WEST COAST GOLDFIELDS.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 278, 27 December 1865, Page 3

WEST COAST GOLDFIELDS.

! From the West Coast papers we extract 1 the following items:— Complaints are made of cattle being allowed to wander on the beach for days without food or water previous to being slaughtered; such cruelty ought to be put a stop to. A digger named James Kehan has died from the effects of eating a poisonous plant, resembling in appearance a stalk of green rhubarb. Mr Barff has gone to Christchurch, to take his seat in the Provincial Council. A man named Thomas Cassidy, known as Jack the Carpenter, was recently drowned by the upsetting of a ferry boat. A good deal of gossipping has lately taken place respecting an inquest lately held on the body of an infant, the illegitimate offspring of a barmaid in Hokitika. Dr Beswick, the coroner, has been abused, and hints have been thrown out that he kept back important evidence from witnesses, and compelled the jury to return a verdict according to his ruling. The quantity of gold exported during each of the last four months from the West Coast is—August, 22,549 ozs; September, 32,568 ozs; October, 39,624 ozs; November, 45,205 ozs. It is satisfactory to know (says the correspondent of the • Nelson Examiner') that the river Okarita is navigable by vessels of moderate draught of water ; several have safely entered and sailed without let or hindrance. Should these new diggings prove what is generally expected of them, restriction to overland communication would go a long way towards neutralising the benefits we may hope to derive from these, whilst by seacarriage the mining population may live cheaply, and this market may find another good and easy outlet for its surplus stock. It is said there has been a discovery of gold i amongst the ranges near there, at a distance, so it was told me, of thirty miles from the shore; possibly the distance has been exaggerated ; the sample was coarse and shotty. It is also said that a good deal of grass country is to be found in the neighborhood, and that the forest is not so dense as is usually the case on this coast. The * Grey River Argus' contains the following letter: — Struck with the fever, I have been as far as the Bluff on the North Beach, and found almost everything as you reported. Good gold often, medium oftener, and not payable oftener still. Hundreds looking for ground and übaUo to fiiwt ttny; and anxious for stores to get to beaches further north, which report says is gilt with the precious metal. Be this as it may, I strongly advise all who have remunerative claims to keep them and be satisfied; and to storekeepers that it is quite overdone. I also found Messrj Williams and Montgomery on top of the Bluff, cutting a good bridle track, one which you considered of vital importance, and it is certainly much required. All success to their spirited enterprise, and best thanks to the (not stick-in-the-mud) Warden for his judicious encouragement of private enterprise, which will open up the country, greatly to the diggers' advantage and comfort, and much quicker than if left for Government to do, as it is utterly impossible for it to act with the promptitude necessary. The Wonga Wonga had arrived at the Grey, and was to proceed to the Buller with passengers. Men compete with animals at the Arnold in the carriage of goods. Being paid at the rate of £1 per lOOlbs, they earn good wages, but the work is too fatiguing and soon wears them out. The * Southland Times' of the 22nd says: —"Recent accounts from Jackson's Bay state that mining prospects are looking much brighter. We learn that there are between one and two hundred men on the ground, and that the average earnings are about £1 per day per man. A store was in course of erection, and it was generally thought that large finds of gold would be discovered at George's River, about twenty-three miles south of Jackson's Bay." The same journal says : —" From the Longwood diggings, near Riverton, favorable reports continue to reach us. Parties who have been working there some time have obtained steady wages. ♦ The Twelve-mile Correspondent of the 'Grey River Argus/ says that " Henry James Taperell, formerly of Wellington and Queenstown, and lately Mr Montgomery's storekeeper, is missing, and great anxiety is felt for his safety. He left the Arnold township on Friday morning, the 17th instant for the Arnold mouth, informing the ferryman and others that he would return same day; he has not since been seen or heard of. Messrs Montgomery and Leith, fearing an accident had occurred, carefully searched the track and adjoining the bush to the Arnold, but without success." The ' Wallaroo Times' (South Australia) says: "We regret to observe that many persons—chiefly smelters, miners and laborers—are leaving the district. Two or three of the furnaces have, we understand, ceased to work, through want of hands. Some of the smelters have sailed or are about to sail for Wales by the copper-laden vessels from this port The present high prices of provisions and water have much to do in bringing about this little exodus."

Llandudno, the now famous watering place on the Welsh coast has distinguished itself of late by a succession of outdoor fetes, torchlight dances al fresco, fancy balls, Olympic festivals, carnivals, bay illuminations, croquet matches, &c, all of which have been improvised by the visitors, with Mr Hulley (the gymnesiarch, of Liverpool) as their guiding spirit, and carried out with remarkable spirit and success. But the season will be chiefly remembered by the reform which has been effected by the same agency in the system of bathing in the open sea. By the introduction and almost general adoption of the Zouave costume, ladies and gentlemen of the same family or friendly circle are enabled to mingle as freely in the ocean as when upon the parade. The art of swimming and diving has been acquired with remarkable proficiency by a large number of ladies, and the crowds who watch their evolutions from the beach readily concede the strict propriety, and even gracefulness of the same, compared with the clumsy and often indelicate exhibition of the ladies " jumping in sacks," so long tolerated at English water-ing-places. On Saturday morning last, while a large party of ladies were thus disporting themselves in the sea, with their fathers, brothers, and friends, Mr Holley proposed a quadrille, " Oh, by all means, v exclaimed a charming young Irish girl, looking the very image of pretty Mrs Boucicault, in the " Colleen Bawn," and in less than five minutes the whole party had arranged themselves into a double set, with top and side couples, and the quadrille was actually swam through successfully—the ladies chain being especiaHy grrceful. —' Globe.'

A writer in the • Daily Times' thus speaks of the late Weld system of'finance :—•' The system of accounts is being thoroughly reformed. The late Government adopted a course of proceedings —especially with England—calculated to bring the colony into contempt, if not to fasten on it the stigma of repudiation. Mail after mail they suffered to pass without paymeut of dozens of little accounts into which he had fallen into arrear. The payments for interests and sinking fund were invariably sent at the very last moment, in spite of the remonstrances of the Colonial agents. Mr Stafford has at once emancipated himself from this peddling system. Last mail, I believe, he sent home no less than 75,000/, in payment of different accounts. You will not be unprepared to learn that Mr Fitzherbert's so-called financial statement Was a model of concealment. One instance should alone suffice. He absolutely suppressed all mention of the fact that the colony was indebted to the Provinces to the extent of between 110,000/ and 120,000/ at: the end of June last. Professing to give an exhaustive description of the finance of the Colony, he passed over this circumstance. Lazy as he had been, he could not have been unaware of it, because the moment was absolutely expended upon purpeses to be charged against the loan—it was, in fact, lent to the loan account."