THE KIMBERLEY.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1294, 17 December 1886, Page 3

THE KIMBERLEY.

(Otago Daily Times.) A Palmerston resident has kindly handed ns the following letter received from Derby from his brother, who went over there, from Palmerston's— J ’> You will be surprised to hear that I am down at Derby again so soon. I and two others of the party have brought back the , two drays for flesh loading ; some for our- , aelvea to carry us over the wet season, which , lasts about four months, and the rest for i other people, for which we get Ll.'iO per j ton. Wo had# fine'trip np of six weeks, , and got through without losing any of oar , horses. It is ep|emtid country to travel , through, with any amount of water and' , grass. In some places-the grass is so hi-, hj that a man is completely hidden in it. We crossed three rivers—the Fitzroy, Louise, and Margaret; only, the Fpzroy had any water in it, and that, was only 2ft deep. At the crossing it is about balf-amile wide, with several steep sandhills to go over. We i saw some very fine sheets of water lower . down 30ft or. 40ft Seep, stretching for , miles, swarming with'fiah, of which we caught some weighing ,31b or 41b each. In i one pool we, saw over a dozen alligators floating with their beads above water. We ■ did not strike the river for 200 miles—half 1 way to the' diggings ; all the water we got before that was out of waterboles in the ; beds of creeks, only two or three miles : apart all the way up the road. The scenery in some places is very pretty : thick timber right down to the water’s edge, with-long 1 long, creepers , hanging from the boughs. The country we passed through is all very good stock country, though very sandy in , places,'"and' large -open plainswitlitffita sign of a tree for-miles. Every acre is taken np, and there are fresh stations starting every day. We were only a day on the field. We had to leave as soon as possible, as there isn’t a blade of grass to he seen. Th“re were 1500 men there, and more’ arriving every day ; any number are leaving, too, which is not surprising, as lots of swagsmen and others have gone np there without provisions or outfit, and must leave immediately or starve. There have been no very great finds lately, and the general opinion is that there won’t be very much gold got until the wet season, as there is no water for prospecting on the hills round the diggings, though there is plenty at the present camp, and a good many men are getting payable gold there. When we get these loads up we will have 12 months’ rations with us, and can give it a good trial. Rations are pretty dear on the field. Flour is Is a pound ; tea, 5s 6d ; meat. Is ; and other things in proportion. There is not much sickness up there as yet. A doctor passed on us on our way back ; he is going up there to settle. We also passed a gold escort and a warden on their way U P- !, • This climate doesn’t seem so unhealthy as it is made out, though of course it will be worse when the rain sets in. People who have been here several years do not seem to thii k it very bad. It is roasting hot in the day-time, and very little can be done outside between 10 a.m. and sundown, and some of the nights are so cold you can hardly keep warm, and others quite hot. The flies are a great nuisance ; there are thousands of them. The mosqnitos are hot so bad as I expected to fin ) them, though they will get worse by-and-bye 1 never felt in belter health than I do now, so the chauge of climate bae not- affected me so far. This place (Derby), is making rapid progress. Six hotels have been built since we were here before, one of 22 rooms. Over a dozen stores of ono sort and another have gone np wi'hin the last few; weeks. If the field turns out well it will soon be a large place.. •" The wet season generally commences about the beginning of December and lasts until March and travel is impossible during that time and for a month after, so we shall be stunk up there' several mouths. During the rainy season the Fitzroy runs level with its banks, which in places are SOt't or 40ft hivh, and in one place where the country is fiat they say that the stream is 15 miles across between two ranges of hills. We will just have time to get up to the field before the wet season begins. 1 will write on the road if I get,*,chance, but will not be able to send letters between December and April. (Timaru Herald.) The Reilly Brothers, who went from the Timaiu district write to a friend expressing their opinion that “ the Kimberley rush is a fraud.” They admit some gold was found ; but nothing to cause the rush that fo lowed on its discovery. Their story is that the men who wought the gold to Derby had nought it from a few prospectors “ for tucker,” and that the prospectors had been fully two years fossicking about before this. Tfie letter cotinues : “ We can all get a little goH ; in fact, anywhere you scrape you get a color. Some men fall on a few ounces, and then go working about for months and find only a few pennyweights. Five out of every six cannot make tuoner, and nearly all the New Zealand teams are selling out as they arrive, at less than what the stuff cost. Yon can gel drays, picks, and shovels tor . nothing, as they are lying about all over the field.” However, the party decided to give “every place a good trial,” and if they find anything at all payable intend to stay for the wet season. Another letter is from Mr’ Joseph Lukey, an experienced digger, a man who is well known in New Zealand, and who has knocked about and washed out the precious m tal ou more than cue good i goldfield in this Colony. After treating of private, matters, Mr Lukey - proceeds:— i “Now then for my opinion of the gold field. ' The principal part of tbs gullies worked up to the present time have turned out y&ry. i good. The old hands are just woi king out the bottom the second and third time every - i wheie near water, juat to make about a pennyweight a day, as water is very scarce now, and they are just making tucker to keep them going until the wet season sets in, so that they can get plenty of water. The wet season commences about the middle , of November, and they ate all looking forL ward to it to have a good trial and see if there is much gold here or not. I have seen gullies with as good indication of gold as > those that have tried, but for want of water i they cannot be f u ily worked unless men carry , the wsshdiit six or seven miles on their ; backs, which some are doing at present, and i if you ask them how they are getting on s they will simply tell anyone they have only ) just got a color : and that’s true in some i cases... I might say that for the thirty miles r of country 1 have been through since I came t here, the color is to be gut anywhere, but , not in payable quantities at present. Seven f miles from here they are sinking on a reef, > and are down seven feet and getting gold f all the way. I heard to day that they 1 refused LIOO for a share at the present time. Twenty-five miles further on another reef > was struck tunning in the tame direction i and they are down seven or eight feet, is I, • after talking with them for a few minutes, • they handed ma np a stone with gold all > through it. This gold is in sandstone alongside of the reef, within about four inches of the reef, and between ih.it and the sandi stone is a casing carrying very fine gold, ■ 1 saw a man'wash a dish, w bile 1 was there and get ft fur prospect, but the gold was too

fine to be saved by dish. 1 have come to the conclusion that there is gold about here in payable quantities, and it intend to stay till the wetsesson , It would be impossible lor anyone here to give the' slightest idea of what gold has been found;.. One reason is that there is no bank here to boy the gold. The men who have much gold are too cute to let on, as it might cause too great a rush, and they only part with just qihat they require to buy lacker with. One thing is certain, there is a good deal of gold here among the storekeepers, and to-day ths butcher had acme splendid pieces of gold from a pennyweight np to half-ounce, that men sold him to buy mutton. All business transactions here are with gold on the scales, and yet they say there is no gold -in the country 1”