THE FITZROY GOLD-FIELDS

Colonist, Volume II, Issue 111, 12 November 1858, Page 3

THE FITZROY GOLD-FIELDS

We have been favored with a copy of the Sydney Herald of the 26th October. The Fitzroy Gold-Fields have proved a total failure. The greatest distress is said to exist among those who had been attracted to the imaginary new El Dorado. One vessel from Melbourne, the Maozanella, with 127 passengers for the new gold-fields, on arriving at Sydney,"and,upon her passengers learning the deplorable' condition of the Port Curtis mining population, cleared out immediately (the 25th October) and sailed again for Melbourne, carrying back the whole of the 127. A public meeting is called in the paper before us, to be held in the afternoon of the 26 th, to devise some means for affording relief to the hundreds who have so suddenly been placed in want. The Herald thus notices the meeting ■referred to: — * A Meeting'is called for to-day, at Messrs. W. Dean and Co.'s Auction Room, Sydney, to take into consideration the circumstances of the gold diggers recently arrived. There is" a vast interior, full of resources, and great public works will be commenced in a few days. It appears, therefore, to be of the first importance that the temporary difficulty should be overcome, and that these able-bodied workmen should not quit the country nor suffer any more than_ the inevitable, inconvenience of their sudden immigration. * We.-hops gcntlemeni of property and influence wi 1 assist thi3 generous effort to succour many persons in perplexity, not by eleemosynary relief, but by opening a path to their /enterprise and industry. Now is ■the time to push the public works with-vigor. We clip the following from a letter addressed to the editor of the journal above referre.l to:— The large concourse of men now assembled in ;this city, consequent upon the failure of the Fitzroy gold-fields, renders it incumbent upon those who have "the welfare of this, the l«nd of our adoption at heart, -•to make some effort to retain them amongst us. There has been ever too much leaning upon Government for a support which it is not within its province to render, and too little exertion made by_the ■ community to avail themselves of such opportunities as may offer of permanently advancing the colonial interests. It is the duty of a Government simply to protect life and property, and remove such obstacles &3 may tend to check private enterprise. It is for the , people, by their united energies, to develop the re•Bource3 of their country. A census of 20,000 from any region on the face of ■the globe would not produce 2000 such men rs now perambulate our streets, " inured to labor and privation, law abiding and peaceful," rb they have proved themselves to be, under the most depressing and trying circumstances: " they are the life-blood of a new country," induced by semi-official reports of a territory teeming with unbounded wealth, many in pursuit of ■their occupation as miners, broke up their homes and ms.de a voyage of 1000 miles to be thrown upon a tropical wilderness, there to encounter disappointment to • all, "to many irretrievable ruin," and yet with this ■suffering amongst the thousands that landed on that inhospitable,shore, we have not an account of a single 'outrage, even in their extremity the law stoood sujpreme.