received by a Sydney merchant, states that rock salt
has been discovered in the search for gold. A regular
company is at work under the auspices of a member of
council, whose daily operations average in their results
a full ounce per man. The "Maitland Mercury" states
that gold has been discovered in the tract of country
situate between Summerhill on the south, and Dubbo
on the north, and known as the Wellington district.
The more authentic accounts warrant us in believing
that one large piece of nine ounces, and two or three
small pieces of several ounces' weight, and some pounds
of grain and dust, have already been found by the
parties engaged in digging there. Three apprentices who
ran away from Bathurst, returned in a few days with
seventeen ounces of gold, which sold for £51. Considerable
quantities of gold and gold-dust were waiting at
Bathurst when the "Thomas Arbuthnot" left Sydney,
until an escort should convoy it to the latter place.
The above-mentioned ship has a piece of gold on board
weighing 41/2 lbs.; it is from Bathurst, and is intended
to be placed in the Great Exhibition. The different
accounts furnish evidence of the disturbance to all ordinary
courses of employment which the gold discoveries
had made through New South Wales. The labouring
classes were leaving Sydney, and in consequence
mechanics were getting from 10s. to 15s. a day, an advance
of fifty per cent. on their usual earnings. But it was
not alone the labourers who were vanishing from
Sydney; "all classes" were joining in the movement,
—shopkeepers, "the polite professions," and the very
government officials themselves. With the view of
checking official desertion, the governor advertised in
the "Gazette" of 27th May, that any person, of whatever
grade, employed in the public service, who shall
resign his post during the existing emergency, will be
noted as ineligible to serve again, and will certainly not
be reappointed. But, notwithstanding this notification,
the desertions continued, thinning every department,
and leaving the police force far too weak for its duties.
The greatest apprehension was felt by the flockmasters;
for if the shepherds left their flocks, a short time would
be sufficient to destroy half the sheep in the colony. A
flockmaster, writing his apprehensions to a local journal,
finds, however, some ground for hope that the shepherds
may be less affected than many other classes:—"The
work is so heavy, and so little suited to the taste of men
who have been crawling about after sheep for years,
that I think those who know what they would have to
do, as is the case with such as are near the spot, will
not go away. In the distant districts, the rumours that
are spread will, it is to be feared, induce many to leave
their employers. Up to this time, I have not lost a
shepherd, although the diggings are within three miles
of our station." The accounts variously estimate the
numbers at the diggings as already ten or twelve thousand;
one statement says sixteen or seventeen thousand;
and the lowest estimate says seven thousand. Yet the
news had not arrived at the neighbouring colonies, with
which communication is more irregular and more
tedious than even with ourselves in England.

PROGRESS OF EMIGRATION AND COLONISATION.

A public meeting of emigrants about to proceed to
Australia by the Athenian, a vessel of 670 tons, chartered
by the Family Colonisation Loan Society, was held on
board the vessel on the 22nd. She lay in the East India
Docks, and was about to start on her voyage to Adelaide
and Port Philip. The Earl of Shaftesbury presided,
and the assemblage was very large. The meeting was
addressed by the noble chairman, Mr. Foster, late
member of council for Port Philip, Mr. Sidney, and
Mr. Lowe, late member of council for Sidney. Mr. Lowe,
in giving some good practical advice to the emigrants,
adverted particularly to the present crisis in the colony,
"when they arrived, (he said) they would hear a great
deal about the gold discoveries;—he would say, "Let
other people go gold-hunting, you will derive the benefit
of the discovery in the advanced rate of wages in the
market, from which so much labour will be withdrawn."
The gold-field was a lottery, in which a vast number
would draw blanks, and in a country where there was
a number of persons who had been transported for their
crimes, and whose sentences had expired, but who had
not all become reformed men, there would be congregated
in the gold-field a desperate and reckless set, whom
every prudent man would wish to avoid. Probably,
before the requisite force could be applied by the
Government, there would be scenes that would rival
those in California. The superior class of emigrants
sent out by Mrs. Chisholm, would command high wages
and situations of trust. The great demand was for
people who could be trusted when the employer's back
was turned, and the economy and self-denial which must
have been exercised by the emigrants present, in order
to take advantage of this society's offer, would be some
guarantee for their good conduct. It was to be regretted
that the funds at Mrs. Chisholm's command were not
equal to the demand and the numbers requiring aid,
but, by working a little longer, they might raise the
whole capital themselves, and have the matter in their
own hands. A vote of thanks to the Earl of Shaftesbury
and Mrs. Chisholm having been paid by acclamation,
the Earl of Shaftesbury expressed his admiration of the
intelligent zeal and indefatigable exertions of Mrs.
Chisholm. The audience (he said) had probably heard
something of "Bloomerism," which meant that ladies
were to walk about in man's attire. Mrs. Chisholm had
attained the highest order of Bloomerism; she had the
heart of a woman, and the understanding of a man. He
wished her "God speed," and prayed that she might be
made more and more instrumental in carrying out great
and beneficent and holy purposes. The assembly then
dispersed about the ship, and inspected the arrangements
of the vessel, which appeared to indicate much
care and judgment, and to have been dictated by
experience. Mrs. Chisholm, for whom the emigrants seemed
to have the most affectionate regard and respect, was
unwearied in her courteous attention to the demands
made upon her by visitors for explanation and
description.

The latest intelligence from British Guiana states that
the planters had received a welcome reinforcement to
the labour force of the colony in the arrival of the vessel
William Gibson from Calcutta with 224 coolies on
board. An interesting letter was read in the Court of
Policy, from Mr. White, the joint immigration agent
for British Guiana and Trinidad at Calcutta, addressed
to the governor. Mr. White reports, among other
things, that the coolies who had gone back to India
from this colony in the Lucknow, and who had carried
with them from £2000 to £3000 sterling, had expressed
themselves highly satisfied, and it was expected that
many of them would return to the colony. In the
course of the discussion in the court on the reading of
Mr. White's letter, the governor remarked that, large
as had been the amount of money taken back to India
by the people who went in the Lucknow, the amount
of property which the emigrants who had sailed for
India in the Zenobia took with them was much larger;
the sum of 20,000 dollars having been delivered into
the custody of the captain, while at least half as much
more, as his Excellency believed, remained in the
possession of the people themselves. These are gratifying
facts, and show that, whatever may have been the
advantage to the colony of coolie immigration, it has
been at all events productive of great pecuniary advantage
to the coolies themselves.

The following is a statement of the immigration into
the port of New York for the last eight months, as
compared with similar returns during the same period
last year. It will be seen that the average since the
month of April has been over 1000 per day:

                                                                          1850.             1851.
January    ....................................................... 13,154           14,709
February    ......................................................  3,206             8,170
March    .......................................................... . 5,569           10,055
April    ..............................................................14,627          27,779
May    .............................................................  42,846          33,858
June    ..............................................................11,762          34,492
July    .............................................................. 34,446          27,612
August   .......................................................... 18,092           30,251
              
                                                                        143,702        192,836
                           Increase this year   ........................... 49,131

During the week of September there have been thirty-
four emigrant arrivals at this port, from the following
places in Europe:—Antwerp, 91; Bremen, 725; Bristol,