NEW GUINEA GOLDFIELD.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5215, 8 December 1877, Page 2 (Supplement)

NEW GUINEA GOLDFIELD.

By a recent Sydney cablegram, information reached us of a rich gold discovery having been made on the north-west coast of the great Island of Papua or New Guinea. The news had reached Cooktown by means of a sailing vessel which arrived there from New Guinea, and on board of which were specimens of the gold. The telegram does not say whether the gold consists o£ alluvial deposits or of quartz. Most probably it is the former, and if so, doubtless rich quarte mines will be found hereafter, just as they have been on the West Coast of the Middle Island of New Zealand some ten years after rich alluvial diggings had been discovered on the Buller River and its tributaries. The district or region where this gold has been found (says the Auckland Herald) is in that portion of the island claimed by the Dutch, whose alleged sovereignty extends over the western half of the island. A large and deep bay, opening to the north, called Geeliuk Bay, is, we assume, the district where the discovery has been made, The news will, we should suppose, exercise a salutary influence in Queensland, where it. was j first received. At the present time Cooktown I and the goldfields of the Palmer are overrun with Chinese, who can get nothing to do, and who are seriously incommoding the European settlers by reason of their greatly outnumbering the colonists, and threatening to push them°from their stools. Possibly this discovery will at once relieve the Queensland goldfields' of a large proportion of Chinese, who will by-and-by find their way to the Papuan goldfields, and transfer their allegiance, such as it is, from the British flag to the Dutch. The Dutch Government also will undoubtedly take early steps to look after the wealth of which these satisfactory indications are now reported. What has been found in the western extremity of this great island, which is the largest in the world (for we may fairly term Australia a continent), may in a, short space of time be discovered in the eastern half of New Guinea. Not long ago there were strong efforts made to induce Great Britain to annex this rich and promising territory. This discovery will hasten the colonisation of the island. Wherever gold is found, there multitudes of men disregard the perils of the seas, know it is bad enough to have an unsaleable the dangers of the wilderness, the bloodthirstiness of savage aborigines, and the malaria of a swampy climate ; and civilisation and commerce soon follow in their train. That this will before long mark the history of New Guinea we do not doubt. A recent eminent geographer, writing on the capacity and promise of the island, says :—" That a great future is open to this vast territory is undoubted. Rich in natural products and miner.*;, .vealth to an extent of which we can have no conception, situated in such close contiguity to one of our largest possessions, and between it and China and Japan, and India, it is of immediate consequence to England. If we are to profit by intercourse and trade, no time should be lost in despatching a strong surveying expedition, furnished with scientific explorers, to complete the survey of the coasts, and to ascertain its capabilities." To act on the advice here given is now more imperative than ever it was, and we go further and say that Great Britain should take formal possession of the regions yet unclaimed, for if we fail to do so promptly another Power may precede us ; and if France once directs her attention to this land of promise, she will remember the lesson we taught her in the race to annex New Zealand, and on this occasion take time by the forelock.