WELLINGTON.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 2882, 25 April 1888, Page 2

WELLINGTON.

(From our own correspondent.) FOSSICKING FOR GOLD. April 23,. Yesterday, in company with an cljv perienced miner, I paid a visit to the paddock off the Tinakori roaiwhere Mr Bidmead is with hunting for gold. The spoil's some two hundred yards beyond the gate of the Botanical gardens, on the right hand side, and there is a little rough terrace-climbing to be done 'ere tlio exact locality is struck. We found a number of visitors on the scene before us, among them a couple of speculators from the Owens, whom Mr Bidmead Sunday pipe in mouth, and with an ail' of tolerant proprietorship, was chaperoning. A large number of holes have been sunk, and the placo has precisely the well-known appearance of the numerous deserted diggings in the neighborhood of Creswick or Ballarat, Victoria. Mr Bidmead is working on a terrace in the bend of a gully above a creek, and his appliances are of the most rudimentary description. Spying a sort of cradlo standing forlorn in a pool of muddy water, : we looked it over and found fcltteolor < everywhere on the blanket, fr Bidmead, on application, kindly shovelled us out a dish of wash-dirt from his latest working, which, after careful washing, panned out something liksjD 4 grains or better of coarsisk goldsSff soma of it rather rusty. It is certain gold is there; whother Mr BidweacJ

lias the necessary practical knowledge to iind all there is, or the best of what there is, or the right appliances lor such purposes are altogether dilfcrent

questions, Leaving Bidmead's we returned to the main road, my companion ■■ pointing out thai the steep bunk of the road oil the right had evidently at one time been the bed of arivor, and that, irom the formation generally, il was more than probable I hat good goid would somo day be found in the superincumbent soil, an opinion in which 1 agree. Proceeding in the direction of Iviu'ori, we suddenly dived under the wire fencing on our left, and descending the steep terraces, struck the creek where somo knowing old hand has been unknown to society at large, for some short time now packing the stone on either side for the purpose of making a tail race. This individiduat evidently knows what lie is about, and

it is unreasonable to suppose that a

practical minor would have taken the trouble this one has taken did not rer ' suits justify his labor. It being Sunday however, the mysterious unknown had removed and cached all his mining impedimenta, and as we had no tools of any sort with us, we were unable to obtain a prospect. Stone is packed for a distance of nearly 400 yards. ! Ascending the terrace by zig-zags we that considerable fossicking of recent date had been carried on, numberless small holes having been scooped in the banks of the creek, and oil the terraces on the west of it. As the prospectors, evident greenhorns, had in no case " bottomed," the results were doubtless unsatisfactory. Altogether, I saw enough, in my four hour s tramp, to lead me to believe that scientific prospecting would reveal good payable gold within easy distance of the ruins of the Wellington General Post Office. Now is the time for the people who unceasingly prate about our " incxhaustible mineral resources" to give I Wellington a gold boom. If diggings exist, and of that I have no doubt, they will bs " poor men s" diggings.

PUBLIC SCHOOL MORALITY. Up to date the Wellington papers have maintained silence regarding the Public School scandal, to which I referred in my last. This may be the jhimbness of ' discretion,' or the of ignorance, but enough of this particular school has since come to my knowledge to lead me to believe that immorality among the children who frequent it, is of a more general nature than I supposed. Either lour or five of these children have very vivid and prurient imaginations, or there is a gross lack of supervision. I invite the attention of the Minister of Education to this and my preceding note on the subject, and shall bo happy to afford him further and definite information when he has leisure after his travels to attend to local matters, TIIH WEATIIEH We have had some more remarkably beautiful weather here. Friday last was an ideal day, Saturday and Sunday were both j'fine, and Monday forenoon was balmy as summer. Heavy rains however set in towards 2 M_i., and it rained hard during the |pit, To-day (Tuesday) the summer weather has partially returned as if under protest.

MISCELLANEOUS. Cobb k Co. arc sticking manfully to their 'bus speculation, and have just put oil some open cars of peculiar construction but rather heavy travellers. They are not so large as the open trams, arc gaily painted and dragged by three horses harnessed abreast, The Rev. Mr Neilson—whoever he may be—regards the Norsewood lire as a "judgment from (rod for the wickedness of the people " of that district. Their special crime, according to Neilson, consisted in their opening " with much joy," an hotel

A which had been closed. It is more y " than possible that they did not anteup on the Neilsonian collection platter with that liberality which Neibon, who has been acquainted with the people for thirteen years, anticipated. But just iancy a Christian (?) clergyman in the 19th century who would this endeavor to divert the stream of for the gratification of his own unwholesome bigotry There are to be the accustomed testimonials to the various persons said by their admirers to have been instrumental in bringing Hind, the arsoner, and his accomplice to justice. It seems very difficult to decide who is the real Simon Pure. The detective engaged lias many backers. Others say the woman who informed the detective should scoop the pool, and so on, Kennedy Macdonald comes in with the only sensible suggestion, by proposing that his fellow citizens should testimonialize the unfortunate .Mr Beck, the sawmiller, who, uninsured, lost everything by Hind's arson. The testimonial business is becoming alike a nuisance and a farce John

Hempstalk, a Lyttleton shipwright, offers to float, anil bring to a sate , ■<? anchorage both the Pleipne and the • Weathersfield. . . Wellington Athcnicm ground and 1; nil ding, to be sold by jjjpic auction, Tuesday, Bth May, Sic Immt gloria! , , . By the way, it is now denied that any " mysterious current" exists in the neighborhood of the Wangani.i Bight.

There is no doubt, however, that very strong local currents are, under particular circumstance? of wind and ■weather, to be found all round (lie coast of New Zealand, and what are wanted are accurate observations of these currents. The authorities are simply trying to shirk responsibility and exponso by denying the dangers which most certainly exist. . . . Despite the virtuous indignation manifested by the local newspapers and others on Hie subject of prize tights, telegraphic notice.; of these evenis daily appear in the papers, and now an enterprising shipping firm advertise a boat to and from the SlavinLaing light at Wangantii eternal fitness of things—Amy Hwk, friendless, but with hereditary madness, prigs what isn't hern and goes to gaol; Mrs Rappeport, wife of a J.P., Melbourne way, prigs the .jfrr jewellery of a friend but "suffers Jr from nervousness, and is not responsible for her actions." She does not go to gaol, When will wc become

civilised enough to acknowledge that much crime is simply hereditary madness, uiul should bo treated as much by the physician as by the policeman, and that the pool' as well as the rich arc subject to " nervousness," Not in our time I fancy.