The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-17 00:00:00

Q UEENSL AND GOLDFIELDS

A few days after the Gumpie Creek goldfield was pro,
claimed a commissioner was appointed, who on the 28th
Oct. reported as follows c--" The country being worked
consists of a low greenstone ridge, the surface of which
is strewn with loose stones and the top covered with
quartz, pebbles, and boulders, containing particles of gold.
The ridge is intersected with a number of small, shallow,
rocky, water-channels, extending from near the top and
feeding the main channel running round the base.
It is in these small channels that the bulk of the
gold has been obtained hitherto, the miners having con.
fined their operations simply to what is termed by them
gully-raking,' by which is understood laying bare the bed
rock, picking out the coarserpieces of gold found in the
ddbris occupying the crevices, and stacking the d6bris
and surface earth on one side for puddling and cradling,
as soon as a sufficiency of water can be obtained for the
purpose. From one of these small water channels three
men obtained 180 ounces of coarse gold, including a
nugget of 41b. weight ; there are others whose earnings
vary from £1 to 10s. per diem, while many are not making
more than one-half the lattersum, and several nothing at all,
chiefly *wing to the want of rain, which, I am happy to
be able to state, is now coming down steadily. The d6bris
referred to was tried, and yielded six ounces to the load.
Several new localities have been tried, and in every in-
stance with satisfactory results. The country for a dis•
tance of five miles from this towards Maryborough, on both
sides of the road, I feel convinced, will prove auri-
ferous. It is admitted by all who are engaged in pro•
specting that the gold is distributed over a very consi-
derable area, and -requires the persevering efforts of
experienced men to develope it properly. I estimate the
number of persons on the diggings (all males) at 350.
Good order prevails throughout. Provisions are good,
plentiful, and reasonable in price. The present road from
Maryborough to the diggings is exceedingly good for an
ordinary bush track." On the 9th of November the com-
missioner made a further report, in which he says : " The
number of persons now on the diggings and dispersed
among the gullies and creeks in the immediate neighbour-
hood I estimate at fully 1,600 ; 700 of these form a central
population, the remainder being principally, if not wholly,
engaged in developing, by prospecting, the extent of
country over which gold is distributed in this part of
the district. An estimate may be formed of its
richness from the fact that the discoverer estimates
the quantity of gold in about 801 b. weight of rock at ten
ounces. The gold thus obtained was free from all foreign
substances. The general opinion obtaining among the
miners of experience is that the country for miles in every
'Erection is auriferous : and should the numerous quartz
reefs occurring on the Glastonbury and Widgee Creeks
prove gold-bearing (samples of these, exhibiting them-
selves in the Kilkivan country, having been assayed at the
Sydney mint, and found to contain gold, silver, and
copper in payable quantities), the area represented by the
reeks watering that portion of this district will represent
• goldfield of certainly not less than 100 square miles."

The working men of Colchester have formed a Liberal
Association fur the protection of their political interests.
It has just been inaugurated, Mr. Edmond Beales assist-,
'ng at the ceremony. The borough is now rcpresented by
Nfr. Uurdon Rebow, a Liberal, and Mr. E. K. Karslake,
Q. C., a Conservatiev.

The Birmingham Post states that arrangements have
been made by the Liberal Association and the Reform
League for a public meeting in the Town Hall, on the
owning of Tuesday, February 4, at which Mr. Bright and
Ur. Dixon, the borough members, will address their con
,tituents. As the subject of Ireland is just now invested
with peculiar importance, it is not improbable that Mr.
Drigh%inaY dcsl especially with the Irish question in his
address;