KIMBERLEY GOLDFIELDS.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 157, 19 June 1886, Page 7

KIMBERLEY GOLDFIELDS.

The excitemont of the rush has cooled off, vifcibly, and men seem now more disposed to await the more reliable news, which is coming to hand. A correspondent of the " Argua " says of the routes* to the field :— " Kimberley is divided into East and West Kimberley, each territory having a port town, at which a resident magistrate is stationed. West Kimberley, of which Derby is the town, was settled soon after Alexander Forrest's exploration of the country, chiefly by Western Australians, and up to within the last four months was the only district having a Government establishment. In March last Derby consisted of six stores, two publichousep, a blacksmith's, and a boardinghouse, in addition to Government camp and a few huts. It is almost wholly supplied from Perth and Freemantle, and visited monthly by a coasting s< earner, with the exception of the hurricane months, December, January, and February. The town is situated on a point of Pindam (open forest, poor country), which had less swamp between it and the eea than the rest of the coast near it. The ' Amur Pool,' which is the roadstead abreast of this po nt, is not close inshore, but has a depth of from four to five fathoms water. Stock have to be landed at a point some distance north of Derby, although a few have .been landed from the 'Pool.' Between Derby and the Upper Elviro it is 350 miles to the spot where the gold has been found, 30 miles E.S.E. of Mount Barrett. Derby represents Perth interests, and it is of vital importance to Western Australia that all traffic should be diverted via Derby ; hence all recommenda tions in favour of the Derby route up to the present, even to the telegram from the Acting-Chief Secretary. . .' . . As to the road, we have the opinion of Mr Johnston, the surveyor, who surveyed every chain of it from Derby to the digginge, and thence to Combridge Gulf, that the road from the Gulf is the best for feed and water, and some sixty miles shorter. Bear in mind, this is no trader's recommendation ; and by the latest accounts we hear that O'Donnell, the explorer, was going by a new route, by which he expected to reach the diggings in a little over 2L.0 miles. Since he started Mr John Forrest, the Surveyor - General, has been up the valley east of Mount Cockburn, and I have reason to believe that a new road will be found by that route on to the Denham River, and thence south ; therefore the distance may ba reduced to something under the 200 miles. Of course, it is wise to go provided with stores- Bay three months' supply- but I anticipate that ere this depots have been formed along the road item the Gulf to the diggings." Perth telegrams report that lar^cj i[uantities of flour and general stores ha<j§ been taken to Derby, and advices from tlßre indicate that prices are normal, the price of bread, however, in Perth has goce up one penny per loaf. Information from the goldfield comes slowly to hand owing to there being no communication with either

place, the nearest station being Roeburne. It is reported from Derby that 1000 cattle are en route for that town, and that 400 have arrived on the Margaret River. Sow far aoea the Field Xxtoaa, Mr E. W. Lamb, of Sydney, has forwarded a letter to the Chief Secretary of South Australih in reference to the propability of the Kimberley gold strata extending into Australian territory. The writer points out that Ernest Giles, the explcrer, in describing the country through which the overland telegraph line to Port Darwin would pass, eaid that he discovered gold in the quartz in Bishop's Creek, which ia in the came latitude as Kimberley. As the Government Geologist of Western Australia says that gold extends from the Kimberley fields to the South Australian border, Mr Lamb suggests that it is worth while to try Bishop's Creek.