The Evening Star. THURSDAY, APRIL 16 1874

Evening Star, Issue 3478, 16 April 1874, Page 2

The Evening Star. THURSDAY, APRIL 16 1874

The Palmer diggings, notwithstanding the drawbacks of climate, and the dill:culties in the way, appear to haw attractions for that restless class of diggers who see only the vision of gold , but do not count the cost of obtaining it. If they succeed, few take into consideration the risk of failure. Codiparatively few of that nomade claims remain with us now. They quitted. Otago years ago for the West Coast, having exhausted the alluvial diggings there; or at least taken so

much of the gold easily got as to reduce mining wages to the level of other classes of labor, untaught by experience, they are off for Queensland, ready to

begin life again and to undergo once more tbe excitement, toil, triumph, or disappointment of a new rush. It is not pleasant to part with population ; but they cannot be termed settlers. They gather gold, but do not invest it; and it is by no means certain that the wages they earn are equal to what would have been realised from following some settled form of industry, the results of which are less problematical than working already well-prospected ground. The surprise is that with so much work now going on in the country and the prospect of continued demand for labor of a • kind suitable to their habits, any should leave New Zealand for a country like Queensland, with a climate so little suited to Em’opean constitutions, that even field labor has to be done by imported laborers from the Polynesian Islands. We can hardly

think this drawback is sufficiently appreciated by those who are leaving this country; yet the meagre accounts received from time to time point to scarcity of food, sickness, difficulty of access to the diggings, and only very partial success when they are reached. Possibly some intimation from successful diggers may have induced this Palmer-digging fever. Successful men always make light of difficulties 'that others may find insuperable ; but

it should not be forgotten that experience has taught us that the success of one man on a goldfield lessens the chance of him who follows. The surprise is that the West Coast diggers, so many of whom had reason to regret leaving Otago, and who might earn such good wages on public works’ contracts, should not have learned this lesson. We do not underrate Queensland as a field for emigration ; but from the nature of the case it must be impossible for Europeans to do that amount of labor there, that can be accomplished in a temperate climate like that of New Zealand; and if, on alluvial goldfields second to none for continuing to yield paying wages, where

work tends to promote health rather than to induce sickness, satisfactory returns cannot be obtained, what likelihood is there of success, where the sun's heat is so great as to render continued labor impossible, excepting at the risk of a man’s life 1

Nor house, nor lands, nor heaps of labor’d ore, Oan give the feverish lord one moment’s rest, Or drive one sorrow from his anxious breast. We are aware that Queensland is considered a rising Colony, and that great exertions are made and temptations held out to induce people to emigrate thither. By those who have this object in view, the drawbacks are kept out of sight, or, perhaps, even are not felt, through those who write or speak having become accustomed to them

“ acclimatised,” as the term is. But its geographical position and the character of its products point to the excessive heat of its climate j and although no doubt this is modified much according to the elevation of the land above the level of the sea, Europeans have never 1 been known capable pf hard work on lands where cotton and sugar can be cultivated extensively. Unless, therefore, gold is to be obtained in quantity at a much less expense of labor than is necessary to acquire it

here, no man should leave New Zealand for Queensland under the idea of bettering himself. From the accounts published of the Palmer River diggings this does not appear to be the case. On the contrary, more than ordinary difficulties lie in the way of reaching the diggings; more than ordinary privations have to be endured by those who have reached them j more than ordinary expense has to be incurred on the road, and there is not the same reasonable prospect of success that is presented to diggers at the Maerewhenua

goldfield. It is one of the failings of the digging spirit that the unknown and problematical has greater attraction than the known. That which is ascertained and obtainable is underrated, while that which is .only imaginative is magnified : the shadow is muck larger than the substance, because of the indirect light " } but though increased in area, it is unsubstantial, and is shortest when the light is clearest. The rate of wages compared with the cost of living, and the demand for labor present and prospective, place New Zealand in the foreground as a desirable field for settlement, and very strong inducement should be presented before leaving it for less promising lands.