INVERCARGILL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 223, 6 September 1862, Page 5

INVERCARGILL.

REPORTED NEW GOLD FIELD, HEAD OF MATAURA. (raojc oun own correspondent.) Invercargill, 29th August, 1862. The recent discovery of a rich gold field by Messrs. Hartley and Reily^ has affected us in a somewhat similar way as yourselves, by causing a great deal of excitement and unsettling of the population in every branch of employment. Strange faces have suddenly and unexpectedly appeared in the town, gupposed to have emerged from tbe-bush, when I presume they have been employed in some mysterious manner, haunting the bars of the hotels and eagerly enquiring the best route to the now Eldorado. To see the town now, one is led to conclude that man is a queer brute, and grog a great institution. Under the excitement of hope, the lassitude of despair, the elation of victory, man turns his attention to beer; the grand panacea' of life —all which means, that the half the Uwn of Invercargill— having turned its attention exclusively to beer for the last three days, to keep up the" steam—is off to the divings, and the other Lair will, I suppose, fo low shortly: not that any of them know where they are going—the great object seems to be to start with a very large swag; and in a perfectly beery condition, trusting to Providence that they will find out the road and get | grub. From all I can learn, the nearest and most practicable road to the Hartley or Dunstan diggings is from Invercargill. As far as Mr. Kogcr's station, the site of what has been called the Wailcatii. diggings, the road U known, good, and level; from there to the junction of the Kawarau and Ciutha, a distance ol some twenty.five or thirty miles, httle is as vet known, further than that there is a very lair and practicable road dining at least six months of the year for footmen and horses Mr Dalze] having crossed over from the Uutha to Rogers with 4000 sheep and pack u»r«es last .March. Whether it is capable ol being converted into a tolerable dray road i remains to be seen; but I fancy, under any circumstances it will be found much shorter and more practicable than any of the roads from Dunedin. When the main north road from Invercargill is made easily passable IV drayn, which it can beat trifling expense, the distance to Rogers' Hun will not by more than GO or 70 miles at most over a level country a:id men comes the little difficulty. The Chief Commissioner and Chief Surveyor were to start this week to ferret out the unknown bit of road, Lut Mr. Heales' service* being required in holding the enquiry into the circumsMncots connected with the loss of the Hying Mist their trip is delayed, though for that uiatter, the last three days" of bad weather has raised all the rivers and creeks sufficiently to render it expedient to wait stll they have fallen a^am. I understand that a payabte gold-field has been discovered, or supposed to be, in the fonts of the Xokomai and Mataura, at the tail *nd of the same Slate Ranges that run down to the Clutba and Kawarau. Some four or fne ounces were brought down by a man who had been working there—a very fine sample of nug^etty gold, all large, no fine amongst it, varying irom a quarter to one and a-half pennyweights—one nugget, I believe, as large as sis pennyweights. The man returned with a mate without disclosing the locality but it seems it has been found. It is on the banks of a good large creek, running either to the north-east bank of the Mataura down the «>uth- western slopes of the ranges, marked on themap as the Slatejßanges, or in a gully running from the cast down in a north-west direction to the Nokomai. There is a lar<*e patch of bush at the head of the gully through which the creek runs. I think there is a fair chance of its turning out a payable gold-field, if it is properly tried. Pump?, I believe, are necessary, as it is rather moist sinking. The Aldinga put back to the Bluff, on her voyage to Melbourne, in a leaky condition. It appears she struck on a reef off Waipapapa 1 ouu, Province of Otago, on her way from Otago to the Bluff, on arriving at which port, the captain thinking she had not received 1 sufficient injury to disable her from proceed- i in-i to Melbourne, took the mails and went on as far a* the Solauders, where, finding she was making water in one of her compartments, he turned back, sending word to the City of llobart to call in for the mails and passengers at the Bluff. He beached her, to ascertain the amount of injury sustained, and was enabled to remedy it sufficiently to enable her to proceed to DuHedin. Captain M'Lean steamed to the assistance of the Flying Mist, taking off 800 sheep, passengers and 'passengers !u£ga»e. It is not often,! would inia<nne, a vessel can be beached high and dry, and *ot off again when wanted. Captain M'Lean will have no cause to find fault with the Bluff harbor. A rather disagreeable accident has happened to the * lying Mist, and from the account I hava received from a gentleman who was on board of her, it appears pretty certain she has received foul play. On Tuesday morning, the 2Gth instant, she came m. The Pilot being engaged on board the Aldinga, sent his deputy, Parker, (a thor?T 'o? om. petent man ' having lived for years <v i 15Iufl} Wlta instructions to anchor her off the point, where the mail steamers Generally anchor. On boarding, Parker asked the mate if the anchors were clear and ready, and was told they were,—off the point Parker ordered the anchor to be let go, but was not obeyed, he ran forward twice to see if they were clear, and seeing they we-e net and that the point was passed, he determined to take her up to the upper anchorage. While sailing up and about opposite Tewai'^point, he asked again if the anchors were now clear ? when without answer or orders it was immediately let go. The wind being rather against her, and the tide within turn, he did not think it safe to heave up the anchor, more particularly as, where she was, she was quite safe enough; he moored her with two anchors one with 50 fathoms chain, the other 45 The pilot, Mr. Gilroy, boarded her 1 m *i', *f rno<? n ' saw she was aII safe, and told the Captain he would take her up to the upper anchorage next morning. Captain Tinnell, who had been up for three nights previously, told the mate to keep watch, °and turned in. About the middle of the nHit j some thirteen of the sailors bolted, taking The boats with them. Captain Tinnell ° was awakened by hearing the chain running out ot the hawser holes; coming on deck, he found one of the cables had disappeared, and the ship dragging her remaining anchor, the tide was ebbing, but nearly low water, on sounding it was found there was five feet of water m the hold, and the Captain with the assistance of the passengers beached her off M'Donald's Hotel. The Aldinga took off 800 sheep the passengers and luggage. Captain M Clean claims Home £4000 salvage. Taking all the circumstances into consideration, there seems to be little doubt that the crew.no doubt instigated by the recent Hartly k\& field discovery, wiliully destroyed her

. i ßt; MJ -the PassaSe o«t they have been ia a state of insubordination, have three timS -^elw? the UtOre TOOm aQd P»^h*«? Ot/ lear¥ the anchor 3 an^ letting go when ordered, but letting «o without inZXSSi in a place K"crS the «*™ 3rd. No watch was kept, and the crew bolted. 4th. One anchor flipped, an-i so large a quantity of water made in so short a time, would lead to the belief she- had been scuttled , »y the crew before leaving, in the hope that ! dragging the remaining anchor, she would go on the rocks, and her leakage be attributed to i that circumstance. The crew were supoosed ; to have crossed near to TivvaiV Point,'and having scuttled the boats made for the Toi ! t?,!!p *??** have nofc been et found- ' p!Srldent]Vl??lstra^Oollector of Customs, LhjefSurveyor, Harbor-master, and Provincial bolicitor, went down this morning to hold an V »i • c m.ate M3n custody, on misiucion of col usion with the crew. is very. wfff ° .^^^^^rdinate crews wiU fteld turns out as rich as expected, more than rirbtr libede3fcro 'ved'bothin^-nd AuSLnTIS^ 1^ ** Al-dd* Tif?^ 1!"0^1^"^ four kangaroos, nrevermnent by Mr. Christopher ~ Basshan of Hobart Town-two bucks and two cioes. The iveather for the last four days has haea bad ; strong winds from south-west, rain and sleet; it was preceded by a fe<v days of northwest wmd, the sky assuming a ' similar appearance to that notice:! by you in the Baku ,f of V n- c, 26th ' indicative of stor-nv weather, which prognostication has been fully realized as far as we are concerned. rru i. , lst September. Ihemsmbeisof the court of enquiry into * the circumstances conn-ted with t!i« loss of * tue I lying Mi«, came up from the Bluff yesterday; theenquirvadjourncd tillThu-sia- c the mate let out on bail of LSO: the Pilots assistant, Parker, entirely exonerated; stran* evidence of neglect if nothinjj worse, on par! of officers and crew. The captain ordered the chief-officer to have the anchors ready to let 5£12 hoars before the vessel fcrrired at the Waff; tne mate did not attend to it, although I arwjr the assistant pilot, was told oa boating the vessel that the anchors were all read--1 here seems some "round for believin- that the remammg cable v separated from the an- ® chor, either accidentally or by intention. Th> caole is to be taken up. FURTHER PARTICULARS. Great-News. A Xew Gold Field. I Hve }ust seen a splendid sample of gold ->lb* 4oz* lldwts.got in a gully 3 miles long withacreek (called Moa creei) running through k into the Nokom.ii, east bank on Cameron'?™' within 0-2-and-a-half miles of his station <* 0 ™ • over the lulls A patch of some 20 acres hL-ch c brush on top of the gully. Nearest road—Cameron s dray road to In vercargUl-a capital road, lhe^d is all coarse, heavy gold more like rsenuigo and Lureka tli-in any I have «*e here. " ' Mr. Jas. Lamb, one of the discoverers "-oes © up to Dunedin to secure r. prospecting cllim I have no time to write more as thl post is