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New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 671, 7 January 1852, Page 3

The fact of the discovery of gold in Australia had been publicly made known in the English papers. The Times of Sept. 2, in a leading article, states all the information that had been received to that date, but with a caution that implied a further confirmation of this unexpected and extraordinary news was required before any practical effect would be produced on public opinion. In a subsequent number the news bv the Thomas Arbuthnot relating to the gold discoveries was published without any further comment; but there can be no doubt that every fresh arrival from New South Wales, giving additional confirmation by the most undeniable testimony, the gold the successful produce of the Australian diggings, would cause a very powerful sensation, and lead to a very extensive emigration, and to the immediate introduction of steam communication to the Australian colonies. The following is the concluding part of the article in the Times of Sept. 2, above referred to:— “There is no inherent improbability in the report. It comes to us confirmed by the strongest positive testimony. Australia may yet put California to shame. It is said that from the mountain ranges to an indefinite extent in the interior the region named is one vast gold field. If the expectations of the discoverers should prove true, and the tract of country in the neighbourhood of Bathurst produce the expected crop of bullion, the exchanges will ere long be seriously affected, and all the commercial transactions of mankind respond to the depreciation in the price of gold. We know but of one consideration which might to a certain degree affect the credibility of the report. For the last sixty years—if we are not mistaken—the tract in question has been wandered over by the colonists and their convict servants ; but until the present moment not a syllable has ever Leen breathed of the neighbourhood of Batburst as a gold producing region. The ignorance of the settlers and their domestics may, however, be accepted as a sufficient counterpoise against this drawback ; and, in the face ol positive testimony, we do not know that it should be permitted to turn the balance. Everything must have a beginning; and it would be bard to say that the value of the Mexican or Californian mines has been ushered into notoriety under fairer auspices. There is, however, one thing to be guarded against. The discovery of this Australian gold field is the commencement of a popular delu-

siotj. It must be remembered that under the most favourable circumstances a very email proportion of the adventurers will reap fame or fortune as the result of their enterprise. Almost certain disappointment—if not misery and death—awaits tbe gjeat bulk of the actual adventurers. As far as mere speculators are concerned, before this report ihsll bare assumed a definite commercial shape, we solemnly bid them to remember the experience of their predecessors in the South American mines about a quarter of a century ago. Some few men will make large fortunes—tbe great bulk of the adventurers will lose their time, and probably their lives, in tbe pursuit of a sudden transition of fortune. Mining operations pre-eminently require skill and experience. Without these indispensable qualifications, for one prize there are niuety-niue blanks. These warnings apart, it is impossible to regard the discovery of so vast an amount of gold in Australia otherwise thanas one of tbe most important events of oar time. It would seem to be established as a law of modern development, that when it becomes necessary that a race or people must spread, tbe soil to which they should be tempted is baited with gold. The impulses that knit men to their native country are powerful, but they cannot resist the glitter of actual gold thrown broadcast upon the surface of theearlb,’