THE SOUTHERN DIGGINGS.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 489, 10 April 1869, Page 2

THE SOUTHERN DIGGINGS.

Under the head of " Warning to a Diggers," miners who recently re- B turned from the South have furnished i a statement to the West Coast Times. I The following is a portion of the story 1 they tell: —■ "We started for Big Bay on the 15th of November last, and were landed on the south side of Big Bay on the 18th. Three of our party at once started with a week's provisions to prospect the interior. They went up the different creeks to the foot of the snowy ranges, and after travelling swamps and terraces for five days, returned much disappointed, as nothing but the bare reef could be met with on all sides ; not being even able to raise the color in any of the creeks. The only place the bare color could be ob« tained was in a broken terrace ; therefore, after carrying our provision* about ten miles, we set into work (the six of us) in the rich flat described by Williamson. After working one week, we washed loz 13 dwts of gold; this divided between six of us would give about £l per week each per man, and he would have to work hard to get that amount every week. The gold is ob» tained under large boulders, varying in weight from 3 cwt to 3 tons. The washdirt varies in depth from half an inch to four inches in thickness, the bottom being a white mullocky reef. We prospected the beaches and flats in all directions ; on the north beach from the sea to the foot of the terrace, the color is to be obtained wherever you sink, but in no case can a man earn above £1 per week. " After we had been about one month in Big Bay, three of our party went overland to Barn Bay, prospecting the beaches aa they went along, In Barn Bay we found a hut, box, and tools of every description. Thej found that ground had been worked af the back of the hut to the extent oi 200 yards. "We worked eight days and tooiSß out six paddocks, each twenty-five feefS in length by twelve feet in breadthjM seven feet stripping at one end an dn ten feet at the other; hard shinghJK stripping, about six inches of waslidirtjßßj and six feet of water to contend witb^H " The result of our eight daysjß washing was loz lldwts —being somejflp thing less than £1 each man for eighflH days' work. We then found a littlafl vein of black sand on the beach, abou|H half an inch in thickness and three feeflE stripping; worked two days in ing and washing it, but we found it wafl| only a small patch. We \t ashed whaHj we could get of it, and it turned ouh one ounce for the two days' work. : Jm " Four of us then went away to Jj beach near the George Eiver, and aftefl working regularly for four weeks waß obtained 3ozs and some grains of gold|H so that in no case, either inland or oaK any of the beaches south of Bay, can a man earn £1 per week; ana it is our united opinion that therflH never will be a payable goldfield diaH covered south of Jackson's Bay, asthaflß part of the island is nothing but Sk jumbled-up mass of earth and reeffflß and the beaches are, with but few exflj ceptions, very stoney." jB