The Sun.
London, England, 1851-09-20 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON,

THE GOLD IN AUSTRALIA. I thurst, who is Crown Land Commissioner. He tells me
(From the Daily News.) I that lump of 51b. weight have been found. The fact
is undoubted, that men who will work, and know her.v
Our Singapore correspondent, after giving extracts
to go about it, can get one to two ounces of the scale-
alreadyfully confirmatory of, but adding little to the news
gold a day. I sey the scale-gold, as it is from the wash-
published as to the gold discoveries near ings, and the same as you must have seen from Cali-
Bathurst, says : lugs,
The lumps are only found!oeeasi
Since writing the above additional information was also. no doubt, as far as onally. There is
geological knowledge and expo-
received from Sydney, by the Oriental, arrived at rience may be worth anything, thadt anh immense districth
Batavia, not merely confirming the truth of the dis- of country contains they
ex-
coveries, but clearly proving that even rumour itself pc:tad to be found in creeks andanrivet rsatinit
had under-estimated the extent and value of the gold titles. A very clever geologist hero, who has for some
vmaraiyous eloca-region. The Government itself, satisfied from the Years past predicted the existence of the metal, and its
official report of Mr. Stutchbury, has moved in the being found easily whore there has been sufficient water
matter, and has put forth a claim to the precious to wash it out of the quartz, tells us that we may look
metal in the subjoined proclamation : thr it all along
the ridge
or cordillera from north to
Proclamation of his Excellency Sir Charles Augustus south, where this quartz formation exists.
Fitzroy, Captain-General and Commander-in-Chief of „..." With regard to the consequences, it is to be stated
the Territory of NP77 South Wales and its Dependen- that the mania is at present affecting all the industrial
cies, Vice-Admiral, &c,, &e.
pursuits of the colony. But its worst effects mast be on
the sheep and cattle, especially the former, for if the
As according to law all gold mine; and all gold in its
shepherds leave, a short time would be sufficient to
beds, within the territory of New South Wales, whether in
and upon the lands of the Queen, or on the lands of private destroy half the flocks of the colony. Still the work
individuals, hex Majesty's subjects, are and is the property is so heavy and so little suited to the taste of men who
have been crawling about after sheep for years, that
of tho Crown; and Government having received inferrea •
lion that there is gold in and upon the territory of the I think those who know what they would have to do,
county of Bathurst, and therefor© within the Government as is the case with such as are near the spot,
will not go away. In the distant districts the rumours
or territory aforesaid, and that a number of persons have
that are spread will, it is to ho feared, induce many to
commenced so %reeling, or intend to commence searching
leave their employers. Up to this time I have not lost
arid digging for gold on their own accouut, and for their
own use,
a shepherd, although the diggings are within three
withceat having obtained permission from her
miles of our station.
Majesty, or from any other authority for that purpose: " Moreover, from all parts, Melbourne, Adelaide, Van
Therefore I, Sir Charles Augustus Fitzroy, the afore- Moreover,
Land, New Zealand, ere., we shall have crowds
and declare on t helf of her M
said Captain-Giseneral, do hereby make p üblicl y known
of people, so that after all, perhaps, New South Wales
esajesty that
every person who shall take gold or metal from will not suffsr for want of labour, and if the stock-
-
holders
any property within the aforesaid territory,
do well."elm but weather the next few months they will
and any pers en finding gold in the uninhabited
"
parts of the said territory which has not. yet been TO ISIESSRS. IRVING, EBSWORTH, AND HOLMES.
"Sydney, May 28.
dispozed of, or ceded by the Crown, or shall search or
dig for gold in and upon such territory, will be punished "Every day brings more encouraging accounts of
t
uceordiog to law. And I further publicly make known the quantity of gold to be obtained. It is found in
piec es of one, two, three, and oun by this prociametion, and declare that upon receipt of
oce piece is reported to be eightfour pounpds,ds weight; which will
farther information upon this matter, such regulations
shall be made as may be considered just and decisive, be here to-morrow. Parties of eight and ten have
got from 1501. to 3001. daily. Others have obtained
and shall be published as soon as possible, whereby'
none after working a week. The labouring classes
the conditions will be - made known on which by
are fest leaving Sydney. Mechanics are getting from
the payment of a reasonable sum licenses shall be
103. to 13s. per day. 10,000 people will be at the mines
granted.
w
Given under my hand and seal, in the Government-
ithin a month. The excitement everywhere is very
g
house at Sydney, on the twenty-second day of May, is great. The prices of all goods and food suitable for
the diggers are rising very fast. Brandy has been
the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sold ar, Bi. 61, strong rum 53., and flour at 32/. per
fifty-one, and the fourteenth of the reign of her Majestn.
,
1 ton. Blankets nearly cent. per cent. Slop clothing,
CHARLES A. FITZRW.
flannels have advanced2s
boots, and
By order of his Excellency, B. D. Thornton.
and shovels double the price of last week. Refined
God save the Queen.
,salt, candles, tea, coifs, , and tobacco are fast ad-
Although this proclamation was issued on the pub- - The prices' that' ' a
lication of the discovery, the Government had taken :lax: ntun PortPhili Van arcjinhw being given will quite
t iemen'a Land, and New
no step to carry- out the licensing system, apparently Zealand markets, an!-31,we ly expect the places them-
sensible that the means at their command were in- selves, including Ceetereajae '
et, to be reduced. half their
sufficient to compel parties to abandon their rich and population. Sailors aro daily leaving their VC36i,q3.
selected spots. In the existing maddened state of The Lady Clark, nets full and ready for sea, has not a
public excitement, it would not be prudent to act on single hand on board, and parties 401. for
the applying want
the right the Crown has asserted, and Sir Charles the run home, to be paid in Sydney. faaticipate the
Fitzroy will probably content himself with the pub- same trouble as at California. We have also accounts
licetion of the Crown's right, until he receive instruct- iryin the Hunter River, that Mr. Boydell has found 131 b.
flans and the means of enforcing them from the home ot gold in that district. This statement requires
authorities.
further confirmation; but it is in the same description
asßathurst." • Accounts received from Sydney to June sth are of country
full of the gold discoveries. There were about 16,000
to 20,000 persons employed at the diggings, com-
prising all classes, from the ;polite professions to
handicraftsmen, runaway policemen, and seamen
from the shipping. Indeed, desertions from the
latter were so numerous end frequent, that vessels
were quitting for fear of similar desertions and the
destruction of shipping as occurred at California, in
consequence of whole crews flitting to the mines. At
Sydney labour had advanced fifty per cent., but up
to the above date accounts of the gold finding had not
reached the sister settlements. The gold range of the
Blue Mountains extended nearly 400 miles in length,
and about 40 miles wide.
On May 27, several gentlemen returned to Sydney
who left that city ten days previous, for the purpose
of ascertaining the exact nature of the recent gold
discoveries. Mr. Ilindson and Mr. A. C. Brown (of
the firm of Mart and Brown) conveyed to Sydney
gold valued at 1,0001. This parcel included two
lumps, one of which weighed forty-six ounces, and the
other about twenty, nearly pure gold, having but
small portions of quartz attached. The large specimen
and the smaller one together with several pieces of
about one ounce each, were found in one hole, by a
person named Henderson, residing in Bathurst. On
May 24 a Bathurst blacksmith found eleven pounds
weight in one hole. "Indeed," the Herald tritely
observes, " there is no doubt that the creek in which
the principal body of the miners is now employed
is richer than any place that has been worked
in California." From the same source we learn
that the large pieces above noticed are found in a
bed of slate, which forms a sort of chain across the
Summerhill-creek at the place where it is joined
by the Lewis Pond-creek. On this bar there is a
thin bed of boulder stones and pebbles, and on re-
moving them a bed of mud a few inches thick is seen,
which is cleared away and discovers the slate, which
is in vertical layers ; and in the interstices between
the layers of slate the Fold is found in lumps. The
earth on the banks of the creek is found to contain
scale-gold, which is obtained in the usual manner by
washing the soil in cradles, which allows the gold to
drop to the bottom as the soil is washed out—on the
wh de, perhaps, a more profitable employment than
seeking for lump gold. Every one competent from
scientific and local knowledge to form an opinion
expresses the belief that gold will he found in many
other districts besides Bathurst, their geological
features being the same. Indeed the Herald hints
that already gold has been discovered at Lamb's.
valley, near Maitland.

THE LATE POISONINGS at WRINGTON.
BRISTOL, SEPT. 18.—The adjourned inquest as to
the cause of the death of the unfortunate women
Sarah Ann Roberts and Caroline Birch was held yes.
terday at the Red Lion, Wrington, by Mr. R. Uphill,
coroner. The affair has created quite a sensation
throughont the surrounding district. Mr. H. J. Ad-
dington, of Langford Court, the Rev. J. Vane, and
Dr. Baker, magistrates, were present at the inquiry,
which lasted the whole day. A mass of evidence was
adduced, but the following analysis contains every-
thing relative to the point at issue :
The inquiry was first gone into touching the death
of Sarah Ann Roberts.
The first witness called was Elizabeth Ridler, who
deposed—l am a widow, living at Wrington. The
deceased Sarah Ann Roberts is my daughter. She
was a widow. On Friday the sth inst., I saw her
between half-past 7 and 8 o'clock in the yard at the
back of my house. She complained to me that she
had been sick ; this was the evening. I said, " Sick,
Sarah ?" and she said "Yes, but lam better." She
was very commonly sick, and therefore I did not
think much of it. She went away, and I
was called afterwards to go to her a little
before eleven o'clock. She was then at my son's
house. I found her very sick and ill. I asked if
she had been given anything to take, and they said
she had had some gin. I sent to Mr. Chadwick, who
ordered his dispenser to attend, which he did, with a
mixture—a spoonful to be taken at a time. Mr.
Chadwick saw her at seven the next morning. He
sent her medicine and fetched Mr. Coates to
her. I knew she was in the familyway. The de-
ceased told me she had taken something to pro-
cure abortion. I first knew deceased was in the
family way six weeks ago, and she was then six
weeks gone. A month ago my daughter-in-law found
some herbs in the pocket of the deceased which smelt
very nasty. The deceased said it was a shrub that,
if a- woman took, she would miscarry. She said she
got it from a lady's garden, and that Fanny Marsh
told her of it. After she gathered the herb she took it
to ,Fanny Marsh to it it was the right thing, and
she said it3was. She said John .Bonn had promised
her marriage. He had cohabited with her. Deceased
said she had boiled the herb in a saucepan.
Amelia Ridler deposed to finding the herb in the
pocket of the deceased. The day the deceased was
taken ill Caroline Birch was with her. The deceased
that day complained of being very poorly in her head.
'The Coroner—Had you any conversation with
Sarah Roberts about the herb you found ? Witness
—I had not ; she was not aware that I knew she was
in the familyway.
Henry Thomas deposed that the deceased had said
Fanny Marsh told her in the singing gallery that she
never would have a live child if she took some stuff to
prevent it.
By a juror—James Ashley told him that they used
to hand the stuff about to one another in the church
in the singing gallery.
Mr. P. J. Chadwick deposed to having visited the
deceased in her illness, and prescribed for her. He
described her symptoms. On the post mortem ex-
amination he found the external surface of the body
much discoloured, and the limbs not as rigid as
usual. The abdomen was much distended. On
opening the body the lungs and heart were healthy,
except that they were much congested ; the blood in
the heart and veins was very fluid. The peritoneum
was very much congested. The whole of the bowels
and the alimentary canal were much congested. The
bladder was healthy, and the womb and depen-
dencies contained a foetus of ten or twelve weeks old.
He had no doubt the deceased died from taking some
vegetable poison.
Mr. Coates corroborated this evidence, and added
that in searching the apartment of the deceased he
found five quart bottles, three quite full of a light-
coloured liquid. It was a vegetable infusion they
contained. The pills were made of flour, broken
leaves of horehound, and ground ivy.
Mr. Chadwick said, the deceased had admitted to
him having taken herbs to procure abortion.
The CORONER having summed up the jury returned
a verdict of Felo de se against the deceased,Sarah Ann
Roberts.
The jury then entered on the inquiry as to the
cause of death of Caroline Birch. Similar evidence
to the foregoing was adduced.
Emmanuel Ridley deposed that the deceased Birch,
before she died, said she hoped this would be a warn-
ing to all young people, that Sarah (the deceased
Roberts) drank a cupful and ske drank a cupful.
Sarah Roberts told her, if it did not do her any good
it would not do her any harm.
The jury, as in the former instance, returned a
verdict of Feb de se.

Consequent on these discoveries the prices of all
articles of consumption had advanced to nn unpre-
cedented height, among which we may enumerate
flour from 201. to 301. per ton, and difficult to be
procured at the latter exorbitant rate ; wheat, from
4s. 6d. to 103. per bushel ; butchers' meat, from 2f d.
to Bd. per lb., and other articles in proportion. What
will be the result of these changes it is scarcely difficult
to conjecture : certain it is the country will be popu-
lated. From the neighbouring colonies there will be
an immediate access of those hands, and within a few
months thousands will be hurrying from their father-
land ; so that, on a moderate estimate, the year 1851
and 1852 will add at least one hundred thousand per-
sona to the population of New South Wales. One
letter says :
" I reached Bathurst on Saturday, and found the gold
mania still more violent than in Sydney, and much in-
creased by the arrival of a mau with a piece of gold
3} lbs. weight, which he turned up, as he says, like a
root of potatoes. It had such an effect upon him that
he commenced filling his pockets with stones, thinking
it all gold, and to-day even has not recovered so far as
to be able to cat. It is sealed up, and as his partners
have made him swear not to open the parcel until they
aro all present, I have not seen it, but there is no doubt
of its being there."
With the view of checking desertion for the mines
the Government Gazette, May 27, contains a notifica-
tion from the Governor, directing that any person, of
whatever grade, employed in the public service, who
shall resign his post during the existing emergency
will be noted as ineligible to serve again, and will cer-
tainly not be re-appointed. But, notwithstanding this
notification, the desertions continued, thinning every
department, and leaving the police force far too weak
for its duties.

FIRE AT THE EASTERN COUNTIES
F F IRAIL
CI WA, ORT.
The firemen were required until late in the day
before they could get the ruins perfectly cooled. A
more minute examination was then made with a view
of testing the solidity of the three injured arches; the
result of which proved that they had not been da-
maged to that extent as to require their being pulled
down, and it is the opinion of Mr. Ashcroft, that they
can be recased: at a comparatively trifling expense,
and without at all interfering with the regular traffic
of the line. At an early hour in the morning a num-
ber of men were set to work to restore that portion of
the wires belonging to the electric telegraph that
were melted, and during the day the breach was re.
paired, and that important means of communication
was again opened for the accommodation of the public.
Subjoined is a copy of the official report of the da-
mage :
" Thursday, Sept. 18, 1851.—A fire broke out this
morning at a quarter past three, A.m., on the pre-
' mises of Mr.F. Robinson, timber merchant, in North-
street, Bethnal-green. Landlords of premises the
Eastern Counties Railway Company. The stock in
trade in open yards and under arches Nos. 76, 77,
and 78 of the railway, all but destroyed. Insured in
the Sun-office ; cause of fire unknown. Engines
present :—five of A, three of B, one of D, one of the
parish, and that of the West of England Company.
" The Eastern Counties Railway Company, arches
No. 76, 77, and 78, together with the walls and coping
~tones, previously damaged by fire. Insurance un-
known at present.
" No. 1. North-street—G. Sherwin, boershop-
keeper. Back premises used as skittle•ground, con-
siderably damaged by fire and breakage. Uninsured.
" No. 7, North-street—Mr. Westerlec, green-
Frocer. Front of premises damaged by fire. Not
insured

" No. 11, North-street—J. Thurlow, bedstead-
(raker. Side front considerably damaged by' fire.
" Nos. 12 and 13, let out in tenements. Fronts
seriously scorched.
" Nos. 1,2,
and 3, London-street, let out in tene-
ments. Back of premises damaged by fire, and con-
tents by removal, &c.,,