BINGARA GOLD FIELD.

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 673, 25 September 1852, Page 3

BINGARA GOLD FIELD.

Extract of a letter from Mr. Commissioner Blioh to the Chief Commissioner of Crown Lands. Crown Lands Office, Gwydir, 19th July 1852. Sir, — I have the honour to report, that I have just returned from a renewed examination of the Bingara gold field in this district, and I now feel justified in stating that a gold field lias been opened there, which is likely to be inferior in productiveness to none hitherto discovered. 2. I found about forty persons, including women and children on the ground; some of these had only just arrived, and had not commenced digging. Since the date of my last report, the diggers have moved to the extreme head of the eastern branch of Bingara Creek, and had ascended to a table land, whence a creek called Courongoura, flowing direct to the Gwydir, springs within a few yards of the head of JBingara Creek. In the heads of Courongoura and Bingara, diggings of extraordinary richness have been found. In the course of two hours and a-half, I picked with a penknife out of the dry soil in the bed of the creek, very nearly three pennyweights of gold in very small nuggets : and in half that time on the following evening, I obtained in the same way, one and a half pennyweight more. A man named James Watson, sold in my presence, twenty-two ounces of gold, including a four ounce nugget, all obtained with a tin dish and a spear Wade, between Saturday night, and the Thursday night following ; another scraped out a pound avoirdupois in two days, with no other tools than an iron spoon and a knife ; and a party of four had in their possession about thirtyfive ounces of gold. One or two experienced diggers told me, that they had never seen anything approaching the richness of this field. From the observations which I have made, I am confident that the extent of gold bearing country will be very considerable, extending from the head of Bingara down Courongoura, and, up the Gwydir River, for perhaps from fifty to sixty miles.