HOME FROM AFRICA

Hokitika Guardian, 21 October 1930, Page 7

HOME FROM AFRICA

MINING ON THE RAND. After an absence c'f about two years in South Africa, Air H. Aloralee returned with his wife and family to AVaihi last week. Formerly " employed by the AVailii Company in diamond-drilling operations, Air Aloralee was engaged in the Transvaal boring for water in a platinum mine at Ruestenbiirg. He then went to Naniaqualand, where he was employed sinking for copper and water for the American Aletal Company

The mine closed down, however, and he was induced by a friend to go to Australia, where he spent three months, ana then sailed for New Zealand.

“Australia was the worst place 1 could have struck,” Mr Moralee said. No less, than 12(X) men were put off when lie wsis at Newcastle, and he •found unemployment rampant everywhere.

Referring to native labour in South Africa, Mr Aloralee said the rate of pay was from 3s Gd to 4s Gd a day, and the natives had to find their own keep. The wages for whites were not so big as those which ruled before the strike of 1922, and lie would not recommend anyone going to South Africa to engage in mining, The iiiduHtij was flourishing on the Rand, and Johannesburg 4 was going steadily ahead. Profits running into millions were being made by the mining companies, and diamond mining was now controlled by the Nationalist Government. The Alexander Bay fields had been taken over by the Government, and it was impossible for any unauthorised person to get within ten miles of them. Seaplanes and police patrolled the boundaries, whilst motor boats watched the coast. The discoverer of the fields was now a millionaire. The miners were Dutchmen, and received 7s Gd a day and keep, plus a bonus of a few pounds at the end of their term. The men signed on for a period of some months, and they could not get out of the area until their contract expired. Mr Aloralee added that the whole field was surrounded by barbed wire entanglements. A worker who found a dia. mond was not allowed to pick it up but had to call the foreman, who, in turn, summoned a detective to take charge of the gem.