KIMBERLEY GOLDFIELDS. Silverton, June 24.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 161, 17 July 1886, Page 7

KIMBERLEY GOLDFIELDS. Silverton, June 24.

David Collie, an old miner, wires the ** Silver Age 3 ' from Cossack, W.A. :—: — • f Latest news Bays patches worked out ; no field found." J. J. K. Cohn also wires the " Age " ;— " No fresh news from diggings ; no gold brought in the last four weeks. Strongly advice people not to come ; for those who will no, take advico Cambridge Gulf is the best port. I positively assert the whole field has not produced nino hundred (900) •«." The " Age " says the correspondents art reliable men. The Adelaide Steamship Company have received a telegram from Cossack, Western Australia, dated June 22, stating that the steamship Perth had arrived there from Derby, and that great delays were experienced in discharging there. The Afghan, Crambier, and Air lie were aleu lying there, and the Victoria was at Cambridge Gulf. Another message says :—": — " Diggers are advised not to leave Derby for the diggings until September, as the country is" quite dry."

(From the Sydney "Telegraph " of Juno 26. It is a thankless and indeed a useless office to warn mon who are bent upon pursuing any course they have marked out for themselves. All that can be done is to give them all the information obtainable, and rely on their common cense to furnish them with reasonable deductions- The news from Kimberler so far amply bears out the forebodings with which from the very first we have regarded this ill - advised rush. There is now a general consensus Of opinion, not from one source, but from many, that nothing in the shape of mining can be done until the rainy season sets in, which will not be for come month?, Grave doubts are expressed whether anything will be found then, as a letter from a Townsville miner at the Elvira states that a great amount of prospecting has beeu done, and a lyery large area of country run Over by the men on the field, all of whom, he states, are first-rate bushmen. Of course, no one can say what may be beneath the ground, but the reasonable probability is that the Kimberley field will be very similar to the diggings in the adjoining Northern Territory, none of which have proved sufficiently remunerative to retain any considerable number of European diggers. The question then arises • — Is the prospect sufficiently good to warrant three or four months weary waiting for water ? And to those who are so sanguine as to answer in the affirmative, another query presents itself : Would itnotbebetterto put in the waiting time somewhere within reach of civilisation ? The amount of goH that has come from the whole of the Kimberly, ever eince the news was first bruited, is distanced far and away by the weekly yields of single enterprises in more Fettled localities We hear of IOOOoz. being raised from Victoria or Queensland mines, and take it as a matter of course ; but this 900oz. from Kimberley seems to have driven men mad. We cannot help feeling a certain amount of admiration for men who venture not only the savings of their lives but their lives on such a forlorn hope. The "distant hills "at one time looked green enough to tempt anyone. But now, in spite of their distance, it appears very clear that they are not green at all. Briefly, the men who go now do not go to dig but to wait. That is the plain English of every letter and telegram that has been published for weeks. Some diggers, indeod, of exceptional energy, may devote themselves to prospecting nearer the coast than Mount BarTett, and of these some few may possibly be successful. But could not precisely the same be said of half the goldfields in Australia 1 If a man is anxious to engage in work of that kind he need not go to Derby or Cambridge Gulf for theie are far more inviting prospects nearer home. If half tho capital and half the pluck that are now, we fear vainly, expending themselves on this Kitnberley ent9rprise wsre to be devoted to the development of our own goldfields, the results would in all probability be much more satisfactory. The following is the full text of the tele gram received by the "Silver Age" from Mr Cohn, the president of the Barrier branch of the association, of which a brief extaact was telegraphed by our Adelaide coresspondent yesterday. It is dated Derby, 7, and was despatched from Cossack, the 'nearest telegraph station to the field, on the Itth inst. : — "Strongly advi=e people against coming to Kimberley. No defined field. Every man must be hia own prospector Gold only found in bare rock. No water till rainy season. Full particulars by letter/

T. J. K. Conn, late President of the Amalgamated Miners Association writes to the "Sydney Morning Herald" from Derby: Sir, — In giving you for publication a true and faithful account of the Kimberley goldfield, as far as I can, from the information I have been able to obtain from some of the principal prospectors, viz., Hall, Slattery, Carpenter, and others who are now with me in Derby, I con&ider it only my duty as late president of the Silvertan Amalgamated Minor's Association. We anchored on the 6th, a mile and a half from Derby. On the morning of the 7th the ehip'e boat put me ashore on a mud bank, caused by a rise and fall of tide of 38 feet, and it was tuck up trousers and wade a mile and a-half through the march. After we got over the marsh, a walk of three miles brought us to the town of Derby, which is situated on a very nice piece of level country, surrounded by beautiful bottle - trees, throwing their leafy shades over the road, which has been cleared for about threb miles. The town coasists of two hotels, three stores, a butcher's shop, a chemist's, a boarding house, a barber's shop, a bakery in course of erection, and the magistrate's and police quarters ; and the temperature ranges 100' in the shade. I shall now, from the most reliable information received, advise no one to come — at leaet for the present — except as a prospector. There is no goldfield yet discovered Certainly, there has been some good gold got. I have just had in my hand a 28oz nugget, containing S or 10 o'/., ironstone, found ,by Slattery in the same way as all the rest of the gold— in the bare rock at the head of the ravines, and picked out with a knife, but cannot be traced in the creeks or beds of the river. At present the greatest drawback is the want of water, and therefore it is useless anyone coming until the rainy season, which is about October. The nearest point i& about 400 xniles. Five teams are en route with • diggers' swags and provisions. The miners are paying £6 per cwt. by bullock teams. Provisions at Derby are not dear, but on •what is termed the diggings flour will be about 2s 6d. per pound, if it can be got for that, la conclusion, let me beg of miners, not to come here with the expectation of going to a goldfield, even if they have a good equipment, for many thousands have sufficient means to equip themselves properly, but there is not the field to repay them at present. If, however, they wish to come, let them understand they are coming as prospectors, to find not. only the gold, but the field, for themselves ; and in no case should they come without good horses, and money to buy at least four months' provisions. Via JPort Darwin is the cheapest and best route,