GLOOMY ACCOUNT OF KIMBERLEY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1272, 24 June 1886, Page 3

GLOOMY ACCOUNT OF KIMBERLEY.

A Mr D. J. Fraser, writing in the “New Zealand Herald, gives the following gloomy account of the Kimberley country. ‘‘l formed one of a company who were duped into going to a place named Camden harbor, intending to form a settlement. Camden harbor is about 150 miles south of Cambridge Gulf. We were Induced to go there by reading the report Sir George Grey gave of the country and climate, which report, allow me to say, differed as much from the real fact of the case aa the climate of New Zealand differs from that of the Soudan. 1 can safely affirm that, if there is a rush from New Zealand to Kimberley, very few irdeed will return to their homes or families again. It is no climate for a white man to work in. New Zealanders would die like sheep there. When I was there It was in December, and the heat was intense. The thermometer registered 140 degrees In the shade for siz hours each day. I -av, strong Australians trying to work at getting their provisions and other goods carried a little above the reach of the tide, and fa ling because theirstrenglh succumbed to the heat. I eaw a man die each day of the week out of 120, and at end < f three months only 90 of the total remained. The bones of the other 4Q are there now. I have teen the grats grow there Oft in a few weeks, and sheep fed on it only weighed 161 b ., the quality of thefaid was so poor.' 1