THE GOLD COAST

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 120, 22 May 1937, Page 8

THE GOLD COAST

CONDITIONS OF LIFE

NEW ZEALANDER'S NOTES

(From "Tlie 'Post's" Representative.) '- ■ LONDON, -April 28.

Mr. G. Aubrey Gow (Palmerston North), ah - associate of the Otago School .of Mines, is in England on leave from Bibiani, Gold Coast, where he is now metallurgist for " Bibiani (1927) Limited,.a promising god-mini-ng property in the south-west of the I colony, about 160 miles inland. Understanding that New Zealanders who have not visited West Africa know very little about it or the conditions ol 'life, Mr. Gow has been good enough to send some interesting notes. He says that many, inquiries were addressed to him on the eve of his departure . from Palmerston North some twenty""monlhs ago. After many years in the Dutch East Indies and subsequently in Japan and Korea, Mr. Gow finds that the climate |of the. Gold Coast, while admittedly uncomfortably humid and , hot,, com-l-pares favourably, from a health.point lof view, with that of the Far Eastern countries.,' Medical science . and the general increase of knowledge bt the primary principles of tropical, hygiene have resulted in a striking improvement, in living conditions and the virtual elimination of yellow fever, as well as a marked decrease in the incidence of malaria and blackwater fever, and of sleeping sickness. Consequently, what was sometimes referred I to,"as "The White Man's Grave" no longer deserves the epithet. European women nowadays accompany their husbands to the chief mining centres, and most of them are able to enjoy the life, and find the climate not unkind. But frequent HoriSe leave, .with'the change to a temperate climate, is essential; and, by common consent, children are brought up in Britain, climatic and other conditions in West Africa being unsuitable for them. , .

MINING METHODS.

Most of the gold is derived from lodes; but an increasing amount is coming from alluvial workings and the use of dredges. Mining methods are similar to those in the New Zealand gbldfields,'; but, all manual labour ii done by Africans, of various tribes. Wages range from ls per shift, or day, upwards, depending on the knowledge and skill of the labourer. He lives cheaply, subsisting largely , on, plaintains and manioc. It may be said of him that, as a worker, when he ■is good he is really rather good, butwhen he is bad he" is horrid.

Usually, :he acts on the assumption that dishonesty is the best policy; he is an adept thief,, and loses no opportunityy to prove it—at the company's expense. The constant care of the European boss is to eliminate the Opportunity—a task that requires keen concentration. ...

Measured by ocean route's, the distance between New Zealand and the Gold' Coast is approximately 16,000 miles. A regular fortnightly ocean service: in motor vessels of the .Elder Dempster Lines is maintained between Liverpool and Nigeria,. with calls at Madeira and at Canary Islands,; as well as the principal British ports of the West African coast. Takoradi.the port of entry to the Gold Coast, with a fine artificial harbour, is within thirteen days' steam of Plymouth," where most Home-bound passengers land.. A light railway maintains a daily.,.service between Takoradi.and Kumasi,. and between Kumasi'ahd' Accra, the " chief centres of the: colony. -■■■■■:'

Motor roads are gradually heing extended to the remote corners of the country,' and numerous bus and motorlorry services are kept busy serving the v needs of a native .population that loves to travel by bus and train.

•''Mails travel .by ocean route to and from Europe, but air services—British, French, and German—are now being institute^', and will soon be in regular operation; The fastest of these should bring Takoradi within four days of London. .... \