READ'S AUSTRALIAN GOED-FIELDS. *

A BErrEn book should have been produced by- an old sailor and an old colonist, whb, besides roughing it at the New South Wales Diggings as an adventurer, visited the gold-fields of Victoria as an Assistant-Commissioner—that is, a sort of Police Magistrate. Iu the course of knocking about the world, Mr. Read has picked up some of the free and easy ideas and habits of the persons he fell in. with His Colonial residence has not improved him in the " are scribendi" : he is too literal and too minute—too prone to report dialogues, in which imagination as well as memory seems to have been at work. His book contains some rough vigorous sketches of life and character at the Australian gold-diggings, with pictures on the road and, of the road ; sensible advice to emigrants ; sad accounts of the condition of those who have embarked for Aus- tralia without physical strength, the habit of labour, competent means, or friends to receive them ; as well as a general view of the state of the two Eastern Australian Colonies, especially Victoria. A great part of it reads like the newspaper letters from the Dig- gings, with a little professional penny-a-lining superadded. The efforts to exhibit men and things by means of dialogues between persons whose names are changed, and who are probably fictitious altogether, is poor, flat, and unreal. Colonial slang is often inter- larded, on some mistaken notion of smartness.

The condition of the roads, and the dangers of travelling unless in strong bodies or very well armed, are painted darkly enough. The roads of Victoria, where any traffic took place, vfere rather marked than made; some, of course, have been improvised on the discovery of gol4 in a particular district. Rain reduces them to an almost unpassable state. But Government cannot attempt to make roads with cartage and wages at their present rates, sup- posing there had been time to organize a system. With such a population, so near to Van Diemen's Land in the case of Victoria, the congregation of adventurers from every quarter of the world, and so much temptation in the staple produce itself it is not to be wondered at that crimes of violence should be frequent They are chiefly perpetrated on the road, and are more rife in Victoria than in New South Wales. The Turon diggers of the latter, indeed, exhibit some consideration and delicacy, not always found in Eng- land.

"Sunday was always kept as a holyday, not only on account of work being forbidden by the authorities on the Sabbath, but I should say eight-tenths of the people would not have worked had they been allowed ; and, in spite of all that has been said about the immorality caused by the discovery of gold and its consequences, I was perfectly surprised at the small amount of crime that existed amongst so mixed a population, consisting of every grade of society, from the most hardened wretch from Norfolk Island, to a representa- tive of every trade and profession that ever was heard of, not excepting Honourables and Captains in the Royal Navy, Army officers, barristers' Bre. ; and I am confident there was not more vice (if even so much) than there would be in any town : of course, there were plenty of riotously-disposed people, but far more of the other way of thinking. "As far as females are concerned, I have no hesitation in saying that they might and did consider themselves as safe, both regarding their persons and feelings, as if they were in Sydney or at home. I never heard on the Turon of any outrage or incivility. (I have heard screaming and rowsibut from whom did it proceed ?—invariably husband and wife.) At the period of my leaving, great numbers of respectable women were arriving daily, and in the town of Sofala, bark, log, and weather-boarded houses, with three or four inns, had sprung up ; the latter, very properly, always keeping closed on Sundays. A brickmaker was hard at work ; and no doubt ere this many houses of that description are to be seen, with good shops, stores, &a As it was, inhabited town had a lively appearance, which but twelve months before was only by kangaroos, cockatoos, and opossums, or a solitary shepherd with a flock of sheep. I understood that the shepherd on Sheep Station Point had resided there twenty-two years, and never had been away but three times during that period. Even the gold fever had not affected him. His argument was, he cared for nobody, and nobody cared for him; therefore, what induce- ment was there for him to go and make a fool of himself by getting money for some one else to spend. "The greatest vice that men and boys (the latter especially) at the Dig- gings used to habituate themselves to, was swearing the most horrible oaths, and using coarse low-life language ; so much so, that a man would hardly speak to his friends without calling them some sort of unmentionable name : but I invariably saw even that checked in a moment, if there was any female of apparent respectability in a tent, near, or passing; showing the moral in- fluence woman has, even over the roughs' at the Diggings."

At the Turon Diggings, Mr. Read was only an observer in com- mon with others. In the colony of Victoria, he had better means of judging from the disputed cases brought before him as an As- sistant-Commissioner and Magistrate. This is his judgment upon different nations.

"Injustice to our friends across the Atlantic, I must say, that duringthe whole time I was at the Australian gold-fields, I never recollect an American being brought up either for robbery or anything else disreputable (unless it was for not having a licence, and then but seldom) : they generally seemed to keep together' and if people left them alone they would not interfere with anybody, but if others would make themselves obnoxious they might rest assured they were awkward customers to deal with. Whenever I had to settle a dispute between an American and any other nation, the former were invariably in the right; and I only wish all gold-diggers would listen to reason as well as they would, and doubtless many squabbles would be pre- vented. There was a dislike generally to them, on account of the manner in which any one almost was treated who went from Australia to California. Certainly nothing would be more likely to occur than such a feeling, con- sidering that every one who went from the Australian Colonies to that El Dorado, no matter who he was or what he was, was looked upon as a Syd- neyite,'—which was an insinuation that he was a convict, or had been one, or descended from one ; at all events he must be connected, more or less, with convictism.

"There was another class of people who were a most particularly quiet, orderly, well-disposed, and industrious set of people ; and those were Ger- mans and Hungarians—in fact, any almost from the central parts of Europe. "I think the most fortunate men, generally speaking, on the Diggings, • What I Heard, Saw, and Did at the Australian Gold-flekls. By C. Hudston Read, late Crown Land Commissioner-Assistant at Mount Alexander, and Territorial Magistrate for the Colony of Victoria. Published by Boone.

were the Adelaide miners, who were mostly Cornishmen ; also sailors, Germans, excavators, farm-labourers, and the general run of the lower orders of Irish : the most unfortunate, I think, were those who came under the denomination of swell diggers,' and soldiers, or men who have been soldiers ; the latter, after a time preferring the police force to mining. There were, however, several hut:moss of great success attending gentlemen who were digging : one with whom I was myself acquainted cleared upwards of 3000/ in six weeks : but this WA a rare occurrence."

In addition to danger from crimes of violence, and the risk of sickness, (which, according to Mr. Read, is greater than is gene- rally supposed,) there was a singular danger at some spots, in an adhesive soil.

"I have previously ment;oned the careless manner in which people go to work for obtaining gold, and from want of proper precaution frequently get smothered: hoping it may guard people who are novices from proceeding in the like manner, I mention this most heartrending case to show, that al- though they may imagine the ground around them comparatively speaking safe, yet, should their feet once really stick fast, all mechanical skill (except perhaps steam, which is not likely to be handy when such an occurrence takes place) will not save them from an almost certain slow and untimely end.

"Four brothers were digging in Peg Leg Gully, endeavouring to bottom a hole again that had been filled up during the floods : the stuff that had to be thrown out was soft sticky clay. After getting nearly down, they had not taken due precaution to shore the sides up properly, not thinking of the immense weight of stuff that was in all the surrounding filled-up claims, and the small original wall that there was to support this weight. One of the banks slightly giving way, they endeavoured to keep it up (when too late) with shorts, branches of trees, &c. Whilst in the act of doing this, the younger brother, who was down in the pit, stuck fast : not thinking much of so sticking for a moment, I believe he continued working ; however, find- ing he could not extricate himielf, his brothers immediately rendered their assistance ; this was no avail, and immediately they called for help. In less than a minute many arrived, with ropes, buckets, bailers, shovels, scoops, &c., and set to work endeavouring to clear away the stuff; and some sailors dropping down got him slung, when every one that could get hold tried to Pull him out, he at the same time having his arms round his elder brother's neck, who bad got his again underneath his brother's arms and clasped round his back, the elder one having a good hold with his feet. Butit was of no avail ; the stuff slowly filled in upon him, and as it rose the poor brother was compelled to let him go to save his own life, and the unfortunate lad was smothered. There was one thing that might probably have saved him, if any one had thought of it at the moment : the boots that he had on were a pair of bluchers, and long before the stuff had even reached his knees he could have pushed his hand down and cut the strings, when his boots would have stuck, but his feet would most likely have come away, and the poor fellow's life been saved. As soon as the news of the accident reached my ears, I repaired to the spot, but found it was too late to be of any assist- ance; and had I been there the chances are, the thought about cutting the boot-laces might not have struck me at the moment."

Of the climate Mr. Read does not speak so well as most people do : but in weighing his facts as regards sickness and mortality, the very peculiar economical and social condition of the country must be taken into consideration.

"There are great differences of opinion respecting the healthiness or un- healthiness of the Australian climate ; but I never inquired of any medical men whether there was much sickness, but always got for answer, Yea-, a good deal.' Undertakers here also have no more cause of complaint than they have at Calcutta during a good cholera season. Asking any half-dozen people whether they bled the climate, three would say it was the most abominably hot dusty place they ever put foot into ; and the other three would have a different opinion, and delight in the hot weather, though they would abuse the dust (excepting gold). For my own part, I do not think it either particularly healthy or unhealthy ; but, disliking excessive heat at any time, I would not wish to be compelled to live either in Victoria or New South Wales all my life. Had I only these two countries to choose between, I should give the preference to the latter ; but would sooner be doomed to live in India than either, for certainly no place can possess fewer luxuries than Victoria. New South Wales is a little better; but to keep cool in hot weather is almost impossible, unless by adopting the numerous appliances as in India, where the same is accomplished.'

The conclusions as to present emigration which Mr. Read comes to are sound enough. The only persons really wanted in the colony, and who are consequently certain to do well, are labourers, or men in whose work strength is conjoined with skill—as black- smiths, masons, carpenters. A capitalist with from 10001. to 50001. may also succeed, provided he is acquainted with business, and rather "wide awake." All other classes had better stop away.

From the paucity of lodgings and food at Melbourne, large families are an encumbrance, unless they are those of " na-vvies " or Irishmen, who have been used to live anyhow. Workmen accustomed, as Bacon expresses it, to use the finger rather than the arm' -will be worse off than at home. Shopmen, clerks, pro- fessional men, genteel adventurers, and all those persons whose vocations are " light " or sedentary, will starve unless they take menial situations or turn shepherds • and situations of the two last classes are not always to be procured. Talent is useless ; there is no call for it. We should, however, be inclined to except the practical architect or engineer ; though, of course, the demand, should there be any, would be very limited in respect to numbers.

The volume is illustrated by wood-cuts and coloured plates, seemingly after drawings by the author. If they are all his, and have not been improved by the engraver or some other professional artist, Mr. Read exercises the pencil better than the pen. The landscapes convey a very truthful idea of the scenery of the

Diggings the figures have character and action. There is also a map of the Victoria Gold regions, by Arrowsmith, after an official survey.