NEWS FROM BATHURST. [From the Correspondent of the Sydney Herald,]

New Zealander, Volume 7, Issue 545, 5 July 1851, Page 3

NEWS FROM BATHURST. [From the Co rrespondent of the Sydney Herald,]

inn dicoinos. .Tun) 3." — The locality where Uio gold is at presen 1 found is on iho banks and in the bed of Summerhil' Creek, situated at its junction with Lewis' Ponds, about tliirLy-oix miloafroin Balhunl. The banks of IJIO creek are veiy steep nnd nigged, antl the bimi's inys penetiate it but lor about five hours each day. Them are at present about seventeen bundled diggcis, and not above six women on tho creek. Groat order piev.nls amongst them, indeed liir more so than could bo reasonably .expected, whon tho fact that there are no constables on Ako f^pot is taken into consideration. Tho only dislur1 havo hoaid of, occuried through two of tho jiggers who belonged to » party, coining into lialhuitt and helling (hoir gold for £'H 10s., and on waving nt tho diggings telling their partners that they had only leceivcil ,£24 JOs. lor it, they pocketing tho diilerenco of £'20. No suspicion was entertained of their honesty until the liuthunt Fiee Press cumo out, when the truth of tlio case appeared, and they were sovoinlly tin ashed off' tho ground, and havo not since been allowed to return to it. The diggings commence at the junction of Lewis' Ponds with the Suinmcrhill Creek, nnd have extended more or less to the confluence ol the iSumincrhill Creek with the Macquario River, n distance of about sixteen miles. The gold is generally found in pieces varying from an ounce in weight to tho smallest particle imaginable, indeed to fine gold dust. Theie havo been several large pieces picked up, even ai largo hs four pounds, but not above one person in every fifty Ims yet been so successful as to fall across anything weightor than an ounce. Tho diggers for the most part are very budly housed, many of them lying in bough gunyahs, which afford but liltlo protection against tho cold, and none against the wet, they, however, all seem in good Hpirits as long (ia tlioir provisions lust, wlion those who havo not been successful enough to obtain su/Hcient gold to purchase moie, have beon either obliged to leave tho diggings, or else to hire 'vith other parties whoso .succos.s h.is been greater. They generally dig in parties of three or six, who are distiibutcd as follows: — One digs and fillslhe buckets with soil ; one carrios the buckets ol earth to the cradle at tho crook ; and the third works the cradle with one hand, and supplies it with water with the other. Tv paities of faix they generally work two cradles. In somo parties theie arc four persons, the rocky and heavy 7iature of the ground where they are, requiring two persons to dig. The laborious nature of the work would deter many from coining, could they but form a correct idea of it. I will at random take the case of a party of six, who were, I assure jou, far more successful than many other parties who went out. Thoy started from Bathurst on tho 22nd of May, having with thorn a saddlo horse, a horse and cait, tools, bedding, and provisions, weighing in all about ton hundred weight. The carthorse was a &ood steady animal, but the ten hundred weight was

too great a load for ono lioi.se up the pinches tlioy had t> suimount before they rnach"d tlio diggings. The lirst night they camped ai Swallow Crook, idler havng experienced considerable difficulty in getting tbo hoi mi up two lulls. The second mgbt thfy camped within su miles of the diggings, and but for the assistance) of other te-mm on tb" loud they would not hnvo reached th it f.ir. On tbn morning of tlio thud day, they reached the commencement of tlio diggings, and bed to leave their cait tboio, and cairy the loading OTer rooks for fi distance of two nnlos to wliero they had chosen th«> piece of giound they intended to work; this, and erecting their tent, occupied tlio letnaiudcr of tbo third day, which was Saturday. On Monday they opened the ground, and worked unlil Saturday evening, when they found they had altogether tlueo ounces of gold. Dining the six days they worked, they ioso at break of day, and nnimnliafoly afterwards bieakliisted, and went to the ground, returning for one hour nt dinner timo, *nd leaving ofl at sundown. Th^y turned out upwaids of twenty tons of stone, and washed 9(3:5 buckets of soil, all of which bad to bo rained over 57 yards of iocl:y ground to the cradle at the creek. Those who woiked the, ci.wlle b.ul tlieadditional coinlort of wot feet and hand*, while tho frost was lying on the ground, and all Buffered much from cold and bard lying at night. The amount that each man earned during the week wae about thirty shillings. They are still on the giound, intending to try and do homewbat better this week. The succehs of the different parties has been so vanons, that it is hardly possible, to «!tato bow tbo diggings pay. One man may, aftei two or three days' woik, fall upon a heavy lump. Another may by steady perseverance and bard work make £2, £3, or even £\ in the woek; whilst anotbor, less forlunato, will baiely realize as many shilling". Under these, circumstances it is almost impossible to aveiage tho amount of earnings; but I am liimly persuaded in my own mind that it does not exceed /2 per week, even if it reaches that amount. The pi ice of provisions is most exorbitant; Hour being 7^(l. per pound, mutton 3\d., and other necessaries in proportion. I perceive, that people are arriving every day in great numbers, many of them being persons of a weakly constitution, who would bo but ill able to pndure our biting frosts and heavy snows, even had they comfortable homes and habitations at the mines, (.ir less will they be able to when they have nothing but the cold earth foi their bed, and a bough gunyah, or at best a tarpaulin, to protect them from the inclemency of the weather. Those who are deteinnned to come will do well to provide themselves with waun clothing, not forgetting a pan of waterproof boots leaching to the middle of thigh, and the following tools, viz.: — one cradle (the light small ones answer best), one strong crowbar, one small and one largo pickaxe, one shovel with the points rounded off, one gardener s trowel, for scraping the rocks and lifting the earth from between tho crevices where there is not room to work with a shovel; ono tomahawk, one felling axe, two round tin dishes, well soldered inside, ono broad tin pot holding two quarts, witb wooden handle about two and a half feet long, for supplying the cradle with water, two small American buckets, and six files. In my last I stated that many were doing little good, and [ now repeat the statement; but this is not surprising, in numberless instances, for there are scores who como hitbor without any preparation whatever, and if anything weie wanting to prove an cxpiession formerly made by you, that the people were afflicted with temporary insanity, the fact that mobs are constantly arriving hero from Sydney, without food, money, or implements, were of itiolf sufficient. They evidently come hither with the idea that they could kick tho precious metal out of tbo earth with their heefo, and thus be enabled to supply themselves with necessaries. Although something of tho sort has been said before, you cannot impress it too strongly upon the minds of tho public, that the requisites for success, as a general rule, are, a good con.stnution, inured to bard work, a plentiful supply of provisions, warm bedding, and a complete sot of implements. 'J he stories told of men washing the aunfeious earib in cabbage-tree bats and tin plates, are mere inventions of tbo fancy, although the outfit of many who have come to Oplnr to share Us treasures is very little supouor in point of real usefulness, to those articles of colonial ni'CPßSiiy. Flour is selling nt £3 for lOOlbs.; beef, 3d. per lb.; mutton, 3^(l. ditto; tea, 3s. ditto; sugar, (id, ditto; tobacco, Us.

Sincp our correspondence of tho above date, we have received another communication, hut not having space for the whole, we solect the following incident as illustrative of remarkable coolness. A person residing in tho neighbourhood of liathurst missed bis hor-e a f»w days agn, and having reason to suspect that bo bad been ridden to the diggings by a certain individual, ho started forthwith. Jle had not proceeded far on bin journey befoio ho discovered that ho was on tbo right tiack, bis horse with a rider upon him having preceded bun only a few hours. Putting upurs to bis Kosinante be d.ished onward at a brisk pace, and arrived at tho diggings just in time to see the horse-thief dismount 1 As a matter of course ho proceeded to take charge, when the fellow coolly drew n pistol from his belt and presented it, threatened if be laid bis band upon tbo animal or in any way interfered with himself, be would scatter his brains to tbo wind. This determined movement of tho impudent villain so paralysed tho owner of the animal that he quietly took himself off, leaving the deiporado in undisturbed possession. Tins story smells strongly of California.