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Civil Secretary's Office,
Wellington, 5th January, 1853.

HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR IN-CHIEF has been pleased to direct the following additional despatch, in reference to the discovery of a Gold Field at Auckland, to be published for general information.

ALFRED DOMETT,
Civil Secretary.

Auckland, December 15, 1852.

SIR,—In order to furnish your Excellency with the fullest and latest information connected with the Gold Field at Coromandel, I beg to enclose a copy of a report just received from the Commissioner, together with extracts from yesterday's and this day's Auckland newspapers, which not only confirms my communication of the 13th inst., No. 133, but shews more clearly the feelings of the public as to the value of the discovery.

I have the honor to be,
Sir,
Your obedient servant,
R. H. WYNYARD,
Lt.-Gov.

His Excellency
SIR GEORGE GREY, K.C.B.,
Governor-in-Chief, &c., &c., &c.,
Wellington.

Auckland, 14th December, 1852.

SIR,—By direction of His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor, and as a general summary of intelligence, to the latest date, of the working of the Coromandel Gold Field, I have the honor to report that on Saturday last, the 11th instant, the last day of my visiting the workings, the majority of the diggers professed themselves satisfied with the yield of Gold at their respective pits, and with their prospects for the ensuing summer. From the amount of Gold which I saw washed by the parties named in the margin,* I believe their expectations are well founded.

Having found that the boundary line of the Government district to the northward did not include the whole of the lands of the Patukirikiri tribe, as it was purported to do, I last week, with the chief Pita, of that tribe, cut a new boundary, four chains to the north of the former one; and on the strip of land so taken into the Government district, obtained possession of the rich Gold deposit which the parties of Messrs. Cook, Coolahan, and Bryan had been obliged to relinquish, and which they are now working with great success.

The chief Paul of the Matewaru tribe, allowed that the new boundary did not encroach on his land, but put forward Hakapa, a native of the Fatukirikiri, who had married into his tribe, as an owner of and claimant to a piece of ground running through the whole northern margin of the district, and whose claim, if substantiated, would have much diminished the present available Gold Field.

With the assistance of Mr. White, the Interpreter, and with Pita, of the Patukirikiri, after two days' discussion of the question on the ground, I succeeded in establishing the sole right of Pita to the land, to the limit of the extended boundary: and the last act of Paul was to make holes and marks on the line, with his own hand, in acknowledgment of its accuracy.

On the resumed diggings, the parties named in the margin† washed in the earlier part of last week, the quantity set forth, and are continuing their work with every prospect of finding eventually the matrix Gold, which the nuggets now obtained indicate to be in the vicinity of the workings.

The deposit at this place appears to be in a slip of earth on the side of a wooded mountain rising from the Kapanga stream. The slip has filled with a mass of decayed vegetation, gravel, and mould, the former hollow of a small rivulet, and in this, at a depth of about 3½ feet, in what is denominated a "dry diggings," the Gold is found.

The course of the slip is for some distance discernible on the hill-side above the diggings, but the density of the undergrowth prevents the exact locality whence it has slid being apparent.

From the very angular character of the nuggets, and their sharpness of fracture, it is evident that they have not rolled more than a few hundred yards to their present place of deposit; and I believe that the diggers will be able to trace the slip to the auriferous quartz rock whence the deposit has been abraded by the weight of the landslip.

I am happy to have the honour farther to inform you, that I discovered the dry bed of a former water-course, running for a considerable distance parallel and near to the Kapanga stream, and at one place approaching to within a few yards of that stream. On pointing this place to the Messrs. Ring, they at once, with a day's labour, cut a lead through the intervening bank, and diverted the course of the Kapanga, the bed of which is now for a distance of upwards of a quarter of a mile dry, and ready for excavation.

The Messrs. Ring had commenced digging therein on Friday last, with every prospect of success through the summer.

† Cook and Creighton, in five days, 7½ oz. of dust and fine nuggets, and 11½ oz. of coarse nuggets, about one quarter of latter, and one half of former being Gold.*
Coolahan and party of 7, from 2½ to 5 oz. of dust and nuggets daily, when working.
Bryan and party of 4, working in adjacent pit to Coolahan, produce, when working, similar in proportion to numbers.

• Brought by myself to Auckland.