The Sun.
London, England, 1857-02-10 00:00:00

ROCKY RIVER.

The diggings are paying as well-as usual to par-
ties who attend to their work, and have not allowed
themselves to be influenced by the mania (I can
call it by no better name) that now so generally
pervades the miners. A rumour gets into circula-
tion, and rumours aro very easily set afloat by in-
terested persons—no inquiry is made as to their
truth—they pass current—the natural effect of
which is to make men restless and unsettled—di-
vert them from their work—and encourage the
more fanciful one of castle-building in the air, the
foundations of which they generally find to be ra-
ther ephemeral. Many of these structures have al-
ready tottered, and the projectors returned to their
old work of digging at this place, not finding castle-
building at all a paying concern in the long run.
In my last I mentioned to you what my conviction
was of the extent of this gold field, and strange it
is that where these are so manydiggers as there are
here at present, so very few of them appear to be
at all conversant with the locality, except in the im-
mediate vicinity of where they are at work. It
assuredly, in the long run, appear that the most
valuable part of the Rocky River gold field has
not thus far been tried, or, if tried, a sufficient
chance has not been afforded it of developing its
resources.

The establishment of branch banks, both at Ar-
midale and this place, has had the effect of render-
ing the price of gold more stationary than hereto-
fere ; 725. may be quoted as the present price, with
abundance of buyers, and abundance of money.
The licenses issued for the present month exceed
2000—the gross population exceeding 3,500 ; but
there is every prospect of a considerable addition
being made within the next two months, as there is
every reason to believe that the straggling parties
now employed in the neighbourhood of - Armidale,
Oban, Mount Mitchell, &c., will have returned to.
these diggings before the expiration of the time men-
tioned above. Not but they might do very well
in the localities where they are at present at work,
provided they bad but sufficient means and perse-
verance—neither of these do they generally appear
to possess, the effect of which is to disseminwe an
unfavourable report, where parties with capital and
perseverance would have been handsomely re-
warded. Time will prove that my view of the
Rocky River gold field is correct, and that the fur-
ther it is extended the brighter will the prospects
become.

Provisions are very abundant. Beef, wholesale,
24d. per lb., 3id. per joint ; vegetables in abun-
dance. Although beef and mutton are at present
scarce in Armidale, we are most abundantly sup.
plied, thanks to competition.

. -
In' reference to the claim of Messrs. Buchanan
and Clyde, it has turned out rather fortunate for
them that they were prohibited working it, as
among the various shafts that have been sunk on
the disputed territory, none have paid. How fre-
quently circumstances when they occur that are
deemed misfortunes ultimately turn out real bene-
fitS. Such has been the case with Messrs. Buchanan
and Clyde's claim.
Should the Grafton line to Armidale be rendered
passable, and a trifling expense would effect it, it
will in a great measure do away with the Maitland
traffic to Armidale and the Rocky River. loi
Maitland traders ought to have, come forward and
subscribed liberally for the purpose
the road between Armidale andM
Maitland.
in
business they have been doing
for some time.
this district would fully warrant
most liberal
iotflanur The
subscription on their parts ; and if
once diverted to the Grafton line, if the trade be
it will be a difli-
cult matter to get it back again. Still lam of
opinion that were one-half
of the teams laid on the
Grafton line that now travel by that of Maitland,
in less than six months the Grafton line would be
quite impassable.—Maitland Mercury.

FIVEredMBURIED IN A TIINNEL:—We have been
a mercantilefirm with the following
extract of a
favoured
letter, dated Oct. 30 :—" I have to
fMEN
inform you of a most melancholy affair which hap-
pened here yesterday evening. Five men are
buried in the bowels of the earth, and there was
very little hopes of finding their bodies when I was
on the ground at 7 o'clock this morning. The par-
ticulars, as far as I could learn, are as follows :
They area party of Scotchmen, working in a place
called Sydney Flat, in continuation of Mount
Jones ; their shaft is 60 feet at the bottom. Into
this shaft tunnels are driven in different directions,
some say 200 feet in length. At 2 p.m. yesterday
these five men went into the shaft to work • one of
the party, the sixth, remained on the top. When the
post arrived about four o'clock p.m., he went to the
post-office ; on his return he went to the shaft
_ly
to
see if his comrades wanted anything ; he repeated
Shouted and could find no answer. On being lowereddown the shaft he found that immense
quantities of