THE MELBOURNE ARGUS AND THE NEW ZEALAND GOLD FIELDS.

New Zealander, Volume XVIII, Issue 1725, 20 September 1862, Page 3

THE MELBOURNE ARGUS AND THE NEW ZEALAND GOLD FIELDS.

Tiik counter attraction of the New Zealand (.old Fields, under which those of Victoria would appear to be beginning to " pale," seem to have somewhat "hipped" the Melbourne Argus. At all events that journal, in its issue of the 28th ultimo, has blown a loud blast upon Hie Victorian trumpet to the great. exaltation of Australian worthiness and the corresponding depreciation of New Zealand's desert.

Now, this is hardly fair ; at all events it; is decidedly ungenerous on the part of the Melbourne editor. Let him laud his own wares as much as he pleases, but, let him forbear detraction of ours. Victoria lias had a long and a golden day. Gold has elevated her to a prominent position among the dependencies of Great Britain. It has forced her centuries in advance. It has enriched and aggrandized her beyond the hopes of the most sanguine. During that process the drain upon the scanty population of this infant colony was most severe. Ship after ship carried away its hundreds; but we bore the evil as best we might; and now when gold bids fair to perform the like good service to New Zealand, we think our half developed diggings might be permitted to speak for themselves, not be sought to be written down by invidious and inaccurate contrasts with those of another land, possessed of a large population ami gifted with all the advantages which practical skill and mining science can comma.id.

Within a fortnight or three weeks, four vessels were on the berth at Melbourne for Otago and Auckland, affording to, intending passengers a means of visiting the Clutha or Coromandel, or both. This prospect has sadly afflicted tho Argus, who dreads "(he first blush of spring" as the herald of a mighty exodus, Cor which lie seeks in vain for nu\ adequate cause, and fo thwith delivers hTs charge;, in which Otago, Coromandel, the Lachlan, and British Columbia, are tried a id found wanting by comparison with the rival fields and reef's of Victoria.

It wo.lid be folly to object to this stylo of argument; quite as futile as tho argument, itself will prove to deter the migration of those determined to test New Zealand for themsehes. If a rush (here is to be, that rush laost certainly will take place, and no pen and ink painting of (he Mclvor or (he Maldon will arrest men resolved to prove Coromandel or Otago. " What are the superior attractions of Coromardel ?" inquires the Argus. "Its iinpor.ai re in the scale of gold fields has yet to lie ascertained." Precisely. And for that very reason the writer of the Argus should not strive to smite it so sharply, at the very moment when machinery is being imported and the energies of Auckland colonists are being directed to ascertain the true value of those fields which promise so well, and of which such sanguine expectations have been formed.

If the Argus meant that it would be well that those expectations were realised before uuy rush from Victoria took place, we wonhl

be the first to commend his prudence and to approve his counsel; but this is not his aim. The richness of the Victorian quartz reefs, their number, their products, are ostentatiously paraded, whilst those of this country are pooh-poohed, or ignored, an artistic sketch of a Maori sentry disputing possession with deluded diggers is deftly thrown in, and with dexterous wind up, "a climate which, by comparison is magnificent," is the finishing touch of the magnanimous picture. Now, however the cap may fit Otago, as far as Coromandel goes we shall be proud to compare and contrast climates with Victoria or any other settlement of Australia. By way of contrast, let us commence by stating that here the floods of winter which sweep the fields and pastures of Victona, which cause such frightful and periodical destruction of life and property, are totally and altogether unknown; moisture there is, but it is that degree of mild and genial moisture which entitles New Zealand to receive and to deserve the appellation of the " Britain of the South."

Again—to our "magnificent climate," Black Thursdays arc strangers. Here, there are no siroccos to spread death and devastation around —to consume our pastures and immolate our stock. This is a land of rivers and water courses, free aud ever flowing, never assuming the destroying proportions of mountain torrents, nor with mid summer's heat shrinking from their forsaken beds, their axistence merely traceable by scattered vestiges of stagnant pools. Victoria may rejoice in many such to physic her immigrants, and spread dyseutry abroad. But here, and preeminently throughout the peninsula of Coromandel, our water brooks are ever flowing, ever limpid, ever pure and sweet. Yet again, supposing even the auriferous quartz of Coromandel to be less abundant than that of Victoria (which we doubt), the great natural facilities of an extensive belt of sea girdled land, where water carriage is universa] and inexpensive, where timber for fuel, for building, for engineering, and every kind of purpose abounds, where the soil is both fertile and productive, and where the average centre of mining operations lies within five or six hours'steaming of Auckland, on which line one admirable little steamer (Tasmania!! Maiil) is now actively at work ; aud where, ere long, many more are destined to follow —we unhesitatingly asse - t of this settlement which, were the Melbourne Argus to be believed, ' : is little known and visited by I'dw," that iu point of mining facilities aud natural advantages it may compare with any gold bearing district heretofore discovered,

whilst in point of "magnificence of climate," it defies Victoria for mildness, moderation, health, and equable temperature, to any degree of comparison. Whether in golden resources it may equal its elder and well worn competitor the present season may, perhaps, determine. It must not however be forgot, that for ten years Victoria has had her tens of thousands of scientific miners, with all the appliances that wealth and skill could command, pouring into her bosom ; whilst it is barely six months since Coromandel has been visited by a shifting mob of a few hundreds of loungers for whom quartz reefs, and crushings by pestle and mortar, had no attractions. The problem of Coromandel will be elucidated by a i'aw indomitable men—and, like them, we believe the solution, whilst it will be of great benefit to Auckland, will serve to augment rather than to detract from the progress and prosperity ofVictoria.

The article which has furnished the text for these comments will be found in our present issue.