OTAGO

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 15, 30 December 1862, Page 2

OTAGO

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) DUNEDnsr, Saturday, Dec. 20. The Omco arrived at Port Chalmers on Wednesday afternoon, but, contrary to general expectation, and greatly to the disappointment of all, she did not bring the English Mails. The Omeo left on Thursday, the llth, and, up to the last moment of her departure, there was no sign of the steamer, then two days overdue. The Alhainbra, a new vessel to be laid on between Victoria and Otago, remains inllobson's Bay.awaiting the arrival of the English Mail, so that, barring accidents, it cannot be long before we are in full receipt of the English and American intelligence so anxiously looked for. The news brought from Melbourne was very meagre, and -with the exception of a short paragraph in the Argus announcing the discovery of a new goklfiekl at the head of the Yarra, there was no item of intelligence of the smallest interest. Of the new field the Argus says :■-- " Information was received yesterday from a reliable source, to the effect that a new rush lias taken place to a goldfield on tbe head of the Yarra, about ten miles from a place on Hughes's tiack, known as Hughes's store, between Buneep and the Jordan. The new goldfield is on the head of the Yarra, and it is stated that on Friday last there were 300 to 400 miners engaged upon it. The workings are in two contiguous creeks, and payable gold has been found. The new rush is to a place distant fifteen miles (nearer Melbourne) from the scene of the discove ie.s on the head waters of the Yarra, reported two or three weeks ago. It may be added, that as stores are now carried by pack-horses along the recently opened up tiack between Buncep and Jericho, and that as stores have been established at different points, diggers have not now the same difficulty as they formerly experienced in prospecting the fern-tree pullies and forests along this new line of road." The Fancy Bazaar and Industrial Exhibition, mentioned in my last, would have been ;i Lrreal success— pecrurarily— had it nothave be"en lor the very broken weather we have experienced since the first day it was opened; this, with the Presbyterian Fast-day, which intervened and was very stricly kept, combined to keep large numbers of intending visitors away, and as a matter of course, so'"mu!'h money was lost to a very excellent object. There" were in the exhibition many articles of great and special interest, which, although very lvmutelj', affords a sufficient intimation of the vast resources of New Zealand, when time, skill and enterprise shall fully developo them. A very well written review of the Inhibition, which appears in the Otago Dully Tinu-s, in noticing the Exhibition says :— " Of wool then" are only a very few samples ,-hown. It is suggested, as an explanation of the miserable display of this important staple, that holders do not desire, so early in the :-i;iM)n, to i-hou the quality of their stocks. There are one or two samples from Invercargill, and three sent by Messrs Chipcott Bros, from Popotunoa ; and the remainder consists of a few very small pir.ehes, which were un-dosi-rihcd and unnamed yesterday up to the opening of the Exhibition. '■Coals are somewhat better represented. There are blocks from the Clutha Co.'s Works, sent by Mr. Green, of Princes-street; fiom Lyttelton, by Mr. F. J. Moss; from the Riwr Don, contributed by Captain M'Lean, of the Ahlinga; and from Tokomairio, the contribution of Mr. Hardy. There is also a colloctiouofsmall specimens of analysed coals from tin- Geological Department, all the known varieties obtained in New Zealand being represented. The Culler River coal is said" !>v Dr. Hector to be far the best yielded by any known field in those islands, and to be' sup'-rior to any yet discovered in Australia. There are amongst the more culiously inti-resting specimens, pieces of coal brought from lhe Mackenzie River by Franklin in IS-Jl, ami from the American Piaiiies by Dr. Hector himself. '• Naiive woods are best represented in the collection contributed by Mr. 11. Brundrell, of Cargill-slreet. It includes polished samples of the tutu, maoko, totar.i. the tooth-leafed aster, the broad-leafed aster, the popper-tree and others. The grains and markings of sunieof the weds are excellent. There is a box of re. l pine, made by Mr. Fenwick, and exhibited by .Mr. G. Kciiyon, and Messrs. Bullock ami Walker send some capital black pine from Stewart's Island. Mr. .T. Hall contributes a nicely inlaid circular table top, all the woods used being native. '• In connection with building materials, we may notice a chimney piece of indurated Caversham stone, exhibited by Mr. J. W. Kegei.of the Edinburgh Castle llotehtogether with worked stone of the same kind in its natural slate. Messrs. Jackson and lii.-hop, of Christchurcb. have sent Capital samples of their patent flooring tiles. bricks (oi dinar}and lire), and drain tiles; and our own Mr. 11. Farley shows other good bricks, ma 'c on his Anderson's Bay field by Mr. Win. Hodkinson. Other contributors of bricks arc Mr. Lambarf, of the North East Valley, Mr. J. V. Arlidgc, Messrs. F. Warwick and G. Clarke of Caversham. and Messrs. Burton and Gartshore of Arthur-stivet. There are blocks of lime stone from the New River district ; a useful looking whitish stone, from Mawaki, the sender stating that there arc vast quantities to be got, in great masses ; bricks, manufactured at Waikaui ; and specimens ofstonrs and shells from Invercurgill. Such is Southland's contribution to this depaitment. The mention of lime stone reminds us of a sample of maiblo from the Ilorscsh'ie Ranges, shown by Dr. Hector, and which will" bo found near the nnnahsed coals on the left hand side table. The marble is in its lvitural state, and also in the state in which it remains after simple calcination and si,ikiii', r — a beautiful white and regular powder \ containing <)'; per cent of pure carbonate of , lime. It is thus fitted for making mortar of the very best quality. On th'j left-hand side table, we noticed | ' iraniel sand, from Southland; garnets from I ! the Jlighlay Diggings; and chromatc <>" lead ! i' Chinese yellow; and bichromate < f potash, ' prepared from the chrome ore of the Dun j Mountain. Nelson, the latter exhibited by j Mr. Vogcl. Some of the- specimens of shells and stones forwarded from Invcrcargill I consider to be remarkably fine. The garnet send drew the attention of very many of the curious. In your eager desire for gold-fields of your own, 1 pray you do not overlook your other i resources. " I am told that the countiy ' i between Invorcargill and Riverton, and for ! miles beyond the latter place, there arc nunxTous indications of coal. Get up a prospecting company at once and try your luck. You (ire aware of the successful results ! -which have followed in the search for coal on ! the Victorian side. I am also told that several specimens of a bastard description of malachite have been picked up in various parts of Southland. Copper should not be far away from such indications. Already is the importance of your place being taken into consideration here by cur leading men of commerce. The Titania, steamer, and other vessels which have left here for your port, have been compelled to refuse more than one half of the freight which has beea offered. The news wnich arrives now almost daily from the Dimstan continues of the same cheering character as contained in my last. The new rich strikes are all heading in the direction of the Lake Wakatip. I must tell you something on the truthfulness and accuracy of which you may confidently rely. You may remember that in one of my communications I mentioned that two gentlemen (surveyors) with whom 1 am intimately acquainted, left Dunedin some four or five weeks ago, having been ''laid on "to a rich gully beyond the district of the Duns tan, only known to one party. This party had sent one of theii men into Dunedin to pur-

chase provisions and other necessaries when he fell across my two friends, both of whom he had been for some time acquainted with. He communicated his secret, and urged both to make their way on to the ground, and this they lost no time in doing. My two friends took -with them another gentleman, making it a party of three. After considerable toil and labor the ground was arrived at ; but the two friends felt so disheartened at the appearance of the place, and not being provided ivitli proper mining tools, they returned back to Dunedin, leaving the third man behind. This man remained but eight days in the gully, when he left, bringing with him nine hundred pounds' worth of gold (£900) for his week and one day's labor. This is a fact I can vouch for. 1 know the lucky man, and he is at this moment in the sitting-room of my humble dwelling. You may be sure that my two friends were very chagrined they did not remain and do likewise. With respect to the Arrow and Shotover, I think they have been overrated ; although no doubt they will be found to be good and permanent diggings. Gabriel's, Tuapeka, Wetherstone's, and the older diggings are not yielding so well again, but this may be easily accounted for by the scant population left on the several fields. A terrific bush fire raged throughout Saturday, Sunday, and Monday last at Sawyer's Bay, which is in the neighbourhood of Port Chalmers. This part of the country is thickly wooded, and contains some remarkably fine timber. The locality has in consequence been deemed valuable, and more so from its proximity to a port. Saw mills had been erected, and a population had settled down in the neighbourhood, consisting of sawyers, splitters and bushmen ; all actively engaged in a very profitable pursuit. How the fire commenced is as little known as Avhen it will end, for it still continues its ravages over an immense area of wooded country. On Sunday the whole district was black with the overwhelming volumes of smoke which ascended, and then rolled in immense dense clouds before the driving winds. The roaring of the flames helped on by a strong breeze, the crash of falling timber which sent up millions of sparks only to fall on and ignite other trees and dead timber, was a sight at once awful and grand to look upon. 1 once saw such another bush conflagration in Victoria, many years ago, in the Mount Macedon Ranges. There the timber was larger than here, but the spectacle was not more imposing, nor the consequences nearly so serious. Several of the houses in Sawyer's Bay have been destroyed by fire, besides an immense quantity of sawn timber. Numbers of men, many having wives and families, have been thrown out of employment, besides having lost their tools, tents, and necessaries, -which have all been destroyed by the fire. Some of the telegraph posts were burnt through, and the working of the line was necessarily delayed until the mischief done had been made good. Altogether, the fire has been a very serious one, and the worst part of it is, that the flames in some parts of the forest still continue to rage with unabated fury, it is not known how far the country may be denuded of its valuable timber. At one time, the mansej at Port Chalmers had) nearly caught, but the vigorous efforts of the boatmen and crews at the Port were successful in averting the catastrophe. A public subscription is being raised in aid of the sufferers. Mr. Mansford, the resident magistrate at Port Chalmers, receives donations. Will Invercargill show its sympathy for a number of poor fellows berett of all ? Your people have ever been kindly disposed on all such matters. I will guarantee that any subscriptions sent forward will be publicly acknowledged, and duly forwarded to Mr. Mansford.

The Supreme Court has just closed its sittings, and opens again on the 15th of next month, under our new judge — Judge Richmond. He is spoken of very highly by all who know him, and, it is said, will make a very efficient member of the bench.

We come out now very strong in the total abstinence department of social science, the members of which, instead of using strong liquors, use uncommon strong language against those who do. The cold water disciples do not feeem to be aware that intemperance in denunciation may lead to worse evils than the mere taking of a nobbier. Mr. Farley, of Farley's arcade, has laid out a Vauxhall gardens across the bay. It opens to-morrow with a pic-nic on a grand scale, a ball, a pyrotechnic display, and other alfresco amusements. It is said, that the site is ill chosen, that our climate is not adapted for such out-door amusements, and that our groat financier has made a mistake for once — that, in fact, he will be eventually a heavy loser by the speculation. Time will show, and that is all 1 can venture to assert anent the subject. The Provincial Council proceedings contain measures under discussion both of interest and importance. As usual, I send you a core digest of the week's legislation: — Monday, December 15. The following Bills were read a third time and passed -.—Marine Board Bill, Unimproved Land Bill, Impounding Bill. The House then went into Committee of Supply. A discussion took place on the subject of the West Coast Expedition, in consideration of a Message from the Superintendent, to the effect that the Government were unable to hire a vessel for the service, and suggesting the advisability of postponing the expedition to next summer, by which time a vessel could be obtained from Britain at a cost not exceeding £4,000. The suggestion was assented to. The House went into Committee of Supply on the consideration of the items for the Provincial Engineer's Department. The Provincial Secretary said that it was mainly for works in connection with this department that tho Government purposed to raise a loan. There had that evening arrived a letter from the Colonial Secretary's Oflice, stating that with certain conditions the bill for the loan of L 500,000 would be assented to— so that the Council might go on with confidence resolving upon the proposed imi portant works in connection with that department. A number of items were passed and the House adjourned.