THE MAORI MESSENGER. Auckland, July 3, 1851.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume 4, Issue 66, 3 July 1851, Page 1

THE MAORI MESSENGER. Auckland, July 3, 1851.

The brig "Moa," which has arrived from Sydney since the date of our last publication, supplies us with further intelligence respecting the progress of the go'd discoveries in New South Wales. From the various accounts, which appear in the newspapers, it is quite eh ar that a large amount of go'd is being collected. How fur, however, individual diggers are likely to become rich is a very dill'erent alluir. Some few of tl-.e many are. no doubt, remarkably fortunate; "lighting up n large lumps which thev nre enabled to sell for correspondingly large sums of money; but these, in cmijiiirison to the many Imu-

tlreds o.' diggers, rapidly augmenting to thousands, are lew ami far between. One man, named Henderson, is said to have tvi.li-.'.- d .C-100 worth of gold in a lew thus. Others are reported to have obtained lesser sums ; and others again little or nothing. In fact the search is one of jireti! lahour, great dilficulty, nnil in most' instances of great disappointment. Th' se persons wlm an! esteemed lortnnnie diggers are said to earn nliout 4(!s. a dav. Those who are obtaiivng fair returns al-.out ?0s- a day. But n iciy h'.rge proportion of the gold seekers are unable to pick up a sufficiency of the i:etal to pay f•■ r the necessary rood, which is sold at enormous puees-sueli as a shilling a pound for flnir; fourpence and sixpence a p. und forinent, wiih every prospect of arise; n shilling n fig for "tobacco; and every oilier necessary of life at nil equally exorbitant rate. The rum! er oT people at the mines, ncco:cli:!g to llielalest .lceoniits, mil' tinted to ahoiit 180il i-r 2100; ami these weic eonlinua'lv being augmented by oihers Hocking from Sydney, JMnillai il, Melbourne, and every other qiiaiter of the country. The condition of a vast number of these misguided people was lamentable in the extreme, for they had left their homes wiihont any tools for mining, without the requisite food to sustain or i lolhir.g to cover them ; and wiili neither means nor money to provide a hut ershTtcr when they h«d arrived at the mill' s. Mining is it task not to be undertaken without considerable means, and upon a moderate f ulciilntion it cos's each miner who is at all properly equipped, fiom i£T()tOc£l2, and that exclusive of anyplace -o dwell in when arrived ut the scene of his labouis. Those Inbours nrc described as being of a most exhausting kind, icquiiii'g men of strong arms "lul tobust constitutions to endure such toil. The climate is bitterly fold, and hail and snow storms are of frequent oecnrrem e. To add to the ►ewrity of the weather the digger must spend his time in the water immersed from the knee to the waist, filling the cradle with soil and rocking it backwards and forwards till the water sepnrnles the clay from the gold,—that is, supposing the cradle to. he lucky enough to contain aught beyond eaitli. There is yet another difficulty to he encountered, which is that the gold field decs not extend beyond two miles in length, and that s; ace is aheady so fill y occupied that the parties in possession were preparing; to re>ist the intrusion of any new conieis; and, ns by far the largest portion of the people of Australia have been bitten with the gold fever it is much to be feared that strife and bloodshed will be the result. In the meanwhile, men of all sorts.nnd fomlilions ate madly nbnndoningtheir employment. Sydney is emptying of meilin'nics tradesmen, clerks and labourers, whilst in the interior Hocks are left withou; shepherds, cattle witln-ut keepers, and farmers without servants. The plough lies idle; and although there is a feaiful scarcity of bread, little or no preparation is making to provide food for the coming season. This isdeplornhle ; for the other i olon'us • re sending forth their proportion of gold diggers, nnd by this time next yearshiplond after shipload of people from Kuropo will be pouring into Sydney, which will have to look to other countries lor bread to fecn them with. Wc have striven hard nnd frequently to incite the native nnd Kuropenn farmers of New Zcnland to speed the plough, and profit by the three months of seed time which is* yet before them. Ifthev t'ke. advnnta;;".: of t'..c present momed they will infallibly earn a far larger share of the Bathurst gold thnn the in- < onsMcrnlc.madmen who are flying from an assured and linppy certainty to n wretched and a verv doubtful chnnce. There is no country in the world which ought to be so gr.'a'ly ngginndized by Australian go'.d as New Zealand. She has but to produce her grain, and the ore will be joyfully poured into her lap Nor is grain the only rich source of wealth at present open to New Zea'and industry. Flax is in great demand in England; not for the purpose of converting into rope, but in order to be manufactured into an aiiii-h: somewhat similar t-ica'i' o. The Kir/li.sh iiieehaivieliusdlsco-

icreil a process by \v|\i-li the liner fibres of the Max in-.- spun into strong an.l hcattlifit' tlii't'iuls "ml these thn ails lieinij incorporatril with cotton threads, a new and superior ili'scription of linen c'oth is woven. Huropean and New Zealand llax have both been employed for this purpose, and a* •In; >pun yarns of tl'O hiller li ivo bee i ii. demand, not only for siuli purposes, hut us the coarser and lefuse portions have lierii onvi'rt' d to the nrmiilaclure of piper, there is a large ;uid liberal market open for tin's a'tide of native indiist y. Are no*, then, sneh means of a quiring nn honest and an lionoura«>le imlepcini.•n'<= infinitely pref. rable to aii insiiiie scramble iil'Ut gold, which even if o - tained, may be torn .together with bis life, from the mUtriih'c gather, r? It is matter of notori ty that no mere gohl producing country was ever a giv t or a \v althy i-ne. If you «sk for proof, we. hid yon look at Knghui'l, the nil tin: Wcaltiest nation of luc world— Hvr mines are found in llie genius, thiMinUisUy, and tiie intellei t of her people. The>e xvork nl /iodic and d'aw the treasures of Caiifo nia. as they will th'»c of Unburst into her lap. C'ou'il you desire a surer or a better example to guide you? —Stay at home. Till your fields. Clean your Jl-ix- Imitate the piuilcnt indu t:y of laig'ainl, and like Knglnud you will become rich, prosperous and mighty.