The Express.
London, England, 1852-02-06 00:00:00

THE GOLD DIGGINGS OF AUSTRALIA.

By the ship Phoenician, which has arrived from
Sydney in 84 days (the quickest passage ever made)
we have six weeks' later dates from New South
Wales, giving accounts of further discoveries of gold
in various pouts of the colony. These discoveries are
' at the Braidwtxxl, about '2OO miles south from Sydney,
and from private letters it appears that those dig.
gings are likely to surpass all that have yet btsin
tried in any part of Purt Philip or New South Wales,
The amount of gold received in Sydney is now about
17,0001. per week. The total value of gold Mapped
from Sydney amounted to 216,946/. 6s. 3d.; the
price was 53m. per ounce. Bills on London drawn
against geld 6 per cent. discount.
"A large number of diggers have left per Shamrock
steamer with the intention of binding at Woolf*
(about two hundred miles south of Sydney), and pro.
ceeding from thence to the At-alum and Braidwood
diggings. Forty licenses have been taken for a
waterhole whitth has been partly drained, and the
proprietors anticipate golden results when they reach
the bottom.

"The price remained firm at :its. ts 614. 6d. up to
Thursday, when it suddenly rose to ,at which
large quantities were purchased by a mercantile
house desirous of remitting 10,0001. by a vessel
which sails ox Tuesday next, and, consequently,
before another escort can come in; it was neetewary
therefore to make a push to accomplish that object,
and miners and dealers must not be disappointed to
find the price full as suddenly us it rose immediately
after that vessel's departure, as nothing but the fact
of 10,0001. being in the market could have raised the
price from 635. lid., with exchange at 5 per tint., to
6.55. with exchange at 6 per cent. 'foe tendur for
government gold was accepted at a fraction over 6.51,
Total gold shipped to this date, 21KAIII/.
" Exchange on London—Drafts against gold, 6 per
cent. dia. ; freight, k per cent."
Australian papers contain the following patine.
lars relative to mining operaticus:

TVRON, NEALE'S Peeve, Nov. 5. -During Saturday and
Sunday last we had vice cold, wet. tempestuous weather,
which rendered a residence in a trail tent on the Tuna
ridges anything but pleasant; it has, however, now quite
cleared up, and there is every kopearance of dry weather
having finally set in. On Saturday several tints were
blown down on various points on the river, sad others were
split or otherwise injured. Ihe Lord Bebop of Sydney is
up here at present, unit is stopping at the Commissioneee
quarters at Maitland Point. lie performed anew' senice
there on Sunday, and arrangements arc twine made for
its regular performance here. There is nothing new to
communicate respecting the diggings, further than that
the rise in the river, although now ARIOOIiO4, ONl-
tintic seriously to impede the ;deign** of pirsens digging
in the beds. In fact, loony have been driven away entirely
by the flood, and I should suspect that it will °cement
considerable Ices to the government, as many who have been
obliged to vacate them w ill leave without paying the license
fee for this mouth. I think I may safely venture to say
that et least 600 !Acmes have been driven away within a mee
and a halt of this point, the majority of whom hate no dry .
diggings to fly to. The Nem nt oirtent of licensing the
diggers is beginning to cause sonic disestiefection here, mere
particularly sitter the commissioners have issued an order
requiring all diggers to attend at Maitland Point to procure
their licenses, instead of their following up the old plan of
'costing roucd themselves to collict them. A reline meet-
ing will be held at Sofala on Saturday next, when it
isintended that the %Oleic system shall be taken into
consideration. On Tuesday I attended at Maitland Point
to obtain my license, and had the satisfaction of having
to wait two hours before 1 could get it, the crowd of apph-
cants being very conriderable. Tbe sergeant and troopers
on duty there acted very fairly, c- using those who had
waited longest to go in first, withnut respect to their
tion in life ; and, although the sun was broiling het, and my
toes were trod on by the sergeant in his attempt to keep
the crowd off the ropes of the tent, elite as I saw that they
strove to distribute in their little way equal justice to
all, I did not feel much inclined to find fault. One
man who went in, seeing 30e. on the table. which had been
paid by the previous applicant, taking advantage of the
commissioner's eyes being turned from him, took it up, and
put it down again in payment of his own lims., but, al-
though the movement escaped the notice of the commis-
sioners, the trooper outside espied his motion, and the renew
was obliged to refund.
PROSPECTING NEAR GOULBURN.—Since our last pro-
specting in the neighbourhood has been carried on with mo-
derate vigour. Captain Royal, who deserves the utmost
praise for the enthusiasm he has displayed in the search for
native gold in the vicinity of the town, sueteetnel last week
in procuring ten specimens, including one which from Ite
solidity and size might with propriety be termed a "nug-
get." These were found at the Run of Water, near Bois-
chere—the place at which some email nuggets were washed
out by Moan. Dibdin, Halyard, and Jackson. The Gaul-
bourn correspondent of the Sydney Herald was labouring
under a mistake when he stated that not a speck was found
by those who prospected on the creek as Monday sennight
On that occaeiou, Mr. Stewart, the wheelwright, and the
writer of this paragraph, found several. Ile was also in
error when he asaerted that 40, 20, and 14 beckern of
earth were washed; no such quantities were .—the major
part of those present feeling more incliued to indulge in
senseless jollies than in the prosecution of a laudable search.
At the Mulwarre Ponds Mr. llibdices party have been
prospecting on several mornings during the week, and in
every cradle washed out gold has been towel. On some
occasions as many as 13 heavy specks have been produced
from a cradle of earth. As yet only the surface soil has
been tried, but it is the intention of the publienpiritod
gentlemen to excavate to some depth during the next week,
and wo entertain, in spite of the correspondent of the
Sydney Herald, great expectation that heavy metal will be
discovered. A person named Simunerhill, who, with Mr.
Wood, of Tourang, discovered geld tit the back of the Go-
vernor's hill a few weeks since, brought in about a quarter
of an ounee! of the metal last week. It was procured by
washing in a tin dish. The exact locality is at present a
secret, but doubtless it will not he no long.
MAJOR'S either Nov. 4.—The adorer are still doing
first-rate ; many of them as much as 2oz. and lox. per day
a man. A party from Broulee, consisting of five, got ISin.
a day. I saw a little boy get lox. ldwt. 6grs. in a tin dish,
from a place no larger than a post hole. The party who
arninged to drain the water hole have gibbed at the work,
it is therefore given over for the preeent. Some of the
knowing ones think there is Plenty of gold there yet.
New diggings have been fourd in a pulley adjacent to this
place. Some are doing first-rate to-day. I may wifely
say that nearly all the gullies and creeks about here
have plenty of gold in them. Richardson washed a
mall quantity of soil in hie wale in a new place known
only to a few, and got 13 speck. of gold in the first washing.
The soil was taken from the aide of the honk with hie
hands. lam certain that there is plenty of gold at the
same place. Sly grog selling has arrived at an awful pitch,
nearly half the diggers were more or lees intoxicated yes-
, terdisy. The authorities arc beginning to stir themselves.
Last night they caught one man in the set of selling: he
was seized with four gallons of rise in his possession, and
was handcuffed to the policedent to-day, ready to he re-
moved to Braidwuod. I hope this will have the effect of
checking other partici. feint similar practices. The number
of digger. is daily increasing.

The following in from a private letter dated SYd.
ney, November 8:
Scarce had you departed before news reached that geld
had beer. found in large quantified in Victoria, at Bonier
yong, 10 miles west of Melbourne, and about equidistant
from Geelong. Time has only served to show that the gold
it to he found in even greater quantity than was nt first an-
ticipated; and so great Nu been the excit-ment in Mel-
bourne an. livelong, that these places became for a time
aiming depopulated. It was only last ni.tlit that 1 heard
Mr. 0. fleas Thomson, the colonial .eeret:oy, state in his
place in the legislat re couninil that the gold field of Victoria
was fully at rich a. that of the Tut'on.
Up to the time at which I now write the town, nod the
various other diggings near it, have yielded gold hi the
value of somewhat over 200,000 I.—say, 220,000!. The
weekly arrival by escort and mail is 5000 ~,,, of dust
and nuggets. and the number of le:vie employed is esti-
mated to tat fully 11,000
The Ilininiiivong, or, to write more correctly, the Rae
larat gold field yields about 1,100 to _,OOl 0111100 weekly,
and there are trout 5,000 to 7,000 persons emploved at it.
In Sydney. yesterday, gold sold at al. to On. 61 per
oa. In MelLourne and livelong, by hut advices, it sold

■_