THE DIGGINGS ON SWANSTON'S RUN.

Southland Times, Volume 2, Issue 78, 4 August 1863, Page 2

THE DIGGINGS ON SWANSTON'S RUN.

(FBOM OTTB BPECUL KEPpRTBa.)

.Last /\r^?eijf the " iM.a|irafa"was lit^iLi^ Wan it had befcri \si tide fthe great -flood.' two years ago, ahd'tdt be attributed tiie delay which, has taken place inn sending. 1 down my| report. :^asy M^wlioie '[fif 'jfag. go&d between Invercargill' and Swanston's Siation is< b'acL but ■ it improyesVcoTasJderablß afferl that pbrtidn r ' of 'it' which hast Received the benefit* of Government manipulation has 3>een-' passed, fl From S wan;stbn'sihome station to thijvneW diggings -■■■.•r.".r-..>.-. .-.nu-t i. I;us,tm..;-; l.»°f & (a distance of about six -miles) "th'e' track runs over a stony plain.; .^The population on this' gold-field h|as been overstated. There are notirjore than two hundred men on the ground, forty or fifty of whom are working} 6ft the Boundary Creek, and the remainder scattered through the various, little gullies for several miles around, j There are three small stores amongst the hills," and a considerable grog trade is being pushed, the price asked being one shilling the nobbier. . . _. '

I could hear of no claims which had proved very rich, but most of theminers were making good wages, say from four to ten pounds a man per week. The gold is flat and scaly; the largest piece I saw weighed. t;wo pen-, ny weights. Three pounds twelve shillings (£3 125.) per ounce is the price given by the storekeepers, which is considerably less than the . gold is worth. There is hardly a spot within a radius of some miles where the color cannot be obtained, and it would not surpnne me if very good diggings were discovered during the coming summer. The whole of the country between the old Switaer's diggin gs and S wanston's is auri ferous.and is nearly certain to be declared a goldfield by the Otago Government. Mr. Wood, the Commissioner at the Nokomai, had just left when I got on the, ground ; his opinion of the place was, I a.ra told, favorable, and he wil] recommend the establishment of a post-office, &c. The prospects I obtained from the Boundary Creek, whicli I mentioned before, were very good, and the miners ara engaged in turning the stream. The late floods have greatlyretarded their operations, but in a few weeks we may expect to hear some definite information on the matter. Should this creek turn out according to expectation, there will be work along its course for some hundreds of men. For my own part, however, I believe that most of the gold will be got in; the littie shallow gullies, only a few of which have up to the present time been worked. Alarge population -is almost certaii to be located oti Swanston's in the spring, and equally certain it is that through Southland mustcome the whole of the supplies for the miners. 1