The Sun.
London, England, 1853-01-12 00:00:00

carats and grains ; the value of the gold at the
standard price of 31. 17s. 9d. per oz., can thus be
accurately ascertained. A further quantity of gold
would also have been shipped at Adelaide but for
the interprosition of the same difficulty in reference
to the insurance which was experienced in Mel-
bourne. The total quantity of gold on board the ship
in freight is 230,000 oz., which, exclusive 'of large
quantities suspected to be in possession of passen-
gers, gives a total value of about one million. ster-
ling. It is expected that the Sydney—the next
boat due from Australia—will bring a much larger
uucoswonnhli ndoi boarden:hry hActha
sh n laetrbhogeinsgsitihipe, mthaenyfisnpelnsetdid
is
a specimensmagnifice of gold
magnificent
tinass
of pure ore, weighing 340 oz., christened in the
charge
nof "Royalforwarded
th Victoriae Admiralty
by gNuggeten
augeen
in eto,nf
inAs nays
present
or art
eol r
sea
to her Majesty the Queen.
" This splendid specimen of virgin gold lot
found at the Bendigo diggings in the beginning of
September, and was forwarded to Melbourne for
sale by a person who is said to have purchased it
of the lucky finder for 1,1001. It was advertised
for sale by auction, but, before the day of sale, Was
sold privately to a gentleman connected with the
local government for the sum of 1,5001.
"At Adelaide, a detachment of police kept
watch night and day, to prevent desertion, and on
the 4th of October the vessel sailed for Albany,
King George's Sound. She arrived here in seven
days, having had a continuation of westerly gales
all the way, with a heavy head swell. At AlbanYf
a most annoying detention of seven days and a, half
took place, and the delay thus caused, and the fur-
ther loss of time arising from the insufficient supply
of coals at this port completely destroyed the
prospects of the voyage, and led to the protrac-
tion of the passage to the length which it subsea
quently reached.
"There were upwards of 1,000 tons of coal be-
longing to the company at this port, one-half being
on board a ship in the harbour, and the other half
in a depot on shore ; but notwithstanding this
ample supply was on the spot, it was difficult to
coal the steamer.
" The whole of the crew of the receiving,,sbiPt
who should have been engaged 'in coaling the
steamer, were in prison for insubordination, having
misbehaved in order to get punished, and so escape
from their ship to the diggings. The steamer's
crew were therefore compelled to discharge the coal
from the receiving ship, and stow it ; and as the
Australian was short-handed it was but slow work.
Shore labour could not be procured, and the pro-
gress of the coaling was stopped for two days by a
gale from the N.W. Under these circumstances
the Australian left King George's Sound. with a
short supply of coal, and after rounding Cape Lee-
win, and experiencing head winds for some days,
she lost the wind altogether, and experienced
long succession of calm weather, which, coupled
;
with the short supply of coal, and the prevalence
foul winds after leaving Albany, completely broke
down the voyage. The S.E. trades generally blo
with great regularity and considerable force betwee,
Australia and Africa, within a few degrees of t 7
tropics, but on this occasion they altogether faileft
and a long succession of calms so far exhausted tnt.,ls
stock of coal, that after proceeding northvi-DT:
nearly to the latitude of Mauritius in search of the
trade winds, it was considered advisable to bear uP
for that island for a supply of fuel. The connecting
rod of one of the engines having broken, this step
was unavoidable.
" The Australian arrived at Mauritius on the
11th, and sailed on the 13th November ; arrive
at the Cape 26th November, sailed Ist December'
,
" The sensation created at these ports by tot'
arrival of a ship so richly freighted was very grOs_2
and the displays of samples of gold and specirae
nuggets by the passengers increased the elicit°'
ment.
" At Albany the few available labourers werel
engrossed in fishing, oystering, and other tri;
pursuits, productive of lavish remuneration tr_ia
the passengers, that no assistance in coaling eouL
be procured at any price. Cab hire, boat far 7
and hotel charges rose wherever the vessel touch
N
and the most extravagant reports as to the
We
of those on board led to a rise in price of at"'
article that was asked for.
" The Australian is commanded by CaPtat.
Hoseason, R.N. Her mails are in charge of Cap
E. Bernard ; they are very numerous, • arid 7.,„tit
landed at Plymouth at noon on Tuesday, au'd,
half-an-hour after her arrival in the Soul e
Amongst the large number of passengers who
home in the Australian are many fortunate L'44.
gers."

THE AUSTRALIAN DIGGINGS.
From the Australian papers forwarded tO us "-7
the Australian, we extract the following, which
may be interesting to our readers :
THE DIGGINGS.
The Special Correspondent of the South Austrat
lian Register writes as follows with reference tO
the Echunga, diggings :
THURSDAY, SEPT. 30, 1852.

The opinions here are still various as to the pro"
fitable nature of the diggings. Some parties and
paying expenses and a little over, while others wl3°
are less energetic, perhaps, grumble at their lac''
of remuneration. The best indication of the pre-
vailing sentiment after all is the taking up of
cences, the number of which was, yesterday, ers
tended to 310 ; and there are some 30 to 40 per,
more who intend taking licences to-morrow, 10;
the first of the month. The opinion is that 10.1
are about 400 persons here at present, and that
out of every six are not only paying expenss,

earning very good wages. -
14f.
In going over the diggings yesterday, a eo
Jaques informed me that he obtained Or 0
ounces of the precious metal a few mornings the
before breakfast. I also saw Mr. Gouch, I_o
landlord of the Star Inn, who appeared to lavie
a very fair undertaking, and said he was ilk°
to be fairly remunerated. tol3
A party, who declined giving his name, also big
me that he succeeded with the assistance of at
mate, in getting 31bs. 4oz. in ten days ; and air
he intended coming to Adelaide shortly, and to
posing of his gold. Feeling a great disposition 4
try my own luck, I asked a German who was to
ting smoking his pipe, if he would allow
wash a panful of earth from his heap, whiell
very willingly consented to, and from one spao.f;cil
I succeeded in getting about' a pennyweight, Wu'
I send you for inspection.
The greater portion of the diggers seem disre,secti
to tell visitors how they are getting on, and 10,74
allow strangers to watch them as they are vrasui-or
out their cradle, and nearly all that I had all A to
portunity of conversing with yesterday intenclo-`O,
remain, feeling satisfied that when they were
...,ell
abled to dig deep holes, that they would be -‘0,3
paid for their exertions. Messrs. Dunn and erg
have two stores, where provisions are sold at itb,
moderate prices, and I also noticed a bla,cksra_ot
who appeared to be doing well. One very Poo
drawback to the success of the diggings being 11!.4.
fully developed is still the impracticability of.
net
ing deep holes. The majority that I saw did !'of
in the flat exceed six feet, although at the edg'
the hill deeper holes had been dug. inde'
Mr. Chapman and party appear to be most ,
fatigable in their exertions in sinking one rof
titular hole, which they have done to the deptil to
;
70 feet. They have, however, been compellecl4,
7 in consequence of foul
are now sinking
other n 064 '
nshteaoavpii.n,thganegidor,
tipirnboe.cleieeTvdihenel.th success.
SATURDAY, OM 2.
There are now at least 400 persons on the ground,and hill
which is not confined to the original gully
side, but has been extended by prospectors. for a
every direction. The
numbercons considerable abof le
tents
ntadistanceab
ouitna hundred, some of which
form a complete little suburban village upon
Wattle Flat, half a mile from Chapman's
and about 0'
is becoming more,
the dirfreemottiohne
loafttetrh. f
The appearance o everything e Onkaparinga,
permanent. The tents are, in many instances, (4
a substantial kind ; there are several sod and ballf
huts some of the diggers have their teams with
them; the claims are carefully marked out and pre'
served ;the holes are deeper,
an,.a
many are under
mined and timbered ; and the adventurers axe, .I°`
the most part, satisfied with what they are &lug,:
One with whom I spoke to-day said, " There is n,,
doubt that this is now established as a gold-fieh" t
Another, an old Bendigo man, said, "There are Ot
such prizes here- as there are on the other side, bbilig
there are fewer blanks ; no one who sticks to
work need do badly ; he may make good waget
something to lay by." What struck me par„B"ti;
larly was, and it confirms the opinions I have J-
quoted, that therenothing like excite le/i
was „iv,
among the diggers. They were working steaw;Tlig
and nearly every man I spoke to said he was dedj"
" tolerably," " very well," or " very well
I noticed also, that while none were highly 013"4.-vio
none were materially depressed. I met with "iijg
who had been absolutely unsuccessful, one
sunk II and the other 15 holes, without fil't`t-eir
any gold worth mentioning, but both were ue,oo
rained to go on, saying they were sure to comoillria
it in time, as they saw plenty around them e-°
well. r ale/
This afternoon, a man washing with a e-„augli
found severalnuggets which would notpass 0:05
the hopper. This soon got wind, and there ' rrel
sudden rush to the place, causing a little (rispei
about the " claims, and some threats of au 'ln -oot,
to the Commissioner ; but the proverbial here
rbial
humour of the diggers prevailed, and they
soon at work again as busily as ever.
of the expired, lioeuceo b.aye beeftem°