TARANAKI.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IX, Issue 786, 12 February 1853, Page 3

TARANAKI.

Bt the overland mail yesterday wereceived two TaranaU Heralds ; that of the 26th ult. (the latest date) gives an extract from the New Zea~ lander of the 12th, relating to the Gold Fields at Coromandel in which a complaint is made that the work is at a stand still for want of diggers. If gold was to be found in, quantity sufficiently remunerating, we suspect there would he no lack of diggers. We subjoin the extract : — " By the latest intelligence from {,'ororaandel we learn lhat the work has been comparatively at a stand still for want of diggers during the holiday season. Bat the few who remained were obtaining good specimens. We have seen some forwarded to Mr. Hansard for sale, of the following weights : — a quartz specimen, 1 1 dwts. 23 grains; a fine button of gold, 12 dwt6., 2 grains ; and uncleaned dust, 1 oz. 4 dwts. 15 grains. We are informed that Messrs. Cook and Creighton have sold their diggings to Mr. Bryan and his party for £10, and that this party took up in a week 26 oz. of dust and specimens. Thus it appearß that some of the localities 8t the diggings are beginning to assume the character of property. % " Still we hear from all quarters complaints of the narrowness of the limits within which not merely digging but even prospecting is circumscribed. We have before averted to this subject, and would again call attention to the fact, which is nov? admitted by those most competent to judge, that, if the discovery of Gold is to have a fair chance of developement, it is indispensable that a wider — (if possible, it should be an unlimited) — field for prospecting should be made available ; and we will add that it shonld be opened for prospecting, without the imposition of License Fees, until localities had been ascertained in which such a measure of success was likely to be realized as would afford the labourers wages in some degree adequate to their toils and privations. This would of course involve further negotiations with the native proprietors, hut ths object is worth the effort and outlay that may be found necessary." On the morning of Sunday his lordship the Bishop preached to a numerous congregation in the church at New Plymouth ; and in the afternoon 16 males and 18 females were confirmed, on which occasion the Bishop delivered an eloquent and appropriate address. — Taranaki Herald, January 26.

Thb " Australian " Stbambr. — The A. R. M. S. Cos. steam- ship Australian, which left -Sydney on the 20th of September last, for England, with the first return mails under the Company's contract, arrived on the morning of the 11th of November, at the Mauritius ! A letter from one of the passengers, Mr. Kenny, of the firm of Sands and Kenny, dated from Port Louis, November 12th, says :—": — " After leaving Adelaide, Captain Hoseason expected, aq did every one, to catch the South east trades in latitude 26 to 28 degrees, bnt we had to come down as low as 20 degrees, and we ran down parallel to this place." The old cause — want of coals— forced the Australian into Port Louis, and, by a fortunate chance, she obtained sufficient fuel to enable her to steam to the Cape. She had experienced very unfavourable winds, with the intermission of some two or three days, during the whole voyage, " From Sydneyjto London, via Mauritius, by steam !" says Mr. Kenny, with a quaint effort of composure, for which he deserves to be complimented, "'rather rich, certainly !" He adds, " for my part, I little expect to make the passage in fewer than 105 days." The Australian was announced to leave at 5 o'clock, p.m., on the 12th. One of the passengers was robbed at the Mauritius of £900 worth of gold dust. Sydney Empire, January 6. Quite an excitement was spreading in New York city, in the Northern and Western States, and in Canada, relative to the gold mines of Australia. Eleven vessels, containing 1,613 passengers, had left New York for that region. Six more vessels were to sail within a short time. — Sydney Morning Herald.