The Dunstan Times FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1872.

Dunstan Times, Issue 546, 4 October 1872, Page 2

The Dunstan Times

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1872.

m \Beneaththeßuleof McnßtfrißELY jtjstd the PEN is MiQUTiEK than the sword.

The discovery of new gold-fields at Port Darwin and Queensland is tending considerably to unsettle the minds

of our mini tig population. Some few are already leaving for these new lielda, while a number of others express an intention to follow should the

favorable accounts received be confirmed. Of course, it would be folly on our part to advise people to pause ere they commit themselves to achange, or wc should be charged with having personal motion to serve; still we should not be doing our duty as public journalists unless wo presented both aides of the picture, and to those of our miners who have not been in Australia we would advise them to consider a little ere they betake themselves to the tropics The beat in Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, and the temperate portions of Queensland, is quite as much as any European constitution can hear, more especially when manual labor has to be resorted to for a livelihood, and were it not for the excitement attendant upon cold-mining, in many instances, it could not bo borne. All miners we have mot who have tried Queensland express chemse've unanimously that the heat is positively unbearable for any length of time, and a prolonged stay must only result in the loss of health. Now, as such is the case in senr-tvopical climates, what will be the ease in the tropics themselves 1 The miner will not only have the insufferable heat to put up with, but the thousind-aud-ono annoyances of the insect world, and it is needless for ns to say that these will render life almost unbearable. To those who have never experienced tins annoyance we feel convinced one trial will be quite sufficient, and nothing will recompense them for the loss of comfort engendered by these pests but plenty of gold —in its absence life will become a misery. After a hard day’s work and exposure to the sun, nothing presses harder on the constitution than to be unable to sleep, and this at limis will be banished altogether, 'flic annoyance from mosquitoes and ants is something to be dreaded, let alone an endless variety of other insects which will

present themselves, and from which there is no escape. At Charters Towers, Queensland, many of the comforts of civilized life will no doubt be obtainable at moderate price* ; but at tho Darwin this will not be the case. Bread and meat will not do hero Fruit and vegetables must be eaten and become very largely an article of fo"d, or that dreadful scourge, scurvy, will present itself in all its horrid shapes. This disease lias frequently shown itself on the goldffields of New South Wales and Queensland, where vegetable diet was scarce or it was difficult to be grown, and we can assure our readers, from actual experience, that a miner, laid up in his tent from scurvy, covered from head

to foot with sores, is a pitiable sight. "Wherever gold is to bo found, people will of course rush to obtain it, even were the locality in the interior of Africa. Queensland rushes have never turned out anything very great as yet, nor have they been what may be considered successful : in every instance they have been limited in extent, while the groundhas been very patchy. In the country of the Roper we have more faith. There is every reason to believe that gold in large quantities will be found in Northern Australia. Dr Clark and Professor Murchison are both unanimously of that opinion, and their prognostications have not failed as yet. Still the difficulties of exploration cannot be got over in a clay, while the extent of the probable auriferous country is so great that there will be ample room for all the diggers in Australasia. Miners, therefore, have no need to be in a hurry, and they may depend upon it, that the ground will not be over-rushed, from the very fact of climatic causes alone. There will be plenty of good claims for years to come. Until more definite information arrives, we would strongly advise parties to pause ere they commit themselves to such a change, while to those whoso impetuous natures will brook no delay, we would only say, see that you have sufficient money to bring you back again should you find your-slf deceived.