PALMER DIGGINGS.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 299, 20 November 1874, Page 3

PALMER DIGGINGS.

Goldmining on the Palmer is no very charming speculation. Flour, that absolute necessary of life, sells at fiva shillings per pound; and is not to be had at that, for '«T°S n Chinaman has cleared the market. That is like John, who in huckstering is more than a match for his European brother, ; With a keen eye to the future, ® e "^° n f°^ an '. perceives , that the; time is approaching 'vvhen the' roads will' be im'jiassabie,|and, -when!the -digger, who has notflbMi" wilt ■? esteem the : finest gold as nfiere dross." So John, having a little golji now, Has exchanged it for flour, in the , faith that when famine drives the European from his'claim, there will be an < pficrtunily to work out the richest gullies and make a pile. Now flour only, costs five per cent of the value of gold, but John sees the process of equalisation will be rapid, and that if not intrinsically the more valuable,. Hour will.soon be the more indispensable commodity... But thewandering digger expresses dissatisfaction at this speculative business, and there are already; Jiuirimjisol a seems probable that Lyiv h law will be resorted tu and tliiit, nowever pr n vident

ihf- .C;Ti : nv«i: ..digger may be, lie will be coin we He-! tt.vshare the last loaf with.- his impriivklent brother, whom he. has been bred to regard as a " foreign white devil." Perhaps his education on that point has not been less orthodox than that of many Englishmen, whose youthful minds have been crammed with bigotry and catechism and prejudice against men whose skin differs in color from their own.

• It is probable that many Europeans will weather the storm, however. We hear that large numbers are returning from Cooktown to the Palmer, wellstocked for the wet season. Those men understand the country, the climate, and the occupation. They would he almost equally safe on the Gold Coast ,or the steppes of Siberia. Seasoned miners, " hard as nails," and determined to rob Mother Earth of her treasures, they-may be trusted to defy famine, privation, and disease. But such men are the exception, we tear. . The ordinary digger takes no thought for to-morrow, would go to sleep on the very edge of a precipice, and in his eagerness for gold would rush into , the very jaws of Death. Of - such the wet season will make short work, and six months hence last year's story of want and suffering will be repeated. The world is getting older, but the proportion of fools bred year by year dees not diminish. The Government, to their credit, are at length making preparations to avert what might otherwise be a great calamity. Boats are being dispatched to cross the rivers intercepting communication between the. Palmer and the coast, and these once made crossable, the risk of famine will be much reduced. So long as packhorses are to be obtained, there should be no absolute dearth of flour while it will realise five shillings per pound. And if the horses die, perhaps even bullocks might be pressed into the packing service. The Government have also sent up an experienced road engineer and a foreman of works, and if reasonable energy be shown the " short track" may yet be opened before the wet season. But it may not The road-makers will have to contend against torrid Keat, native savages, scarcity ot laborers. Their best-laid schemes may consequently fail, and their very efforts prove injurious by raising hopes which will not be realised. Unless the work be done effectually, its effect will be only to destroy the spirit of self-reliance which would otherwise exist in the community, and so to aggravate rather than remove the difficulties threatening the diggers. However, men are not obliged to rush off to the Palmer, and if they go it must be solely at their own risk, further warning would be lost upon them.