THE GOLDFIELDS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 88, 26 February 1862, Page 3

THE GOLDFIELDS.

(From our own Correspondent.) Tuapeka, Feb. 22, ISG2. Your readers scarcely require to be informed that the late wet weather we have had on the goldfields' '. has not improved the roads leading to Gabriel's and ; AVetherstone's. The constant traffic has converted what was only a piece of boggy ground into a kind of slough of despond, in which many a quadruped, and occasionally a biped, are to be seen hopelessly wallowing, without the most remote chance of extricating themselves. Ropes, planks, saplings, and sometimes a friendly hand, are the means by'which the unfortunates are rescued, and if the members of the Government could only hear on such occasions the gratifying adjectives addressed to their eyes and limbs they would, with the utmost despatch, have constructed this dangerous piece of road. But yesterday I witnessed one of those capsizes, which however ludicrous to the bystander are scarcely calculated to increase the self-esteem of the sufferer, who emerges from his compulsory mud-bath in a state which may be imagined, but cannot be described. A butcher's cart, in ndeavoring to make the passage, got too near one of the old holes, which, if the traveller has_ hitherto escaped thedangers of the road, are sure to bring him to erief —and away went the driver, sides of beef, &0., into the quagmire. Fortunately, assistance was at hand, or probably I should have had to report the verdict of a coroner's jury on another victim to Government neglect. Really something should be done to place the road between the Junction and Wetherstone's in a passable condition. I am aware that with a small, and perhaps inefficient staff, tliere may be some difficulty in overtaking all the work required of the surveyors' department, yet surely the making of about three miles of road, presenting no great engineering difficulties, might at once be proceeded with. It is astonishing to see-the toil, and even danger, men will subject themselves to rather than face this piece of road. To-day, I observed a four-wheeled waggon endeavouring to make a circuit around the side of a steep_ hill in order to avoid one of the worst pieces of the road, when the driver fearing the possibility of a capsize, took out his horses, and rolled or carried the contents over the most dangerous portion of the sidling. In attempting, however, to remove the empty waggon he was not so successful, the top-weight upsetting it, it rolled over with a frightful crash, and on reaching the bottom was a perfect wreck. How much longer is this state of things to continue ? Is it the desire of the Government to depopidate the goldfields, or is the Treasury exhausted'; In which department does the delay occur 1 ' Is it with the heads or the subordinates'! These are questions constantly asked, and as perseveringly the answer is—"' I don't know,"

You lately chronicled an intimation that the Government had accepted tenders for the raising of several hundred tons of lignite. This, however, turns out to be scarcely correct, as on visiting the works the other day, I learned from the discoverers that they had uot entered into any such contract, but were then engaged—in what they almost believed to be a hopelens 'task—corresponding with tho Government, in order to coim to some satisfactory arrangement. They have now been about a. month on the ground, but from the unsettled nature of their relations with tho Government, they have not felt justified in doing more than simply prospecting tlie bed. It will, I think, extend over an area of several hundred^acres, and. seems to bo increasing in thickness. In sinking a test shaft, tlie discoverers came across a deposit of wiiat they termed' a "green-white stuff," wliich they asked me to examine. I have done so, and believe it to be a coarse kind of Kaolin, still valuable, and would make excellent pottery ware. I will, however, forward you a sample when it can be submitted te tlie judgment of those who aro experienced in such matters. Lying under this depositthere are found occasionally immense boulders of r.g, glomerate! pieces of quartz. Altogether, the flat on which the lignite has been found, is one of the most puzzling anomalies that I have met with. Although covered on the surface with a thick reedy grass, you have but to pare the crust a few inches and you find a sandy pipe clay, utterly unfit to support vegetation. To this succeeds thin deposits of drift, from which I may mention the color of gold has been obtained ; then follows several feet of variously colored sandy clay, until the bed of lignite is reached.

There are rumours of a rush to a gully lying between AVetherstone'a and the AVaipori, but the exact locale I have not been able to discover. There has been a fair amount of gold offering during the week. I ..anticipate that the escort will bring down the average. Business is very dull, and tiie competition induced by a plethora of goods is fast producing the usual result, that of bankruptcy. In order to afford your Dunedin merchants some criterion as to the 'prices obtained for the goods which they have sold at : three and four months, it is my intention te furnish you weekly with prices current.