THE COROMANDEL GOLD FIELDS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 106, 19 March 1862, Page 4

THE COROMANDEL GOLD FIELDS.

A COMPLETE HOAX. \ (From our Special Carrespondent.) f Auckland, Maroh Sth. \ Tt is necessary you should caution those who j may have beeu induced by the false repre- ; sentation of interested individuals to leave : t Dunedin for the so-called Coromandel Gold t Fields. .It is quite true that gold has .been i found in that district, in fact its existence has t been known for some years, but even that * portion of the district suspected to be aurifer- l ous is still practically closed to Europeans, in ] spite of the representations, or rather mis- t representation of the Provincial Government t of Auckland to the contrary. . Numbers of - miners who have already arrived in Auckland have ajgain left for Sydney, anc| although a few , parties are out prospecting, to a certain extent j at the expense of the Provincial Government, t -

he}' have arrived at nothing at all to warrant the rash aad ill advised rush which is being initiated. I have conversed with several who have been down to Coromandel, and who have been prospecting in other parts of this district, and I can assure you many and loud were their expressions of disgust nt the misrepresentations which li;-. I i'i<!net.;! them to come hither. At the same time, I may state that I believe the Government is earnestly endeavouring to.arrange witli tlie natives the opening out of the forbidden country, but as yet without result. You will see by the enclosed extract, from the Southern Cross, that my remarks are quite substantiated by the local press : — A number of the Victorian diggers returned from Coromandel yesterday, and the majority purpose going to Sydney bythe " Kate," which sails to-day. This is to be regretted, but we do not wonder at the result. The Government did ni)t circulate, unvarnished, facts in the Gazette, and the organ of the Government, tli-3 New Zealander, has not yet published the whole truth regarding Coromandel. The statements in that journal on Wednesday would be ludicrous, were they not mischievous in their tendency. It is stated that the Superintendent went down to Coromandel, and that a meeting of the miners was held, at which, doubtless, both, his Honor and Dr. Pollen made a fair display of persuasive eloquence, and promised to expend the LSOO voted by the Provincial Council in purchasing mining tools, and otherwise' assisting; the prospectors. .But, what is the men to prospect over ? i'liey can only go on the land which has been fre- • quently explored by experienced diggers, and they are shut out from 70 square miles of the most likely land in the country. This fact does not appear in tlie New Zealander, but it is true notwithstanding, and will accouut for the admission that there were at present not more'than 30 of the Victorian diggers at Coromandel. It is a mockery to talk of the goldfields of Coromandel, while the "country is virtually closed against us; and it is wrong for the Government to induce men to come to this place on" the-faith of official statements, .in wliich, as we have shown in a previous issue, most important facts have been suppressed.—Southern Croas. The debatem the Provincial Council, in reference to Coromandel, on Wednesday evening, the 12th inst., revived the interest on that subject. The Council most properly voted the sum of L.500 to aid the prospecting parties in their search for gold - f and the resolution proposed by Mr. King was, in our opinion, also wisely adopted by the Council. We have frequently stated thatjthe arrangements entered into with tlie Coromandel natives were unsatisfactory; and this feeling being participated in by th» community, deterred parties resident in Auckland from risking their time and money on what, in all likelihood, would turn out to be a fool's errand. The question, on this account, did not excite much notice, -until a large number of Victorian diggers arrived from Otago to prospect. The matter! was again opened by these men, who, acting on the Gazette notification, went down to Coromandel, but meeting with many obstacles, they were induced to write to the Government on tlie subject. The matter was brought before the Provincial Council by the Superintendent, and a letter from Mr. Sewell to his Honor was read, pressing immediate action. There is a! curious sentence in that letter, which we will quote. Mr. Sewell writes:—"Some discouragement exists among the Victorian miners, who have recently gone down to that, district, on account ofthe reserve made by the natives (as stated in the published agreement) of a tract containing the quartz reet supposed to be rich in gold." In the agreement, dated November 2, 1861, which appeared in the Gazette, the chiefs and people whose names were attached, " fully aud truly consent to permit all Europeans who desire to prospect for gold on our land to search for aud to seek for such gold within nil our lands from Waiu to Cape Colville, even unto the sea on the eastern and on the western shores thereof." There is no reservation here,.neither indeed was any mado according to Mr. M'Lean, except native cultivations and burying places; But this paragraph also appears in Mr. M'Lean's leport:—" A tract of country near Koputau.iki has been reserved, in compliance with the wish ofthe deceased chief Paora Te Putu, to the effect that this land shall be worked by natives. Some of this chief's immediate relatives have, however, waived their previous objections in favour of parties wishing |o prospect on tlieir lands." Now, tliis is the " reserve" to wliich Mr, Sewell refers; and our readers will hardly credit the fact, when we inform them that it is the entire property of the chief Paul in that neighborhood, and which is known to old resi- ['• dents in Auckland to be rich in gold. Almost iiame- | diately after landing, therefore; the prospectors find a block of auriferous land, containing 70 square miles, closed against them. The necessity for extinguishing the native title over the whole district is imperative, and as Paul has hmd in plenty elsewhere, little difficulty need be found in the matter if the authorities go the right way about it, The public ought also to know that Paul's name is not signed to the agreement, while he absolutely prohibits Europeans. from prospecting. There are also objections raised against prospecting by two native proprietors on the Mercury Bay side. -It is pretty evideu't, therefore, that Mr. Preece's reports, to whicli Mr. Fox referred in his letter to Mr. M'Lean, of the 14th Oct, last, misled the Government-as to the nature and extent of the concessions made by,the natives. Mr. Turton" has since gone down ; and; we hope that means will at last be taken to act ah independent and rational part in relation to Coromandel. We would be sorry to advocate anything unfair to the natives, but the facts we have stated prove that the Government, perhaps unwittingly, have induced diggers to go to Coromandel on unfair representations. About twenty diggers have since arrived from;the South, and the difficulty will iucrease weekly. -^Southern Cross, March 7.