ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE. To the Editor of the New Zealand Spectator. Wellington, Sept. 9th, 1852.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 742, 11 September 1852, Page 2

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE. To the Editor of the New Zealand Spectator. Wellington, Sept. 9th, 1852.

Sir/— You' will oblige me by iusertiog the following remarks in your journal, and if they in one single instance deter any* individual .from breaking up his home, and taking a wife and family from this delightful climate to the unhealthy locality of the gold diggings, the end and aim of my desires will be accomplished. In the first place, I think when fathers of families are doing wweltl t they should let well alone ; lad surely, it may be

considered they are doing well wben hundreds, 1 may venture to say, are vow the possessors of substantial freehold houses, of land in more or less quantity, cattle, sheep, &c, many are extensive' holders of cattle and sheep; and all are getting an excellent and lucrative livelihood. Novr, Sir, with this picture of prosperity before their eyes, with their happy healthy children thriving around them, enjoying the salubrity of this soulinvigorating climate, and with every prospect of their becoming also in due time independent, what but an infatuation of a maddening kind can induce men (fathers of families I ani speaking of) what can induce them, I say, to ihrow all this to the dogs ? For what ? for an uncertainty ; for do we not read of hundreds leaving the diggings with impaired health and ruined eyesight, disappointed, and penniless ? It is not all gold that glitters even at the diggings ; the dagger glitters when piercing some of these gold hunting maniacs, the disappointed wretchVeyes glitter when haggard anJ dying, laid by the wayside, with none to bury or care for him when dead ; unknown, unpitied, and unlamented. A bubble glitters when blown through a pipe in the sunshine, and many," many, I am afraid, will find this gold mania nothing more to their real advantage than an empty bubble. In conclusion, let me beg of married men seriously to consider the responsibilities they are incurring; to look well before they leap, to be advised that "a.bird in^the hand is worth tw.o in the bush;" A« for the single young men of this town, I do Hot think anything of them taking a trip for amusement, for curiosity, ior change, or to gain a little manly experience of the ways of the world. They will be coming back, and will settle down most of them wben tired of their wanderings, more contented than if they had not gone, and seen and satisfied their curiosity, as being convinced of the eropliness of the glittering baubles to be seen and heard of at Melbourne. I am, Sir, Yours, &c, Agar.