THE QUEENSLAND DIGGINGS.

Westport Times, Volume II, Issue 194, 14 March 1868, Page 3

THE QUEENSLAND DIGGINGS.

The Queensland Times, of the 20th ultimo, has au article which we strongly recommend to the attention of those who are inclinesl to leave Now Zealand for the new diggings. It will be seen that the Times rather discourages the rush than otherwise : We seem to have entered on a new era in Queensland —the golden age. The monster Curtis nugget has evidently turned the heads of a great many people, and "the rush that is now setting in to the Mary Biver diggings promises to be as memorable as any that ever took place in the Australian colonies. So great is the movement of people expected to be that the Government, it appears, have determined not to take a census of the population on the 2nd of March next, although they have just induced Parlimen't to pass a bill, which is now law, declaring that such census "shall be taken." It is said that law-makers should not be law-breakers. \Ve think that the Act, being among oar statutes, ought to be carried out, even although it be true, as Mr Taylor says, that half the people have lift TooWoomba. We have the assurance of Mr. Walsh, that, if they once get to Wide Bay, they will never again think of settling down in the territories of King James ; so that, if the census is wanted 'specially for the purpose of regulating electoral foforin, there will not be much use in waiting, so far as Toowoomba is concerned. We entertain very serious apprehensions as to the results likely to follow so sudden a concentration of people in one spot as will take place in the course of the next few weeks at the Mary River gold-field. The finding of a thousand ounces of gold in one lump will have more effect on men's imaginations than if ten times the amount had been raised and more equally distributed; and yet it ought not to influence them nearly so much, for On the last supposition the chances of individual success would be much greater. It would puzzle anyone, we suppose, to say how the Curtis got where it was found; it would puzzle them still more to say whether others will be found like it; and the greatest difficulty of all would be to point out their locality. Of course supposing that there actually are other big nuggets oil the spot, then the larger number of neople looking for them the more likely they are to be turned up : but individual chances are diminshed nevertheless —unless, indeed, the extent of payable country should prove to be practically unlimited, which, whatever we may wish or hope, we certainly have no right to expect. A correspondent signing himself " A Old Digger from Victoria and New South Wales," writing from Nashville to the Toowoomba Crohicle, expresses the hope that the people of Toowoomba " will not be so foolish as to run to a place where there are from 15,000 to 20,000 people." We see no objection to the number of people, provided there is plenty of profitable occupation for them. But the writer goes on to say —after having reported the finding of the big nugget:—

What good does that do a person that comes now ? I have been some miles all round, and there is not a gully or creek, or even a flat that is in any way likely for a bit of gold, but what has been tried in all directions. It is the opinion of several old miners that there will be great destitution and want here before very long. There are thousands of men knocking about with their picks, shovels, and tin dishes, and if they see a man going any way out of town there is a rush. Well, several hundred men made off in that direction, and after all, find a hoax. A few weeks ago a rush took place out to a locality called Yaber I was told by a Toowoomba man that after they went out forty-five miles the poor fellows came back cursing the place- Now, Mr. Editor, I tell you for a candid fact, it is not all the gold that is being got here that as causing such a stir. There is no man coming here without fetching with him a few pounds, and that is what causes such a trade to be carried on. The new.comers are holding out as long as they have a shilling, and of course they must have someming to eat; and where there are such a number of men, there must be trade carried on with the storkeepers. There is probably a very great deal in these latter remarks—more,-we fear, than people will be, disposed at first to' to believe. We do not of course mean that considerable quantities of gold are not obtained, but we fear the quantity is not quite so large as the great number of the people .at work renders it desirable that it should be. We should like to see the escort more heavily loaded, for, although it may be be true that the diggers object to the scale of charges, and therefore risk sending a great deal by private hands, still this is only surmise or assertion, and it would be much more satisfactory to know for certain that the yield was, to some extent proportionate to the large number of persons on the ground.