THE KIMBERLEY.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XII, Issue 1727, 7 June 1886, Page 2

THE KIMBERLEY.

In a little work entitled " Notes on Western Australia," by tho Hon. J. Forrest, C.M.Gk, there appears the following interesting romarka concerning the above district : —

Settlement progressing. — The new district comprises that portion of the colony lying to the north by 190 deg. 30 mi n south latitude. Its urea is about 134,000 square miles, of which 62,084 square miles aro leased from th« Crown, and the remainder (about 71,916 square tnilas) is open to selection at 10s a thousand acres per annum. Free selection to pruchase, subject to approval.is allowed, and land m any quantity ovur 200 acres can bo bought at 10s per acre. A town site named v Darby," has been purveyed on the eastern shore of King Sound r and a Government station (with a Magistrate) has been formed there. When the last returns were sent m there were 46,839 sheep, 960 cattle, and 287 horses, ou the'Fitzroy and Leonard rivers, near Derby, besides a large number of cattle on the Upper Ord river, that have been driven across from Queensland. The country on the Ord River i? now being suiY?yed, and will no doubt be speedily settled ; aud Cambridge Gulf, the natural outlet of this portion of the district will probably become a place of some importance. 'This magnificent harbour has recently been visited by Staff-Comm-ander Coghlan, R.N., and his interest- ; ing and valuablo report has seen printed and can be obtained on application to the Survey Office, Perth. Running streams are numerous m the northern portions of tho district, and splendid alluvial plains exist m the valleys of the rivers, which it is hoped may be suitable for tropical culture. A very great deal of attention has been drawn to it from the Bistern colonies, and extensive areas are held on lease by ontside capitalists. Horse>, cattle, and sheep thrive well, and it is believed by all those best qualified to judge that it will be a large woolproducing country. The Government have already expended £10,000 m surveying the district and examining its geology, and there appears to be a good prospect of a payable goldfiold being discovered. In his report ou the geology of the district, Mr Hardbam f the Government geologist, states : — " lam glad to be able to report that I have disco ved a large area of country which, I believe, will prova to be auriferous to a payable degree. The country is traversed by the Margaret, Mary Elvire, Panton and Ord rivers, and comprises an area of at least 2,000 square miles, 60 far as observed ; but it doubtless continues over a much greater extent of cbuntry. The formation is principally Lower Silurian slate and schist, of various kinds, traversed by an enormous number of quartz reefs. In some locali-

ties many of these occur m the apace of a few hundred yards, and it was quite usual to notice twenty-five or thirty large reefs while riding over a mile of ground, without taking into account the smaller reefs or Vaiua. The quartz ' constituting these reefs is of a very promising character. It is a dull yellowish and grey quartz, very cellular and vuggy, containiug quantities of black and other oxides of iron, together with casts and often crystals of iron pyrites. From most of the surface quartz the enclosed minerala have been washed away however, although their traces are still apparent. Minute specks of gold have been noticed m a few cases, and I have very little doubt that many of these reefs when properly examined and tested will prove to be auriferous. These quart* reefs have a general bearing of north lOdeg east to north-east. Many run due north and south. Some of them can be traced for several miles. It is most probable that these quartziferous rocks are a spur or a continuation of the gold-bearing and metaphoric rocks of the Northern Territory of South Australia, now being worked wiih some success. The river valleys aud flats, are m many places covered with deposit, sometimes very extensive, of quartz, gravel, and drift; the quartz being derived from the denudation of the reefs referred to above. I have prospected these gravels over many miles of country, and I have rarely failed to obtain good colors of gold m many localities of a very encouraging < nature. Very often-good colors were obtained m every pan washed m different trials m the same locality. I have thus found gold to be distributed over about 140 miles along tho Elvire, Pan ton, and Ord rivers, etc.,

as well as on the Mary and Margaret rivers, where the indications are very good, and the appearance of the country most favourable. In several instances I obtained good colors of gold at considerable distances from the qbartz bearing rockft, from which the gold could only haye been derived. This, to my mind, seems to indicate that there must be large quanties of gold m the quartz-bearing rocks and m the drifts immediately overlying them. The goldyielding country is welt watered by numerous rivers, creeks, and gullies, which, even m the driest part of the year, are never wholly without water ; and although during the dry season water is scarce, there woald be no difficulty m conserving water anywhere m sufficient quantity for all mining purposes. "Oa the whole the indications I have met with, poiat, as I, believe, to the great probability of payable gold being obtained m this part of Xi tuber ley, and are, I consider, sufficient to justify the expenditure either by the Government or private individuals, "of a reasonable sum of money m fitting out a party to thoronghly test the country, and I should stroagly recommend such an undertaking. I would also suggest the advisability of parties going up for this purpose providing themselves with some simple apparatus for crushing and washing some of the reef quartz, as m one vary-rudely conducted experiment of this kind I obtained a small quantity of gold." In addition to the above-men-tioned details,- we may say that that Mr Deely writes that Derby is the nearest port, and the best road is from here ; but the field is 300. miles inland at least, and poor men cannot get there. It never will be a poor man's diggings. They must haye horses. The labouring white men demand 15s a day for ordinary work, and it is very difficult to obtain the services of blacks. Chinese labour ftis also scarce at present. . A few miles from Derby Mr Deely saw a number of alligators m a river, and he has seen snakes also very frequently, some of them very long. He says that 150 miles of i the y 300, which divide the Derby from the diggings, is over a boggy track,! The belief that the field will prove one of the most permanent and paying that has yet been discovered m any part of the world grows daily, and as it has been estimated by Mr Hardraan, th'e Government Geologist of Western Australia, that an auiferous area of country extending over some 3500 or 4000 square miles exists, there appears to be ground for the opinion. Mobs of horse's are being got together for despatch, and milch cows and cattle will be sent to the land ports. Several hundreds of sheep are also being sent to provide for temporary requirements. The latest information is a telegram from Perth, which states that a miner named Morgan has returned to Port Derby with a large quantity of gold, .including a nugget weighing .2 Jib of solid gold. Mr David Linday, the lender of an exploring party crossing the continent, writing from Australian Downs on April 15, reports having discovered tin and silver, but no gold, m the far interior upon hitherto unmapped portions of the continent. Settlement is progressing rapidly, so that the mineral resources thereabouts will probably be found out, -

The following telegrams . were sent to the Melbourne Argus from Western Australia, dated May 20 and 21 :— -The present information is insufficient to warrant the supposition that it is a permanent geld, or to justify a big rush. The. s.s. Menmuir returned tP-day from Derby Water is scarce, and wells are braokish, Previous reports with regard to the diggings b»vo been r«th«r exa^ger,

a ted. The route via Cambridge Gulf is reported to be the shortest, and there is a practicable road to; th«V ; diegings. About fifty miners have visited Derby at different times for stores. OSo teams have yet gone to the fields. Cartage it i>lso per ton. The diggers' are very reticent, and all of th«avse«m to have money. One firm has* exported 3600z. • ef cold, the price given being £3 10s per ounce. The gold was a good sample. Eighty diggers went by the Menmuir, 60 of them being without means of trans* port to reach the goldfields. At present any attempt to reach the goldfields without ani pie equipment efttf ' Onif iead to misery and disaster. Already parties are pouring from the Northern Territory — some across country byway of the Ord, others by the sea route to Derby. Many from the latter return m disgust so soon as they find how great is the distance to the fields, and how expensive, are the necessaries for reaching it and for main' taining themselves there.