KIMBERLEY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1325, 26 August 1886, Page 3

KIMBERLEY.

No doubt the fat-»way fields of the new Eldorado in the tropical wills of Western Australia appear tempting'y green to the eager tyss of many an intrepid digscr. It is a proverbial characteristic of distance to lend enchantment to the view. Nearer acquaintance with the object, however, strips it of iia meretricious quilities ; its beau'iea daappear, and the plain fads assert themselves. It is, unfortunately, not easy to get at the real truth about these Kimberley goldfields—whether they present the meant of growing rich beyond the dreams of avarice, or whether the miserable fatht'es are synonym jus with ruin and doa’h, which are not without parallel in the history of cok’naming in this and other countries. The accounts received from the fields are of the most meagre description, and of a provokingly coi fket ng nature. On one hand we are told ih»t there are about three thousand men at work, all of whom are obtaining gold varying from f z to 3 z a day. On the o'.her, we hear that there are only abort 200 diggers getting very little i»"ld, and that hundreds are returning. Toe only thing csrtalu about the matter la that the blacks aro danger ous, the heat interne, sickness prevalent, and water scarce. I' is a remarkable fi c", tbat ail (be favorable telegrams come from Perth. Those which are not f.vorable come from Port D. rwin. We do not pretend to decide on which side the truth lies. It may be remarked, however, that Kjmbetle/ is within the Wett Australian boundary. Port Darn in has no interest of this or any other k ni in the matter, ss far as we are aware. To those about to go to Kimberley we would emphatically say “don’t”—for the present at all events.