The Sun.
London, England, 1852-04-13 00:00:00

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.

VONPORT, APRIL 1 I.—Magicienne, steam
guard-ship, Captain Ramsay, went out yesterday
(Saturday) for the first time since she was commis-
sioned, to try her engines. On passing the Impreg-
nable she saluted the flag of Admiral Sir J. A. Om-
manney, which was returned by the Impregnable.
She went out round the Eddystone, the engines work-
ing very satisfactorily.
Leander paid wages on Saturday, by Commodore
Seymour.
Rolla tender, the training-vessel for naval appren-
tices at Portsmouth, arrived on Saturday. She sailed
again in the night.
Nautilus tender (similar vessel to the Rolla), at-
tached to this port, went out on Saturday, the first time
thin season.

Hecate steam-sloop, Commander Hand, sailed on
Saturday for the chops of the Channel, to relieve the
homeward-bound v”iels.

Devon lighter, Bond master, arrived on Saturday
with stores from Pembroke.

Avon tender, returned to this port this morning.
Pestonjee Bmaanjee convict-ship arrived to-day,
having taken in convicts at W oolwich, Portsmouth,
Cowes, and Portland ; and will fill up her comple-
ment here from Dartmoor, vrificia she will sail for
Van Diemen's Land.
In the Sound—The Dauntless and Pestonjee Bo-
manjee.
In Harbour—The Impregnable, St. George,
Leander, Magicienne, Britomart, Sylph, Avon, Hot-
spur, Confiance, Resistance ; Devon, Camel, Tortoise,
Ilamoaze, and Mancenvrer, lighters.
PORTSMOI3TH, MONDAY.—Captairl William Fan-
sh awe Martin re-hoisted his pendant as Commodore
of the first class on board the Prince Regent, 90, at
Spithead this morning, when he saluted the Com-
mander-in-Chief, and the Victory acknowledged the
compliment.
The Vixen steam-sloop, Commander Barnard, went
out to Spithead this morning.
The Sin:loom iron steam-frigate, Captain King_
come, has completed coals, and hauled off to the west
ready for embarking troops. Her crew will
ralloeceriev'e their advance wages on Tuesday.
The Walmer Castle Indiaman arrived at Spithead
to-day from the Thames.
The Victoria, American packet, arrived this after-
noon from the Thames.
One of Green's homeward-bound Indiamen landed
passengers this afternoon at Spithead, and proceeded
for the Thames.

Wind, S.E.; weather fine.
WooLwicH, APRIL 12.—Clerk—William F. Jonas
(1848), has been appointed to the Sampson steam-
frigate at Portsmouth.
Commodore Henry Eden having gone on leave for
a few days, his broad pennant was taken down this
morning, and Captain Sir Edward Belcher, C. 8., is
acting in his stead.
The Highflyer steam sloop, Captain Henry J.
Matson, when she went down the river on Saturday,
was tried again at the measured mile, and, on the
average of four runs, was found to have gained a speed
of three-tenths of a knot over her previous trial, her
first trial being an average of nine and one-tenth
knots per hour, and on her trial on Saturdy nine and
four tenths per hour. She was to have her com-
passes adjusted to-day by Captain Johnson, and is to
remain at Greenhitiae until further orders.

BALLARAT DIGGINGS.
(From the Geelong Advertiser.)
MONDIY MORNING.--I counted two hundred and
eighty cradles at Golden Point, in full work, and
from inquiries I made they all seemed to be doing
well. Still I think there are two-thirds less of
diggers than when I left some months past. The
tremendous fever fit, then at the height of delirium,
is past, and has been succeeded by restlessness, and
an irrepressible desire of change. The wildest stories
meet with the readiest credence, and troops of diggers
hie to Mount Alexander in the full hope of gathering
gold by hat-fulls. The unparalleled yield of Ballarat
has prepared the mind to believe anything, and many
have left gold lying at their feet to seek it in a more
remote locality. 'Whether the reports from Mount
Alexander be exaggerated or not, the effect is appa-
rent in the thinned numbers at Bellarat. One digger
breaks away, and the rest follow, like sheep after a
bell-wether, and all that can be said is " luck go with
them," there will be more room and a richer harvest
for those who come after.
I could hardly have believed the suddenness of the
change, and seeing it, I cannot comprehend the reason.
The yield of the Geelong Gold Field is unparalleled,
and lam convinced that there is more gold left in
Golden Point than has ever been got out of it. This
may be deemed a rash assertion, considering the
thousands of ounces which have been poured into the
Geelong and Melbourne markets, but I hesitate not
to repeat it, and to asseverate that not one tithe of the
riches of Ballarat at this one point, has been up-
turned. The easier part of the process has been gone
through, the harder and more prolifics one has just
commenced, at the point where the faint-hearted
abandoned it. Mining has been commenced, and at
thirty-two feet below the surface, deeply imbedded
in iron-stone, gold has been found in profusion, and
one hundred ounces have been obtained by Dr.
Johnson's party, from Monday last to Saturday mid-
day.
To Dr. Johnson appertains the credit of this dis-
covery, and I found our Esculapian townsman, sitting
Patriarch-like, in the front of his tent, turning his
discovery to the best advantage, by pounding the
iron-stone with a tomahawk, on the face of a hatchet,
and deploring the absence of his pestle, and mortar. I
think this discovery will lead to important results,
and extended operations, and afford a new puzzle to
geologists, the most acute of whom would hardly
have sought for gold in a matrix of iron-stone,
through which, however, it runs in some places in
clusters of small nuggets, somewhat flattened, and
continuous in their course, and perceptible twin the
surface; but in others not visible until the iron-stone
is crushed, when gold of various size end form is
easily procured. Stones of this description have been
thrown aside as useless, and thousands of them, I be-
lieve, might be picked out from the heaps piled about
in all directions, and be turned to good account even
by the rough process employed by Dr. Johnson, who
is realising half an ounce a day by intermittent
exertion.
Our Adelaide arrivals will find here, a vast and re-
munerative field for their labours. In fact, as the
above instance proves, gold digging
babyhood, and hence, probably, the employment of
cradles. is in its veriest
From one hole that turned me dizzy to look into,
about a nound and three quarters weight were taken
in two hours. Poor Joe Furby has been unsuccess-
ful. "We can't always expect to be lucky,' said
Joe ; "but then, d'ye see, I only come up o'Monday,
and we a'nt got more nor thirty ounces, and what's
in the tub ;" " and thil in the pannikin," added his
mate, showing about four cunees. " Yes," said Joe,
"that's all, and I thought to have had a tidy lot afore
this, only the water bust in, but better luck next
time." If there be more merit in bearing
good fortune than in submitting to bad, Joe
is a hero. "Hallo," shouted another, "you
come back again I" " Yes ; how are you get-
ting on ?" "My word, first-rate; three fights and
two commissioners, in four days, about this hole.
You ought to have been here." " Well, how did it
end?" " End ! why as usual—they told us to fight
it out, to be sure ; ar'nt we licensed ? I say, Mr.
Clarke, hasn't Armstrong been going it, and nobody
at all here; we were going to send it down to Harri-
son." Well, what is it ?" " Why, you see, the long
and the short of it is this—two fellows got quarrelling
and fighting, and one of them perhaps did give a
saucy answer to Master Armstrong, but he had no
business to hit him with a loaded whip, had he ? Well,
but he did; I see him hit the man on the temple, just
here, and on the front of his head, and on the back of
his head. The poor fellow dropped stupified, and
then d—n me, if the police didn't came and
carry him off, face down'ards, on two muskets.
It's true, every word of it—there's plenty here as
see it." Many who were present verified the
statement, and wished it to be made public. If this
be a plain statement of facts, then a gross outrage
has been committed by a Government officer, and I
should be wanting in my duty if I did not give pub-
licity to it, for public opinion is the only protection
that the gold digger has to appeal to. I had besides
these, a whole string of complaints submitted me, the
particulars of which I have not had time to inquire
into ; so, like his Excellency, I must plead the emer-
gency as a solid reason for not producing my budget,
and give, like his Excellency again, a statesmanlike
descriptive retrospect, in lieu of something better,
and as his Excellency can afford no information,
awaiting instructions from the Home Government re-
specting the future regulations of the gold fields, I,
too, must follow in the same footsteps, and be again,
like his Excellency, silent on the point which the
public is most interested in.
Golden Point lifts itself up into a huge reproach
of Government regulations, or rather irregularities.
To the eight feet square system, the abandonment of
Ballarat is in a great measure attributable, an aban-
donment that was more accelerated by the perver-
sion by the Government officers of the terms of the
licenses, which in themselves were bad enough, but
made worse by the purpose to which they were
applied. The diggers were huddled together, so that
the most might be made out of a given space, thus
creating constant bickerings about disputed claims,
to settle which the Government was impotent. Holes
were soon worked out where they were found pro-
fitable, or abandoned in other places, because there
was not sufficient space allowed by " irregularities"
to test their capabilities, and in proof of what I say
Golden Point now stands Queen's evidence against
the Government's fatuity, and blundering to grasp
all, and do nothing.
The Golden Point is not half worked; it is simply
" botched" according to license, and its water front-
age destroyed. It looks as though some withering
power had swept over it, and left huge graveyards
behind. It is frightful to contemplate the waste of
labour, and time, incurred through sheer carelessness,
and want of foresight on the part of the Government
authorities, who are prompt enough to issue regula-
tions, to raise a tax upon them, but very tardy after
that consummation to see the regulations carried into
effect. They can mulct the digger, the hut keeper,
the store, and tent keeper, with most indefatigable
alacrity, but they cannot afford to do what they pro-
mise, they never had the licensed allotments properly,
laid out, for that would not have suited their pur-
pose, to distress gold diggers, and exact double, treble,
quadruple, aye and quintuple, as much as they were
entitled to by the terms of the licenses. The com-
monest surveyor would put the whole lot of them to
shame, but then on the other hand it might be said in
their favour, that they have outrivalled Jeremy, not
Bentham, but Diddler.
The Creek is turned from its channel, rand over-
flows the plain ; its bed is excavated with good suc-
cess, but much heavy labour in sinking, and the con-
stant influx of water entails considerable extra labour,
which, however, the yield amply repays. There is
water here in abundance, which heavy storms are
daily increasing; and if the commonest precautions
were taken, there would be an ample supply for the
next six weeks. The Creek is flowing, the water-
holes filled, the feed is abundant, and the whole
country presents a delightful aspect.
In conclusion, I think that Ballarat has a future
more glorious than its retrospect ; and, to account for
its partial abandonment, I must come to the conclu-
sion that gold diggers, like swallows, migrate at cer-
tain seasons, and, like swallows, will return to where
"-they made their nests," provided that they are not
too much disturbed by spoliators. A. C.

RAILWAY TRAFFIC RETURNS.
LONDON, BRIGHRAILTON, AND SOUTH-COAST
WAY.
Traffic—Week ending April 10, 1852 ... £10,613 19 3
Traffie—Week ending April 12, 1851 ... 8,869 14 6
Total of the half-year, to this date, 1852 ... 121,370 5 3
Total of the half-year, to this date, 1851 ... 118,878 710
Total number of Passengers—Week ending
...£28,,11.,)5:76 10 8
April 10, 1852 ... 69,267
8 7
GPaososaesngers

Total ... £10,613 19 3
Total miles open, 1652, 1731,‘ ; ditto, 1851, 173
Loudon Terminus, April 12, 1852.
SOUTH-EASTERN RAILWAY.
Gross traffic receipts for passengers
X 13,67718 ending April 1),
9
a,l
852 goods, week
Ditto, April 12, 1851 ... ... 10,931 16

the weeltetr:
London Increase in a
5'
,18..2 .....
Terminus. April 12, 1852. ... £2,716 2 7
GLASGOW .....
OL TIP.
ending A 11) 18-'•
pasun pt.' I , .0..•
WESTERN RAILWAY. Traffic for
Passengers 03,865), goods and
Corres •
Parcels, horses and carriages.. £4_.236 19 5
Week in
April 12.
Glasgow, P"ding in last year 3,71.! 16 9

--
Napo-
The large equestrian statue of the Emperor •
leon, modelled by ht, ,
- ue Nieuwerkerke for the city of
Lyons, is to be cast in bronze at one operation, by Eckl".
and Durand, next week. ~_
the pedestal of this statue. is, for
the present, placed i
-11 the court-yard of the Invandest-.
Galloon:.