DUNEDIN.

Southland Times, Volume 1, Issue 4, 21 November 1862, Page 2

DUNEDIN.

(fhom oub own correspondent.) ; 17th November, 1862. I have been trying all I know to hit upon some scheme by which you may be able to receive from me a bi-weekly communication in time for your paper, but Ido not see how it is to be done. I imagine the time is not far distant when the two ports will have daily communication with each other, and so, until better arrangements have been entered into, you must take my intelligence in such instalments aa it can be served out to you. The Escort from the Dunstan via Tuapeka arrived in town on Friday evening with 17,471 ozs. This is good, but I am well assured much is to follow. I have been told there are parties working in retired and far-away back gullies who are making great finds, but are afraid to communicate their success for fear of being rushed. Two gentlemen, surveyors by profession, who have been residing with me for some time, and who I know intimately, will start in one hour from this to a gully on the Dunstan where only one party are working, but who have within the last month cleared six-hundred ounces of gold. The party had sent one of their men to town to make purchases and lay in stores, when he met the two gentlemen I have alluded to } and being on the most intimate terms with both, he communicated the secret, but refused to give them a tracing of the gully until he saw them clear from the town. This was of course to prevent a rush. Such news as this meets with a half confirmation, from the fact that men are arriving in Dunedin from the Dunstan with very large amounts of gold. I saw one man yesterday with sixty ounces of gold for his share for three months digging. I can mention one or two singular instances of good fortune in connection with the Dunstan gold-field. One man, a tradesman in town, had got judgement against him on a bill of exchange for the sum of one hundred pounds, there or thereabouts. He was quite unable to latisfy the award, and pleaded for time. The creditor was hard and would neither relent or compromise, so instead of going to jail, the man sloped for the Dunstan, got in with a party of diggers, and the first ground they struck into produced foi each of them befor* a week was over the nice little amount of 80 ozs. The defaulter came down, paid the debt and costs of the judement, gave the man who had been, as he considered, so hard to him a box on the ears, sold off his household traps, and with his wife, again started for the diggings well provided with every necessary. Another instance of this kind has come to my knowledge, where a man bolted from his creditors, and has within the last week sent down to a friend in town as much gold as, when sold, will pay everyone ten shillings in the pound, and he promises if his luck holds to make good the other ten shillings in the course of a month. So much for the Dunstan. I need not mention anything to you about the Nokomai. It is from the Invercargiix Times that in future we shall look to obtain our information. I hear that it if 1 going ahead, and that some of the diggers have been doing exceedingly well. Tuapeka, with its nearly 6000 ozs. by the last escort, is showing up again in a most favorable manner. Considering the immense number of diggers who left this field for the Dunstun, and making all allowances for the difference of population, you will see that there ie more gold per head being taken at Tuapeka than on the Dunstan. People do not credit this till it is shown them in black and white. I have been told that there are numbers of gullies at Tuapeka and the surrounding country where any man who chooses may by ordinary industry earn a good living, with the chance of a " find." While lam on the subject of gold, I may mention that a day or two back, as some men wore sinking a hole at the back of the Scandinavian Hotel, in Maclaggan- street, they lighted on a small nugget of the precious ore, and the dirt as they continued to sink gave every indication of the presence of gold. I should not be surprised to learn that the ! Maclaggan street gully is auriferous throughout, but whether the gold will be found in payable quantities is at present problematical. The Omeo with the English mail is now due, and hourly expected. The news respecting the American war is anxiously looked for, and there are heavy bets laid that General Stonewall Jackson will be announced as lia-rtng taken. Washingtou. Should this be the case I should *ay the war must terminate,

at least, for thepiesentjibut the bitter feeling existing between the-/N6rth' and South wiljy not have;subsided injiour generation^ fl an*; told by'a very intelligent American who ha^ latelylarrived from^tKe Statel^vtftatf" therel would, soon be a general exodus from America in the' direction of the Australian and New Zealand shores. Shearing has commenced in most of our districts, and the clip will exceed last years by several hundred bales. The great attention -which has -within the last two or three years been paid to improving the breed in sheep , by judicious -..crossing, and by importing from Europe fine bred rams and ewei, has resulted in wool of a very superior quality being obtained, and it is expected that the shipments of this season will bear very favorable comparison with seme of the Australian brands. The Crops about us are looking well, and the increased breadth of land under cultivation, while it adds materially to our internal wealth, will make us less dependent upon other colonies for breadstuff s. Potatoes are now being set in, and a large area of new land has been ploughed up in favorable soils, so that in future seasons we shall not only be able to meet the demand for the towns and various goldfields, but shall have a surplus for exportation. Pish just now is very abundant, frequently baracoota are offering at four for one shilling. .They are just now in season, and form a most palatable and nutritious diet for all classes of the community, both high and low. On Saturday cabbages shipped over here from Melbourne, were being hawked through the town, and sold readily at a shilling per head. Is it not too bad to think that: with our fine and virgin soil we should be dependent on Melbourne gardeners for such a thing as a cabbage. I trußt you southerners know better than to do this sort of thing. The Civil Sitttings still continue to drag their weary length along, and will have concluded about the. time the next term should commence. We are decidedly very fond of law in this province. It is with us made to take the place of other excitements. A case promising a little more than ordinary interest is as sure to fill the court house, as a new actor of any fame fills our theatre. How are you off for social gatherings, and j the like ? We have all sorts of lodges here. There is the M. U. J. O. O. F. of Odd Fellows, and the A. I. O. O. F., of ditto. Then there ] is the order of Foresters, and a Druid Lodge. Of course there is a Freemason's Court, and now we are to come out very strong in the Total Abstinence line ; a paid lecturer on the science, from the home country, being among us. We have a debating class, and such subjects as, " Is woman the inferior animal," are learnedly discussed and conclusions arrived at. We have a Young Mens' Christiin Society, the Athaeneum, and a Boat Club. I shall say nothing about Theatres, of which we have two, and a Cremorne, of which Mr. Farley, of Farley's Arcade.is the originator,of lessee, or proprietor,! do not know which. We are to have a gymnasium soon, to be kept by a well known sporting hotel keepei. If I were to say that what is so learnediy termed a gymnasium is to be nothing more or less than a sparring saloon for amatuie and professsional Tom Sayers and Jack HeenanF, perhaps 1 should not be very far wrong. Then we have a Cricket Club, and are shortly about to initiate a young ditto. Also, we come out strong with a Caladonian Society, with directors and a committee; the membeis of which can draw large cheques upon their bankers. A Quoit Club is in the course of formation. A fire brigade is now an established fact. We have a fire engine, and a public tank erected by the Town Board. The members meet once or twice a week, and throw cold water upon every thing they come near. We have a Volunteer Corps, but no body knows where it ig to be found, who are the privates, who the corporals or sergeants, or who the officers. Now have you all or any of these things, which I have been telling you of ? "I trow not." You shut up at eight and turn in immediately afterwards, I am told. Miserable Southerners ! Spiritless Inveicargillites ! What would you do without your Dunedin correspondent to illumine with the light of his intelligence your moral and social darkness ? Ah ! indeed, what ? I hoaxed the leading musician of a German band the other day, telling him that, if he were to take his bassoon and flageolet players down to your place, they would make a fortune. I really believe they have gone. Don't let them want for their simple credulity. A second, but unsuccessful attempt was made by Garret on Saturday, to escape from the gaol ; he attacked one of the turnkeys, and was endeavoring to gouge out one of his eyes, when he was seized and placed in close confinement. Fratson still remains very reserved. He fully calculates upon a repreive, as information by some means or other, has been conveyed to him that a strong influence is being bioujht to bear to attain a remission of his sentence. The cutting down of Bell Hill, is still proceeding with, and gives employment to over five hundred men. One poor fellow was killed on Thursday last by the falling in of an immense block of earth, which crushed him so horribly, that after suffering the most fearful and excruciating agonies for some hours, he died, and was buried on (Saturday, his body being followed to the grave by the men employed on the works. It was really a very interesting spectacle. Some alarm was created on Thursday afternoon, by a report which attained some cunency that a gentleman well known and much respected in our midst had died of Asiatic Cholera, after an illness of fortyeight hours. Upon further enquiries, it was ascertained that Mr. Erlam, (the deceased's name), had died from dysentry, brought on by drinking impure water This dispelled the public fears, but it is to be hoped will lead to some practical measures for obtaining a pure supply of water for Dunedin. Most of the water obtained from the creeks and springs, is full of vegetable and organic decomposed matter, and is highly injurious to health, and no doubt, as the present instance will suggest, is often destructive to life. The City of Hobartwith the English mails, will steam out to-morrow. The news fiom the North forebodes war. The weather just now is • remarkably fine, but rather blowey. Anything more to be told, must remain over until my next. P. S.— The Queen came in last night from the North ; she bringa no definite news about the Natives' intention, but war is looked upon as certain.