"black, white, and grey,"
with boots of every character and sometimes no boots at all, the figures of the diggers form delightful groupings and exquisite contrasts; whilst, on the opposite bank of the river, the Government camp is just perceptible, with an occasional trooper or moustached official to give an air of life to the locality. Viewed nearer, however, all the charm is dispelled: the houses are many of them mere diggers' makeshifts; the roofs look anything but weatherproof, and the artistically grouped shirts as if they would be the better tor washing. The churches will nevertheless stand the test of closer inspection. They are neat edifices of wood, surrounded by well kept reserves. There are three places of public worship -- an Episcopalian, a Wesleyan, and a Roman Catholic -- each having a resident minister attached to it. The reserve around the Episcopalian Church has been converted into a burial ground, and already some fifty or sixty graves have been sank on it. Some objection has been urged against having the place of interment so nearly in the centre of the town, and I was informed that a reserve for a general cemetery was to be made. There are two schools under the Denominational Board -- an Episcopalian and a Roman Catholic; the former has an average attendance of about 80 scholars, and the latter of about 40. An attempt was also about to be made to get a National School established on the Spring Creek, where it is computed there ore at least 150 children of an age fit to receive scholastic instruction. For the whole of the Upper Turon district, 93 public-house licenses have been issued, the greater part of which are for inns on the Turon itself. These houses, throughout the gold-fields, provide the only recreation or relaxation for the digger. Billiards, bagatelle, bowling alleys, skittle grounds, balls, concerts, and sometimes more questionable inducements, are held out as temptations to the miner, who, utterly deprived of every rational amusement, is driven to the use, and too often to the abuse, of such as chance or the enterprise of the publican presents to him. Considering the amount of population, the police records tell well for the orderly character and good conduct of the people; a remark that applies very strongly to the whole of the diggings. The average number of cases disposed of by the Police Bench is about fifteen per month, particular causes, however, acting to produce a larger number of cases at particular times. Thus, in January last, the cases disposed of were 16; in February, 7; whilst in March they took a sudden start up to 23. In April they were 19; and in May, 9. A new rush but too often causes disputes, quarrels, and ultimately assaults, and the occupation of new ground has always brought on unusual number of cases before the Police Court. The number of committals for trial this year to the end of May last was only 8; in January, 5; in February, 0; In March, 3; in April, 1; and in May, 1. A very great deal of ground has been worked upon the Turon, though as yet the work has been mainly confined to the banks of the river itself, or the flats and points at its numerous turns and bends. The run of gold has been very remarkable; in some instances going off from a point across the bed of the stream, and then taking its course at some distance up the face of what now to all appearance is a precipitous hill, but which at some former period must have been the bed of a torrent. All the flats and points that have been worked have been gone over very carefully, being tunnelled and caved in every part most completely, right down to the rock. Some of the creeks and gullies have also been sunk upon, though very many of these yet remain, to he tried. Spring Creek is an instance of how long a valuable spot may remain untouched. A careless, or perhaps an unfortunate prospect, in the first instance, may close a locality to the digger, for whenever it is afterwards uncovered, the reply is that Tom or Dick had prospected it, and got nothing. Then it is only when some party, more energetic and persevering than their fellows, can make up their minds to go down upon it, that the real riches of the place become apparent, and the miners wonder that they have so long left it intact. Spring Creek was opened about the middle of May last, by the enterprise of Mr. Kearney, a publican on the Turon, who very nobly determined at his own cost, to give, what he deemed a promising spot, a fair trial. The result has exceeded his expectations. His own party have averaged £10 a week per man during the time they have been at work; and those parties who have managed to fall upon the gutter, or run of gold, have netted from £10 to £25 per man per week. There were about 120 men at work here on my visit; all of whom were doing well, none making less than £5 a week. The sinking averaged about twenty feet, through a good sound, soil of reddish gravel, the gold being distributed rather evenly through a sandy drift, lying on the bed rock. In honor of the first opener of the ground, the spot now being worked has been named Kearney's Flat. It is situated hardly a mile above the junction of the creek with the Turon. In addition to the flats, points, and gullies, all of which have paid good wages, something has been done towards working the bed of the river. Races have been cut, dams constructed, and water-wheels erected in seven or eight places. None of the parties thus engaged had obtained any results from their labour at the time I visited this place; the idea being a comparatively new one to this locality. The river, however, was very low, so much so that all the wheels at work were obliged to be undershot wheels, from the impossibility of obtaining sufficient height of fall for over-shot wheels, and thus the miners considered it to be a good time for working bed claims. Several applications for extensive river claims had been made to the resident Commissioner by associated parties of diggers; and one party of Americans proposed to go into this work on a most extensive"tom"
out rapidly. About 100 men were at work on Monday Point, that juts out into the river about a mile and-a-half above Sofala. The spot had been pretty well riddled, though it still turned out gold in paying quantities. One party of four, Dan Jones', took, as I was told, 28 ounces out of the first hole they bottomed, and had made about £1 a day per man since then on this point. The river around this point was also being marked out for bed claim. Several parties were working the shallow sinkings of 7 feet or 8 feet on the banks of the river, and were all making good wages. Watt's party was mentioned to me as having made about £1 per week per man. The Big and Little Oakey Creeks were also being extensively worked, giving employment to some 300 miners. The Big Oakey Creek comes down into the Turon on its eastern bank by a long, tortuous course, through the hills, from one of the highest of the huge mountains that border it. Crossing the crest of the range, whence it rises, a corresponding gully on the other side, also called by the same name, -- the Oakey Creek, -- is likewise cut up on every side by holes. Lower down, again, it is called the Solitary Creek, and in one spot, -- the Wattle Flat, -- has been worked most completely, right to the foot of the mountains. Here a snug little settlement of good slab and bark huts, with three or four inns, had been established. It is somewhere about six miles from Sofala, on the line of the Bathurst road, the tract often turning and twisting in exceedingly sharp curves, to avoid the holes with which the place is pierced on every side. In fact the ground is more or less worked almost to the crest of the Wyagden ranges. In my inquiries as to the yield of gold, I must own that I heard very few accounts of individual success that is success to an extraordinary amount. At the same time there were very few complaints of ill success. Nearly all joined in assuring me that good wages could always be made by steady, persevering men. The average production of gold may be considered to be half an ounce a man per week for such parties as are at work.