AUCKLAND MAN AT KIMBERLEY Description of Derby.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 156, 12 June 1886, Page 4

AUCKLAND MAN AT KIMBERLEY Description of Derby.

< _ V S~ f **f fr if I «> r \ r ! As an additionaVinducement to the Cam- » bridge w Grulf route, as ..compared with that' via Derbfc w^ythteh' (IWoraph) learn fc^r West Australlaii telegrams that 300 diggera vsov $o Ip^oeedfff^ P'erthr-th^nce^ia the n Gulf t; r '-Setttemet)tjsr»alBo .further, jod^vanced 1 .t^a^.wef had .supposed. The Go\rernm^nt Resident is located at Bastion Hill, Which *ifMne distance further Viewshill, J and is -the si te'reoommended- for a 1 township.,, * (TheiGulfidtseMiisjeaidtp^e -equal J^. Port Jackson as a hWbour.i,Th'e place is rio£/ f as had been stated, destitUtV of 'stjares. More than one has been^erected at Viewrhill, b^^fpjE cour?e, : v ( e|ry high prices are^ detnanded for all necessaries. Without going f urtha^ the, information to hand warrants,,, it, seems in the highest degree probable",' from I 'the testimony of several explorers acquainted with the country, that the shorter route , will ulthnately, ,and perhaps before long; 1 be the one more generally adopted.

' ' ' " a' 28 Ounce Nugget. 1 News from- \Der6y says that Hall and Slattery, $ party- have fqund a 28 oz. nugget. The NornuiHr Chronicle has the following : ''There are 9ome.,people here .who talk of taking, teams overland, and if they do so we •will point out. the straight road. They must go direct to the Katharine Telegraph .station on the Port Darwin overland line, and from there they will follow Alexander F west's tracks to the head of the Fitzroy Kiver. The new field is situated about 100 ! miles north-west from the head of this river, and the last 100 miles will be the worst part of the road." # , Advice to Diggers.

Mr. A. J. Keiller, of the Cambridge Downs .Pastoral Association expedition (ISSo), has supplied the Melbourne Ar/c with some information which he considers will be very serviceable to those who intend to go pedition in which he was engaged, the te the Kimberley diggings. During the exhoises were attached \vith a peculiar disease, which seemed to reduce the animals to a strange state of bewilderment. The horses | wandered about until they fell exhausted a-.d died. Their party lost the horses on the coast. What led to this disease Mr. Keiller cannot divine ; but, as a preventative t he would warn all to take their horses ; on landing beyond the salt water country, and theie keep them until they have landed their goods, and then to get them away from the coast as soon as possible. Mr, Keiller"s advice is that all should land near Bastion Hill, in the Cambridge Gulf, and that all ehonld be prepared with provisions to last them through the next rainy season. This, he thinks, is essential on account of the floods, which may prevent miners from petting down to the coast un til after the rains, the country being liable to very heavy floods.

The Rush from Queensland. Towxsvili.e, May 26. — CaptDarke, of the steamer Catthertuu, interviewed by a reporter of the I'oirnn'illeßulletin, stated that a large vessel like the Gambier could not get nearer the landing place at Derby, Western Australia, than live miles. Horses would have to be lightered from the ship to shore.

At the beginni ig of tihis year, Mr Campbell, an old ivnd respected resident of Auckland, who carries on business as a storekeeper in England* street, Ponsonby,' proceeded to the northern part of Western Australia for the purpose of inspecting the country with' the view of embarking in business there, fie returned to Auckland by the last Sydney steumer for" the purpose of making final arrangements for his departure to the new Eldorado. Mr Campbell was interviewed by a Star reporter at his residence, to-day, and, in answer to questions, made the following statement, which we give in his own words :—: — I left Auckland in January last with the intention of going to the Kimberley district, Western Australia, for the purpose of I coming into the resources of that region. I took passage by the Mariposa for Sydney, and then by coastal steamer to Perth, W.A., and thence via Singapore .to Derby. i I landed in King's Sound, on which Derby is built, on April 7th. The landing is very bad. The tide has a rise and fall ot 36 feet, and the adjacent water being very shallow the tide recedes nearly three miles at low | water. There is a pool, a lagoon of deep water, within half-a mile of the jetty, and it is customary for vessels to lie here, goods and passengers being landed by lighters at a jetty which has been erected by the Government of Western Australia. The majoiity of the steamers running to Derby belong to the Adelaide Steam Navigation Company. They call at Derby once u month. The steamer in which 1 travelled was the Natal, belonging to tome Singapore traders, which runs at reuular interval betwem Perth and Singapore, calling at all the ports on the \Vest Australian coast. '1 he site of Derby is a dead level, raised very little abo-*e the sea. Indeed thei-e i.% not an eminence to be seen anywhere — as far as the e^e can see are sandy well-giassed plains, which I bolievo would provide loclder for horses all the year round. Derby is three miles from the landing. There is no road, but a temporary tramway had been laid along a mud ilat which extends from the bench to m ithin a mile and a half > of the town. The mud flat is a salt marsh. The township was laid out some years ago, but of course there were -no inhabitants until quite recently. At the time of my visit it consisted of two "hotels" — small galvanised iron buildings — the Resident Magi strate'i house, a few hut 3 with thatched roofs, and some miners' tents. Thete were about 100 residents, including 50 diggers. These men had come to Derby without » money and they were endeavouring to earn sufficient at road-making 1 to supply them with means of locomotion to the goldfields. Horses to cirry provisions, etc., are absolute necessities (as a man could not carry enongh provisions to take him half way in that climate and he would have nothing to eat when he got there. The Government officials are the magistrate who is also the doctor, and two or three policemen. The climate is remarkably good ;up to the time of my visit there had not been a single case of fever and ague. The weather though it was as late a& April was very hot, much hotter than I have ever felt it on the hottest days in Auckland but I do not know what the thermometer readings were. I however ascertained that irom May to September the weather is cool and delightful, and the flies and mu&quitos, Avhich are always very bad during the summer, almost disappear. Ants are a terrible pest. I saw ant hills fiftteen feet high, and old residents say that it is almost impossible to save anything from them. A few snakes have been seen near the township, but the varieties are believed to be harmless, and none of the pioneers have been bitten. I found li"ing remarkably cheap ; the hotels only charging 25a per week's board and lodging. The food supplied at these establishments comprised pot ed meat and fish, bread, tea, etc. There was no fresh meat. I saw no New Zealand brands of meat. There is a good store on the beach, one and a half miles iroin the township, at which everything can be purchased, from a needle to an anchor, and the prices are all, I consider, very reasonable. Flour, per 501b bag, was 10s ; rice, 2id per lb ; good tea, 2s 3d per lb ; sugar, 6d per '.b ; bacon, Is 6d per lb ; potted meat, Is 3d per lb, or by the case, le. Other goods were equally cheap. Adcock Brothers, the owners of the store, draw their supplies from Singapore— not from Perth. Seeing that things can be purchased so cheap, , I would not advise diggers to take provision with them. The great want is horses and pack saddles, J and them they certainly should take, j The lowest price for the worst claas of \ hors — a hack that would not bring more than £5 in Auckland — £25, and a shipment of horses should pay well. , I do not j think that Derby will be the permanent entrepot 'of the district. - Cambridge Gulf, 500 miles further north, is 100 miles nearer the goldfield, and possesses a good landing, which cannot , be obtained anywhere near Derby. There is also good drinking water at Cambridge Gulf, which is not the caee in Derby. The water p Derby is obtained from wells,, but is yeiy brackish t The , Fitzroy river, which "runs-; near the township, is merely' a winter water course, and doeß not run in { though there are pools in- the bed ; all the' year round. , I did not go to the goldfield, for personal, reasons, but I have not the „ slightest doubt the (field is a gobd ; genuine one. The miners who had,, been : up at thei goldfield and had gold w_ere rather reticent as I}o localities, and whpn tyis^ went out again th.ey sneakedn off , for £ fear ', gf (tjpeing folr iThe-digger^iitola, me, that the road^.is a, good ,one, ~-, t^t^you could . get ,j a, < „ dray . , ■ nearly- .- to ;.<■ the field without , .cubing > ,a ,^There is .plenty of ,water, all ths year ,ro ( uind in waters {holes in ',and" there is: .also* }goo<| , feesi jfo!? (f hor^ r «$- «#,t|e.; * All jfche? jparfces,,.carry n arm9, { nn 4 qt £cj$ i^ratection irony fthe, blacks^ who, arje^tqpiiriglijtendd of the #rhftee,.tQ te&Pgtt^iiwg^Sto purpose #i?St%k< lfe^ll^W»fflp ft 'KimT berley next March. -rAuoklandc". Star." • f >'