by i he Wangapeka and Hope VaJevs, by *aieh, in twenty-three milas, he was enabled to «*cb ;he -.outh of the Hope, on the Buller, k* 0 * in the Motueka. The rad is

described as being nearly a practical level the whole dixtance. This will shorten the journey to the Buller by a great number of miles.— Examiner. Declaration of a Gold Bonus.—An official advertisement announces a Gold Bonus of £2OOO to be given to the discoverer of a payable gold-field in the Province of Nelson, in terms similar to those formerly noticed as recommended by the Committee of the Council. The full sum of £2OOO will be paid to the earliest or bona-Jide discoverer, provided 16,000 ounces shall be raised within six months, £IOOO if 80"0 ounces are obtained within four months, and £SOO if 4000 ounces be raised within three months of the date of (as we suppose) the application. Two places are excepted from the offer—the Lyell for three miles above its junction with the Buller, and the Mangels for five miles above its junction with the same river.— Colonist.