RETURNED FROM CHARTERS TOWERS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1348, 23 November 1872, Page 4

RETURNED FROM CHARTERS TOWERS.

[pleasant creek news, nov. 2.J Another batch of the Charters Towers wanderers has returned to Pleasant Creek, and their accounts tally, in every respect, with news previously received. Our informant, Mr T. Wilkinson, is a man wellqualified to judge of the resources of the country, from long experience on - the Australian gold. Be&ds. He aaya there is no reasonable prospect of affairs changing ' for the better after the rainy season, as the ground is not of a nature to hold water, even if dams were constructed for the purpose, the soil consisting entirely of decomposed granite. The principal crushing machine is supplied from a well which has to be deepened from time to time. The extent of the reef claims is ridiculously small, only a very few ton 3 being available from each after stone is struck. The alluvial rush was good some months ago, and caused a rise in the rate of wages, which, however, only continued for a week or two. Prospecting he describes as a most laborious occupation ; a party, to do any good, must have two pack-horses, and that their water Bupply is carried with them in canvas bags. The country he describes as the most sterile and uninviting he has ever seen in Australia, being mostly a dead level, with very sandy soil, and stunted shadeless trees. The appearance of the old residents tells its own sad tale about the climate. They present a worn-out jaundiced look, contrasting very unfavorably with the burly physique of the Victorian and New Zealand miners. As a notable example of the mummy-like condition to which the scorching climate had reduced their attenuated frames, a tale is told of two of them who had occasion to settle their differences by a fight, and both were killed in the fray by blows received, which separated some of the ribs from the backbone. The blacks are very numerous and 'mischievously inclined, both at the Coast and at Charters Towers, and new comers are invariably warned against trusting them. It is gratifying to learn that most of those who left this place havo returned safe and sound, and that so far as is yet known none were left behind who had not the means of returning.