NEW ZEALAND SPECTATOR AND Cook's Strait Guardian. Wednesday, February 9, 1853.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IX, Issue 785, 9 February 1853, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND SPECTATOR AND Cook's Strait Guardian. Wednesday, February 9, 1853.

Of all the different questions connected with New Zealand the land question is perhaps the most difficult and embarrassing. In addition to the difficulties which spring up from delay, and which, spread over a series of years, seem lengthening with the time from the nonsettlement of the question, one would almost be led to imagine that considerable ingenuity had been exercised in increasing and aggravating these difficulties. The most extensive privileges were granted by the British Government to irresponsible companies, each starting with a different scheme, a different price per acre for the land, and in the two last instances on a different religious principle, by their diversity rendering any uniform plan of disposing of the waste lands throughout the colony impossible, and yet however diverse their plan of operations, however varied their '1 attractions," the result in each case has been the same, — absolute and complete failure proving with the utmost certainty of .demonstration the unfitness of such Companies or Associations for the work of colonization. And out of this failure arises yet another feature — compensation — productive of fresh difficulties and fresh delays in the final settlement of Jthe question. In his Excellency's despatch to the Colonial Minister, (printed in our present number) enclosing a copy of the Land Claimants Ordinance, these evils are very clearly set forth, and he as clearly shews that by means of this Ordinance a fair prospect existed of coming to a final settlement of this question. But this would have been exercising too much despatch on the part of the Governor, so before the Ordinance could reach England, an Act of Parliament was passed which again reduced everything to a chaos of confusion. ' From this .we are again emerging, Crown Grants are being issued to the resident land purchasers for their land, and the end, we suppose, will be that the Act of Parliament will be repealed, and the provisions of the Land Claimants Ordinance adopted and confirmed, since it is impossible the land question can be settled unless the claims of the absentees are fairly dealt with, and it appears that the absentees cordially approve of the Ordinance, which has also received the strongest approval from the resident land purchasers in the most numerously-signed memorial that has ever been forwarded from these settlements. As the question, however, is not finally disposed of, we have reprinted the Governor's despatch as bearing materially on this important subject. Among other incidents connected with the Land question, the steps lately taken by the New Zealand Company, as reported in the English news received bj way of Melbourne, is not the least remarkable. Heavily in debt themselves, they lent money to the Canterbury Association, ao<J with a degree of simplicity,

totally foreign to their own habits and mode of proceeding, the Directors of the Company actually laboured under the, delusion that it would be lepaid ! But the money not being forthcoming, the Canterbury Association having so well imitated its prototype as to better its instruction, the N. Z. Company has, it is said, commenced actions against LordLyttelton, Messrs. Wakefield, Cavendish, and Simeon, who were guarantees to the Company for the amount, And who have repudiated their liabilities. We are not informed whether legal proceedings have also been instituted against those Directors who boirowed so largely from the funds of the Company, previous to another call being made on the unfortunate shareholders.

Programme of the performance of the Banp of the 65th Regt, at ThomdomS^oH' Friday the 11th inst.: — **r1. Overture— Martha „ Flotow 1. Selection— Maritan*. . ..*... Wallace 3. Cameo Qatdrille & Albert Selectioa — Le .Tre Nome Alary 5. Rose d'Amour Yilse » Barret 6. Spirit of the Ball Galop t .. 7. Bride'i Polka .\ D' Albert

The Belle Creole arrived on Tuesday from Melbourne, having left on the 21st ult. She brings English dates to the 16th October. The Resolution arrived at Melbourne the day before she sailed. A good number of persons who had left this place for the diggings have returned by this opportunity, and the accounts brought by them will, we should imagine, effect ually prevent any more from leaving their settled occupations "to embark in this lottery., The following interesting communication is from a Wellington settler, describing his experience at the diggings, the previous letter to which he refers has not been received :—: — I Fryer's ('reek, December 20, 1852. Dear Sir, — My last letter dated (?) November, was written on the eve of my departure from Melbourne for this place, As it is probable I shall have an opportunity of forwarding this in a few days, I now resume my pen, as I am desirous of sending you information as frequently as I am able. We arrived* here on the 30th ult., having been four days and a half on the road ; our luggage was brought up by a horse dray at the rate of 20s. per 100 lbs., but this rate has been since much reduced, and goods are now brought by bullock drays as low as £8 per ton by the load. The first 2 days joujney is thro' open country, with timber lightly scattered about, which seems well suited for sheep and cattle runs, but which is, I suppose, in the summer pretty well parched ; the third day's journey is through the Black Forest, which is rather hilly, densely timbered, although not so densely aa^ the forest in New Zealand ; this place has a bad repute, and is said to be the resort of bushrangers, by whom passengers are molested, but if such be tbe case, they did not , trouble us. The road through the forest is very rough and the dray which was heavily loaded capsized about half way through, and in consequence we had to encamp for the night, fortunately no serious damage resulted, but an old gentleman, who formed one of the party, lost all bis crockery ware. After leaving the Black Forest the road passes through open country for a few miles, when it again becomes lightly wooded, and continues so to the diggings. The road all the way presents an animated appearance from the great amount of traffic upon it, numerous horse and bullock drays going and returning, and hundreds of foot passengers. Public houses are numerous, and tents for the supply of bread, meat, lemonade, &c. ; bread varied from 3s. to 4s. the 4 lb. loaf, milk 9d. to Is. per pint, ale. Is. 6d. per glass, at some places, meat about 6d. a pound. We came to Forest Creek first, as some of the parties whose luggage came on the dray intended to stop at that place ; on entering Forest Creek the sight was anything but cheering and certainly calculated rather tp damp the ardour of all " new chums," which in diggings phraseology signifieth fresh arrivals. Forest Creek has been formerly a quiet little stream, (nearly if not quite dry in summer) meandering through gullies of no great width, and occasionally through small fiats, with numerous smaller gullies running into them, the sides of which were, for this country, rather heavily timbered* The same desciiption will serve for Fryer's Creek 2 or 3 years ago. A few months gold digging has wrought a wonderful change in the aspect of the place ; the trees, most of them, have been applied to the roasting of mutton, baking of, damper, and boiling water for tea, the clear stream has given place to a mixture, of which clay appears to be the principal ingredient ; and as to the creeks and gullies, they appear as if all the grave diggers and well sinkers that ever existed had combined their forces and confined their labour to this upper Loddon district ; the gullies are full of holes varying from 3 or 4 to 30 or 40 feet in depth, and of various shapes and sizes, the majority are circular and about 5 feet diameter, others oblong, 8 by 16, and a great many are small narrow holes about 6 feet by 2£, and these are so closely packed that there is scarcely room to pile up the earth which is taken out of them. When a new gully is commenced, which has on trial been found to yield ; gold, the diggers quickly flock to it, and mark out their claims, each man being entitled to 8 feet square, and a margin of 18 inches should be left between each claim, they then commence sinking holes of any shape which may suit the digger's fancy, and work away as fast as they can till they come to what they call the washing stuff, that is to say, the layer of soil which contains the gold, this of course lies at various depths in different situations, it generally lies immediately on the solid rock, which is sometimes only 4 or 5 feet below the surface, and sometimes as much as 45, seldom, however, at either of these extremes. Having come to the washing stuff it is carried to the nearest water, well puddled in a large tub, and then transferred to the cradle; the latter is about tbe shape *nd size of the piece of furniture from which it derives its name, and like it is placedon 2 rockers.

It is not easy to describe the cradle without the aid of drawings, but the effect of it is to retain the gold with some portion of* the small gravel, &c, while a considerable part of the lighter material is washed away. The gold is subsequently separated from the remainder of the refuse by careful washing in a tin dish. This process could not' be conducted but for the great specific gravity of the gold, which cause* it speedily to sink to the bottom when the mixture is agitated with water. When a hole is found to yield washing stuff of sufficient richness lo pay for working, it is usual to undermine it, and in productive apots this undermining has been carried on to such an extent that only sufficient pillars have been left to support the' superincumbent soil, and sometimes even these have been removed and their place supplied with timber supports. The digging is mainly confined to the gullies, but in some cases holes have been sunk oa the hills : sometimes the soil on the surface of the latter is sufficiently rich to pay for washing, and this is termed surfacing. The glowing accounts which reached Wellington relative to the diggings appear to have been little, if at all, exaggerated, but they referred to the state of affairs last-summer, and the case is much altered now. The gold certainly exists over a very large tract of country, but it is only in certain parts that it will pay for working. It has in the course of time been washed down from the hills and deposited in the beds of the streams, and where any impediment existed to obstruct the flow of water, the I gold, from its weight, would be readily deposited. This latter circumstance accounts for such large quantities being occasionally obtained in one spot, whilst within a few feet not a trace can be discovered. Last summer the beds of the main creeks were worked and immense quantities of gold obtained ; these are now pretty well exhausted, and now the diggers are driven to minor gullies and other less productive spots, so that whilst there are five or ten times the number now at work, the whole pro- , duce is probably not so great as it was twelve j months since. Many holes are now sunk without producing a grain, and comparatively few pay for working. The old diggings of last year i have been picked over and partially reworked. Many persons have come here with the expectation of obtaining gold everywhere and in extravagant quantities. I believe if matters remained just as they were last year that many would still be dissatisfied ; but I confess that the reality does not come up to what I had expected, although I think few had made a more i liberal allowance for exaggeration than I had. I am sure comparatively few who have left Wellington in the Napoleon, Tory, Gtoalior, Munford, Grecian, &c, would have done so had they foreseen how matters' would stand on their arrival ; some, no doubt, would, and I have no hesitation in stating that I should have been among the number, although I have some doubt whether, in a pecuniary point of view I shall benefit by the change — still the subordinate officers of the New Zealand Government service are not so liberally remunerated as to render the sacrifice worth consideration. I do not meau to say that I have any doulrt of being able to make as much here as my salary would have amounted to in Wellington, but I mean that, taking into account the passage money and outfit, it is doubtful if I shall in the course of three months be more in pocket than I should have been had I remained the whole time in Wellington. I state this fact for the information of those who may contemplate coming to the diggings ; but at the same time lam disposed to think that this is taking the worst view of the case. We have been here now nearly three weeks, and as yet have procured no gold except two or three pennyweights obtained in trying spots, which were found not rich enough to be worth working, but we have scarcely made a fair trial. One of the party was ill for a fortnight with influenza, and another was occupied nearly as long in making a cradle, stretchers, windlass, &c, so that only two were at work, and it requires some time to form an idea of how to go to work to advantage. We sunk one hole fourteen feet deep »nd it produced nothing, and we commenced two others near the same place on Saturday, both of which we expect to bottom this week. Some of our neighbours are getting a little gold whilst others get none ; but perseverance is very necessary, as you may sink several holes and get nothing, and then you may get enough out of one to pay for all. We have met with a great many persons from Wellington, who all talk of returning as the winter approaches, but not before. In the winter the gullies cannot be worked on account of the water, and the bad state of the roads at that season causes the price of provisions &c, to rise extravagantly, so that comparatively few remain here. Although these diggings, as well asßendigo and Ballarat, appear to be nearly worked out, it seems probable that some new districts will yet be discovered as the gold is found over an immense extent of country, which I should imagine cannot yet have been thoroughly explored. There is a new district recently opened at the Ovens Rivef, about 160 miles from Melbourne, on the borders of New South Wales, a considerable number have gone there, but reports have been very contradictory. A considerable quantity of gold has-been ob- | tamed, and about 4,000 licenses granted : but as yet I don't think it would be prudent to go there without more authentic information. There is another place, about 50 miles from here, called Mount Korong, where a good many have gone ; but I hear it does Dot turn out well, still I cannot fancy that the gold has been confined to a few small creeks, a at least that it is only in a few creeks that it has been deposited in large quantities, and I am in hopes that new districts will yet be opened in time to give us a chance this summer ; but if it should not be so, we must be contented to work a less productive field. Had there never been a season like last summer the present returns would have been looked upon much more favourably ; but the old hands who got it last year by pounds don't fancy half an ounce or an ounce a day now. I hope in my next letter to be able "to give you a better account, and if any of your readers, who are doing moderately well, should contemplate coming, they may perhaps be induced to wait a short time for further information. We hear that there are diggings discovered at Auckland. lam rather incredulous ; but should it prove that such is the case, and that they are tolerably productive, I, for one, would soon " slope off" to that place, as

it is clear that the first *n the field get the cream of the gold. Should these accounts be confirmed, thousands would rush to Auckland. 1 am of opinion that New Zealand will in any case he the resort of many whose anticipations will not be realized on arrival in this country. I suspect, however, that fevr of these are sufficiently provided with' capital to be a great accession to that country, as witheut an accession of capital, the labour market would be soon overstocked. I suppose a small portion of the gold will find its way to New Zealand in one form -or another. I hear that the market for matt on which has sprang up here has affected the export of sbesp to that country, I will write you further by the first convenient opportunity, but for the present I have made a larger inroad into your colums than I intended to have done. I am, dear Sir, Yours truV,