[FROM ANOTHER CORRESPONDENT.]

Otago Daily Times, Issue 172, 4 June 1862, Page 6

[FROM ANOTHER CORRESPONDENT.]

May 21, 1802. Watson lias just managed to get the assistance of eight more men. One of them belongs t« O'Hara's party, and the others are new arrivals. OTlara and eight of his men say they are off. As to the findings, wliiuh are still going on l>y stealth on Paul's laud, I cannot spyak of my own personal knowledge; but from the experience of the past t sac no reson for disbelieving any of the statements, If all be true, no power can keep the diggers from it. There is a report here that Mr. Fox will be down on Friday, and tho Gleam has returned to the Thames to fetch old Th-a, the chief.

The following is an extract fronr a letter, dated Kapanga, May 21, which Messrs. Keven and Wood? n received yesterday from their party of miners at their quartz reVf, Coromnndel: —

"We are still driving. We are cutting out a face to put in "a lower drive, to cut the reef about 100 feet deep We have gone through t|ie reef, and find it 4 feet thick, and have seen gold in it. It is our opinion that it will pay first-rate. We all know what we have now to expect below at any rate. We will have a good sized reef to work, and shall have to drive 00 or 70 feet, and then be all right."

We (Daily Southern Cross) have had a communication from Watson's party No. 7, to the effect that they have added eight fresh men to their number, to enable them to work with greater sneoeas than hitherto. The tents are being removed to the hole, and slabs getting ready. We have got tho out, and shall be ready to commence on Monday. This letter is under date May 21st.

The following is an extract from a private letter addressed to a gentleman in Auckland, dated Corouiandel, May 19th, and it is corroborative of intelligence we have received from other sources : —

" Messrs. Fox and Williamson have been here lately, but for all the good they have accomplished, so far as I can gather, they might just as well have stopped away.' Mr. FojfVyoiee may be 'sweet,' but ,the Mnories do not appear to be imjljijed |p Jisten to the voice pf the charmer. The solution of the difficulty appears to me to be farther off than ever. The natives seem to have an idea that the pakehas are getting gold, by a process which they term robbery. They are not far wrong in conjecturing that Paul's country is auriferous. Three nights ago a man went by moonlight and got a sack of dirt, from which he took U, lb. of gold. In proportion as the natives see the Government eager to obtain possession of the land, they will not part with it; and the general opinion here is that they will never give it up peace ably. If. the land is thrown open, there will.no doubt, be a tremendous rush, and those who are on the ground, and have made preparations for it, will reap the benefits—and golden ones too."

SIR GEORGE GREY AND *f-HE " NATIVE DIFFICULTY."

(From the Sydney Morning Herald.) Under date of sth April, our correspondent writes as follows: —

Although somewhat distant from the seat of was, and of Government, I may be able to supply you with one or two fasts which are not accessible to you direct from Auckland.

Two letters, published some time back in the Herald, signed "If."—the auihjr of which is wall known, and much sympathy felt lor the outrage to which he was lately subjected—were admirable productions, and contained many telling truths. The opinion is training ground that the Maori question cannot be settled im 'the present attempted plan, but the idea is also very prevalent that Sir George's plans, when they come to be developed, will be found very different from what they appear on the surface. Instigated liy him, the members of the Fox Ministry have teen performing the work of conciliation <ul itaitscdin. Overtures of the most humiliating nature have l>ten offered and refused, or been regarded with nditl'eience by the Maories. Hut in all tlnir proceedings, the ministers alone appear, and though Sir George Grey does not contradict, he does not support. Anything; in which he personally interferes he carried out with at least as much finiiues* as conciliation. Tne Waikato Kond has been persisted in against very determined jwiurive opposition on the part of the Maories, which mighr, have become active, but, for the reluctance to strike the first blow. A friendly chief offered to construct a road beyond the Waikato to connect his country with that through which the Waikato Road passes. Sir George Grey desired he would do so, and offered to subsidise it. " But (suid the ohief), 1 can go'a, certain distance, and then there will be a stone wall through which the Waikatos will not let me pass. It Ido so in despite of them, will you let them (passing his hand over his head) walk over my head ?" " Make the road," said Sir George; '' and more, commence where you believe the wall will be erected to prevent you. Tile road will be made, and the natives will not, it is believed, attempt anything more than a sullen, passive resistance. Still it is not to be denied, the aspect of the native question is far from satisfactory to those who build all their hopes on a total cesssation of hostilities. Warjnay break out at- any time. )t is most difficult ( in fact, apparently impossible) to settle the question. I'he land of the Waitara is not approached yet. The n ttives claim by prior right, and conquest during the war, neither of which we can admit. Mr. Fox, on his own responsibility, hinted at arbitration, but his p opo^al was snubbed by the natives. Mr. Fox is King snubbed on every side. On his visit to Waikato, Wiremu Kingi refused to see him, and only a few of the inferior chiefs met him. Others attended his meeting with blankets over their faces, typical of their being present, incognita. As I have said, war may break out any day, but it will not be Sir George's fault if it be a war between the races. It will assume the character of our assisting weak Maori allies against strong native insurgents, and will be a sharp war while it lasts.