New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 1877.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4983, 13 March 1877, Page 2

New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 1877.

Recent telegrams from the Thames Goldfield bring more cheerful intelligence than we have received from that quarter for some time past. On the 6th inst. we published a Press message from Grahamstown, stating that the last fortnightly yield of the Moanatairi Company was 7150z5., the greater part of which was from a liew run of gold just discovered, and that shares had risen from 14s. to 30s. On the following day another telegram appeared, stating that the Alburnia had turned out a fine crushing of 11770z5. from 75 tons. There is every reason apparently to believe that a healthier tone is pervading the whole district, including Coromandel and Ohinemuri, than has been felt for many long months, if not years. For a considerable time we have observed with regret the number of departures from the Thames for Australia of a class of men not easily replaced —miners in the real sense of the term, and a large proportion of them householders living with their wives and families, and most reluctant to break up their homes except from necessity. Hard times, however, have prevailed, and many people have had unwillingly to leave a place to which they had become attached, and where they had become to a certain extent settled. Almost every steamer from Auckland has bean taking away some of these men, arid the grass has been growing in many of the streets' of Grahamstown and Shortland. Now, we have good reason to believe that the wheel of Fortune has taken- another turn, and that the Northern Goldfield is again likely to become prosperous. The days of the golden Caledonian may not return ; but a steady and increasing yield of gold from many of the mines now at work may be looked for, and a stimulus will be given to further prospecting and the opening up of new country. The late news from the Thames adds another to the many encouraging facts which are before ua regarding the resources of this favored colony. We are not advising a precipitate rush to the Thames. All who are earning good wages,-as the majority of working men now are in almost every part of the colony, will do well to remain where they are, but we nevertheless do say that the prospects of the Thames are encouraging, and if those prospects are realised Auckland, which needs it, perhaps, more than any other part of New Zealand, will be first to feel the benefit, but indirectly it will affect the, whole community. The Thames Goldfield possesses many inherent advantages, and provided steady wages can bo made there, with a chance of something better, is likely to bring back many useful men who, have left its tine climate, its good water, its cheap carriage to and from the Northern capital,and ‘ its ample supply of all the necessaries of life at very reasonable prices, for the pestiferous regions of Northern Australia, where only Chinamen or .others inured ,to tropical heat can live without loss of health or even life itself. As soon, therefore, as the news of better, times- at Grahamstown reaches the inhospitable Palmer River, near whose banks many an old New! Zealand miner is dragging’ orit a weary existence, even if among the fortunate :minority of white men who are making money there, we may-be sure that there will be a natural desire to return to the [more genial clime of New Zealand., Ere ;long, therefore, a considerable reflux of population may be looked for from North ‘Australia. We do not forget that not only are the prospects of the Thames Goldfield improving, but that from; the Kumara very satisfactory raccounts are .being received.... ’The. j revenue , from gold returns lias been . decreasing from what it was some years ago, and these: who take a’dismal view.of the future have not failed to expatiate on. the subject’. There is now fair ground 1 for assuming that under this head, as well as others, an appreciable inctease is likely ; to take place. Indeed, 1 looking on all sides, we cannot help regardirig the pountiy’s i prospects-as good, and that as • a community we are certainly hot retrograding, as some would have us believe. The favorable turn " in'the tide of affairs at the Thames will, we trust, lead on to good fortune being once more restored to a locality which once was highly blessed with the sriiiles of the fickle goddess, and now .promises to be again taken into her especial favor. .