The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-29 00:00:00

NE W

LES.

( From a Correspondent of the Times.)

SYDNEY, OCT. 12.
During the last month this colony has been wit,-
' ness t'i one of those extraordinary instances of
popuhr frenzy which serve to show how little men
are g aided by reason, and how much by impulse.
The recent rush of miners from California to
Fraser's River, has been more than paralleled by a
similar rush of Australian diggers to a point on the
north-east coast of this continent. The locality
which has thus become suddenly populous and
famous is situated on the banks of the Fitzroy
River, and just about the latitude of the tropics.
It is not beyond the confines of pastoral settlement.
but it is on their extreme verge. For many years
past there has been a small settlement at Fort
Curtis, where the town of Gladstone was laid out
by the Government. A convict station was once
formed :there, but was soon abandoned, and the
pert has had no other trade than what arose from
supplying the few sheep and cattle stations in its
rear. Gold, however, was found by a man named
Chapple, at a spot called Canoona, about seven
miles north of the Fitzroy River. The news soon
spread. Hutkeepers, shepherds, and the few
labourers employed in the neighbourhood were soon
collected on the spot. Vague reports of their won-
derful success were circulated, and soon reached
Sydney. Coasting vessels, and then steamers, and
then large clipper ships were laid on for the new
Eldorado, and fitted up with extraordinary ra-
pidity. The excitement that prevailed was per-
fectly unaccountable. It was in vain that the
Herald, the only daily journal Sydney now pos-
sesses, entreated the infatuat ed people to exercise a
little patience, and pointed out that the gold
actually found had been a mere trifle. Rumours
ran about town that private letters had been re-
ceived giving the most glowing accounts of the
richness of the new diggings, yet none of these
letters were obtainable for publication. No per-
suasions, no warnings could stay the madness.
Men were throwing up their situations in all
directions, and in many cases even employers, de-
serted by their workmen, were following them to
the goldfields. The infection reached the neigh.
bourin° colonies. From all the goldfields in Vic-
toria diggers poured down by hundreds to take
their passage to the Fitzroy. The first steamer
that returned brought only 161 ounces, but the
• crowds of adventurers refused to be disheartened,
and all sorts of reasons were invented to account for
a larger quantity of gold not having come down.
The exodus, however, has received a most decided
check within the last few days. Intelligence has
come down that the spot on which the gold was
first found Was an alluvial flat of limited area, con,
taining at the most not more than 70 acres; that
though it contained gold in considerable quantities,
and so near the surface as to be easily obtained, it
was worked out, and no new diggings had been
opened; that scores of the adventurers, disappointed
in their expectations, were flinging away their
picks and shovels and rushing on board the vessels
in the river, insisting on being carried back. So
great was the excitement that the Baratah steamer,
which has just returned, has brought back the
greater part of her cargo, the agents being deterred
from landing it, from a fear that it would be vio-
lently seized by the exasperated diggers. Hun-
dreds are still on their way thither, not knowing
of the reaction that has set in, and if when they
arrive no new auriferous locality shall have been
discovered the confusion will be frightful. The
Government has despatched a small police force to
the spot, and a hospital for the use of the sick.
There are no possible public works which it would
be worth while to carry out in so remote a spot, so
that there is nothing for the unsuccessful diggers
to do but to come back. Many of them have not
money to do this, though return passages are offered
by the ships at halt-price. To raise the money to get
tp the diggings numbers pawned or sacrificed their
little property, and have rendered themselves per-
fectly destitute by their folly. The Government has
been appealed to to step in and mitigate the misery
that must ensue, yet it is not easy to see what the
Government can do without overstepping its legi-
timate province. The whole affair is rendered still
more perplexing by the fact that, notwithstanding
the confusion and excitement that exists, there are
many who still persist in saying that the country
is highly auriferous, that a little time will prove
it so, and that those who are returning are chicken-
'hearted adventurers who ought to have stopped at
home. In spite of the return-tide of emigration
from the Fitzroy, practical diggers are still setting
out with perfect confidence of success. It is cer-
tainly all in favour of their views that the locality
is contiguous to a district pointed out by Sir R.
Murchison as likely to contain gold ; and that the
Rev. W. B. Clarke, who knows as much of the
geology of New South Wales as any man living,
years ago pointed it out as a place where gold
would be found, and adheres to his opinion still. It
is not at all likely either that gold should be found
in considerable quantities in one small valley, and
yet exist nowhere else in the neighbourhood. The
probabilities are, therefore, that a permanent gold-
field will be opened up somewhere in this district,
though there may be no discoveries of such extra-
ordinary richness as to justify the frantic rush that
has taken place.
The facility with which the new goldfield could
be reached accounts in some degree for the eager-
ness with which people have rushed there. Had it
been 100 or 200 miles inland the difficulties of the
journey would have deterred all but a few from
venturing till definite information was gained. But
the Fitzroy River is navigable for small vessels up
to a place called Rockhampton, which is only 27
miles from the spot where the gold was found,
while for small boats the river was navigable to
within seven miles of the diggings. Under these
circumstances men rushed off without compunction,
knowing that they could come back again easily
if the goldfields should prove a failure.
SYDNEY, OCT. 15.
The Royal mail steamer Emen, with the August
mails, which she brings in her proper turn, and the
July mails, which she received from the disabled
Australasian before leaving Ceylon, arrived here
on the evening of the 13th inst. The Emeu left
Suez Aug. 27, and Galle Sept. 12. During her
whop service she has been distinguished for per-
forming the passage with greater regularity than
any other vessel on the line.
'fhe•strong feeling of annoyance which pervades
this community at the repeated irregularities in
the English postal service has been stimulated
afresh by the accounts just received of the perverse
discouragements offered by the Home Government
to opening communication via the Isthmus of
Panama. The letter of Mr. J. L. Montefiore, pub-
lished in your journal in July last, does not in the
least overstate the general favour in which the
Pacific route is held by the colonists of New South
Wales and New Zealand, while there is no oppo-
sition to it manifested by the Southern colonies,
whose separate interests would be, nevertheless,
served by the Suez line. The fact is that all parties
have suffered so much disappointment from the
Eastern postal undertakings that the experiment
of opening the Western communication would be
hailed with universal expectation in this hemi-
sphere. With us in particular matters have assumed
a definiteness and unanimity-that are sure to pre-
vail within a moderately short period. On the
6th August Mr. Parkes moved in the Legislative
Assembly a series of resolutions affirming, 1. That
steam communication via India had produced gene-
ral dissatisfaction ; 2. That any new arrangemen,
for steam communication by that route would be in
no important respect beneficial to New South Wales

except as a mairservice, to which this colony must
always be the last point of arrival; 3. That in the
present state of the question it is highly necessary
that some fitsl—Srelis should be taken, and that
New South Wales should insist upon having
the Panama route ; 4. That in all probability,
steam communication by this route would in-
duce a large amount of spontaneous immigration
from the Anglo-American communities, as
well as from Europe ; 3. That, in securing an ob-
jest so important to New South Wales, the question
of cost is not the first for consideration ; 6. That
this colony requires to be consulted before any fresh
arrangement is entered into by the Imperial Govern-
ment. These resolutions, which will reach England
by the mail overdue in London at the time I am
writing, were supported by all sections of the House,
and were carried by 27 to 9 votes. In consequence
the Government introduced a Bill to enable them
to enter into a contract with and subsidise, to the
extent of £50,000 per annum, any company that
will insure the course of post via Panama within
120 days ; and the Bill, having passed the Assem-
bly without division, will be road a third time in
the Council this afternoon. This subsidy, it will be
borne in mind, is from New South Wales
alone.
The general question has been taken up with
equal earnestness in Victoria, and the very rational
understanding has been arrived at that the colonies
must have a fortnightly communication alternately
via Suez and Panama, Victoria taking in hand the
Eastern, and New South Wales being chiefly respon-
siNle for the Western line. By this grand arrange-
ment both the mother country and her Australian
possessions will have a connected and complete
circle of steam communication for postal :purposes
and for passengers, and will be enabled to calculate
.the day and almost hour of arrival at any point
round the world.

An uncomfortable suspicion has latterly forced
itself upon us in Australia, in respect to this ques-
tion of steam communication, that the Home Go-
vernment has a disposition to sacrifice us to the
furtherance of her Indian interests ; but it is to be
hoped that the: cordial concurrence of the British