THE GULGONG.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 889, 18 November 1871, Page 2

THE GULGONG.

The following letter from Gulgoug has been received by an hotel-keeper in Greymouth from a miner, named John Neil, who recently left the Grey, tempted by the accounts from the Gulgong diggings. There is a good deal of useful information in the unvarnished statement made by him. He says : —" Nearly seven weeks have elapsed since I arrived in this place, and I am now about as well off as when I came, not having as yet got possession of a golden hole. I have all this time been shepherding on some fancy lead, or rather imaginary lead. Tou must understand that as soon as a prospecting hole is going down, the ground in the immediate vicinity is pegged out and shepherded, and is called a lead, no matter if there never was, or will be, any gold in the ground. There are at least a dozen such leads. The only leads that are of any consequence are the Black Lead and the Happy Valley. One or two more have got a little gold, but owing to the depth and nature of sinking (80ft. to 150 ft., and 30ft. or 40ft. of hard rock to blast through) claims in one eud of the lead get worked out before the other end have bottomed. It takes about three mouths, night and day, to sink a shaft on the Black Lead. There are some very good claims, as for instance, Nos., 4 and 5 Happy Valley, where a dividend of £1470 a man was got for five weeks' work. When I came the popu. lation was estimated at 10,000, but the last three weeks have taken some 3000 or 4000 away to a new rush, called Currajong. At this place some good prospects have been got, from 4 dwts to 4 ozs to the dish, but as yet only five claims are on gold. Living is very cheap here, in consequence of brisk competition between two Chinese storekeepers and a host of Europeaus. If not workiug, a man can live here for 7s a week. Board in a restaurant is 15s, a two pound loaf is 4d, steaks 3d, white sugar sd, and tea 2s. Wages is £2 10s and £3 per week. Nob' biers are present 6d, but there is some talk of a publican going to open a house and sell nobblers at 3d. Tou may tell those you know that there is at present nothing to be done over here, except prospecting. Thousands are idle. I do not think there are more than 500 on gold here, many of them have only wages claims. Some will make their fortunes, but they are comparatively few in number."