was declared by the Government to be a gold-field, to which the 
laws of the Goldfield Act were applicable. Mining statutes and 
digger licenses were issued, gold commissioners were installed, and 
escorts established, who conveyed the gold produce every fortnight 
under guard to Dunedin. At the close of August and in the be- 
ginning of September the gold-fields numbered already 4000 diggers, 
who together with their wives and children represented a population 
of 12,000 to 16,000 inhabitants. Already in the middle of August 
the weekly produce of gold was estimated at 10,000 ounces. The 
“dirt” was obtained from superficial boulder and shingle deposits 
in pits four to five feet deep, and the gold was mostly in thick 
leafs; larger nuggets, however, were of rare occurrence. The suc- 
cess of some individual diggers, and of parties of 4 to 6 men, 
exceeded even the most sanguine expectations. 1 
No wonder that the golden tidings from the Tuapeka resounded 
also beyond the sea. The Victoria diggers upon the gradually ex- 
hausted gold-fields of Australia 2 replied to the call, and two 
months after the arrival of the first news , which had spread abroad 
with incredible rapidity , the rush to Otago from Australia was 
general. Diggers bound for New Zealand thronged in the streets 
and on the quays of Melbourne; sailors deserted from their ships, 
and speculators of every kind saw a new field open in New Zealand. 
Victoria papers from the middle of September 1861 reported no 
less than 23 vessels , all bound for Otago , among them the best 
1 I quote here from Otago papers of July and August 1861 the following facts: 
“Stuart's party of four men averaged from 8 to 16 ounces per day. John Crammond 
brought in 32 ounces as the result of five days labour of 5 men. A party of 7 men 
gathered in three weeks 270 ounces; three other diggers, 93 ounces in two weeks. 
One man and his son made about £ b00 per month, and of Peter Lindsay's party 
each member had gained £1000 in two months, from the beginning of the dig- 
gings to the close of August. Five pounds (Sterl.) were considered as a middling- 
result for one man per day. 
2 Since the “surface diggings 55 in the Australian gold-fields are being more and 
more exhausted, the individual digger no longer finds his expectations realized as 
formerly. But numerous mining companies have established themselves, who in- 
vest considerable capital for the construction of larger works, to be carried on with 
machinery, and are realizing splendid results, especially by mining the quartz reefs 
so that the golden days of Australia are yet far from being passed. 
