Three-Mile Race For Diamonds

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 122, 13 August 1927, Page 1

Three-Mile Race For Diamonds

NEW TRANSVAAL FIELD THE third rush for new diamond fields in South Africa is under preparation. Arrangements are described as being extraordinary. The township is to be laid out on up-to-date lines, and a great race to the field has been organised. Prospectors will have to run three miles to win the choice of pegging out claims.

(British Official Wireless.— Copyright) CAPETOWN, Thursday. Extraordinary preparations are being made for the crowds who will rush to a newly-proclaimed diamond field in the Transvaal. It is reported to be one of the richest fields in the country. Diggers from all parts of the country are going in great numbers to the field, and large sums of money have been offei'ed to athletes who may succeed Ih pegging out the best claims. The owners of the field have spared no expense in laying out the township on up-to-date lines. There will be a race fer three miles to the field to peg out claims.—A. and N.Z. A FRANTIC MARATHON RACE IS TO THE SWIFT MAGNIFICENT DIAMONDS FOUND ONE GEM WORTH £7,000 On February 25 of this year the first rush to the new diamond field on the Grasfontein Farm, in the Lichtenburg district, was proclaimed. A FALSE START Seventeen thousand diggers assembled for the race. TJnfortunately those on the left of the line, to the number of about 12,000, made a false

start ten minutes before the official time, and the police were unable to control the eager crowd. All the claims staked on that occasion were declared null and void. ARMY OF DIGGER ATHLETES The second rush took place at noon on March 4. On this occasion 25,000 diggers toed the mark. When the flag fell announcing that the new field was thrown open, runners, who had been standing in a line two miles long, set off on a great race. Trained athletes (many of them well-paid for the Marathon) soon took the lead and made for the ground which was believed to be the richest in diamonds. Many diggers, who were “blown” after running a few hundred yards at top speed, finished at a walking pace half an hour after the rush started. SNEAKS TAKEN BY POLICE Twenty-one men were arrested for hiding on the ground before the proclamation was read with the object of pegging claims without running for them. It was a marvellous scene. The course was two miles long, and a strong force of police maintained order. Hundreds of motor-cars brought spectators. A DASH FOR WEALTH An official with a Union Jack fastened to a long pole started the frenzied race for wealth, and at the fall of the flag the army of runners, which included men of all colours and races—-

white, black, and off-coloured—to-gether even with a few women, set off on a frantic career, SOME MAGNIFICENT GEMS The alluvial diamond field of Grasfontein is stated to be the most important find of diamonds yet discovered in a land of mineral wonders; but even this area is said to be eclipsed for wealth by the latest discovery, just south of the Orange River, in a territory known as Little Namaqualand. Some of the diamonds found here are described as flawless and of magnificent quality. One of them is over 81 carats and valued at £7,000. A parcel of diamonds lodged in a Capetown bank was valued at £150,000. Last year the diamond production of South Africa increased to £10,683,597, of which the alluvial fields contributed £3,983,681. The problem at the moment is bow to maintain the value of diamonds in the market.