THE CROYDON GOLDFIELD. ITS PRESENT AND FUTURE.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 274, 20 June 1888, Page 4

THE CROYDON GOLDFIELD. ITS PRESENT AND FUTURE.

(By A. .1. Yot.w.)

Sl'l (MAL LETTLR TO "ArOKLVND StvU." ! Rk.ht away from the low mangiovc fringed, le\er-hiuinted sea coast of (lie Gulf of Carpentaiia a low-lying, smdy tract of almost übcle^-. country extends one hundied and fifty miles-, in an ea^terh direction—an unpayable mora^ tor months at a time dining the wet and an almost and wateiU>t> desert the le-t of the year. One wonder, with an exceeding great wondei, how an>one conld ha\e the h.ndihood to li\e, and much moie take up country upon thi.> mot-t miserable of (^ueen>land's wikK. But people did : and. what is still moie sUanjiC fchcj were ha[>pier, from what I cou\d gather dnrin« two months" &o)ourn at Crov don iroldh'el^, before the\ knew the \alue of tho^e long ridges ot da//hnn t>toue. which the\ porcened only 10 a\oul wlun mu.Ntering 1 01 ndiup: aero^^ the run.

THE SITE OF AN ANCIENT SEA. Rut to letmn to the description ot the country. The Cio\don reet- lie in the gentle, undulating bosoms ot low, ioek> hills, the iu.-t that one meet-. with on tnnelling fmm the eoa-t, a distance ot •some bundled and twenty mile.-. A -ea, up pai-ently a shallow one. from evidence^ to be spoken of anon, once 1 oiled aeio-s. these dut-tj miles of plain, anil ha- \Mirten it-. mark with long smooth lines upon the gieat dividing ran^e to the ea-t, anothei two hundred miles ci nioie along the uuil to the othei coa-t. Sink wheie } ou Mill, and \ou tind the same top .-tr.it itieatiou Foi -oine twenty teet down \ou pa?.- tlnough a stiange conglomerate of burnt, feiiu^mouparticles ot clay, bound toyeihei b\ -iliea, and perfoiated by what aie appaiently the countless bunowj of some species ot -*eaworm, which long age? since ha- p i--ed into the dim, mysteiious ewigkeit Thit old sea-bed— it can be nothing el-e. for you can see old beaches, salt pans, sandppits, i^cc, as you tia\el o\et it— ha- ap parenth been formed by the action ot the waves upon hills &uch a* the I'roydon and Gregory Ranges. Of the former 1 will now say "a lew woids These aicmoie 01 less mere upheavals, that have been almost lexelled again with the plain by that gieat natural socialist, the sea. E\ identic, ot volcanic oiigin, but foimcd ot an unamiable nondescript kind of rock, these elevations ate worthy of examination Near Cioydon tow nship some ot the highei of them, about 200 feet abo\e the plain perha})S, are flat-topped, and ha\e -mall cliffo round then- summits Walk over to one and climb o\er the ied-hot rocks, wheie the doormut-like spin if a\ gi i-s hide- the loath-ome death - addei and the h\cly "gohanner," or the green snake, Hashes up the stunted Euphorbia trees On leach ing the -ummit, you can almo-t imagine the suif 1- still tippling over those broiling stone* at your feet There is the Lift wave-maik ; there is the homely, neee«-aiy pipi How your thoughts flash back to happy teeds b\ the ITauraki Gulf in the cool delicious country ot the Maori. btai-ti-h, sea weed, cockle-shell-, and mu-iel-, or rather theii gho-tl> -emblance. in hard, brown -llica lie lound you on all side^. Uo >ou wish to -cc what liebelow ' Then -tcp down heie into the adit tunnel of the " C'onnoiigh Kangei ' mine. .^i\ teet ot fossilifeiotis red sand-tone, and then the grains of -ilica become -epaiated by 11101 c <md more of what 1- app.uenth Nolcanie dust, -uch a-> fell at Kiauatoa and Taraneia. Tin- giadually gi\e- place to a volcanic conglomerate compo-ed chieii> ot rounded ma'-es of tehite, buint cla> , .-ili ciou- rock, and thnt. In thi-, a- in the upper -aneMone layer, volcanic liomb- ot tufa-like rock appear a r intei val-. Takinfj the evidence before u-. we may safely -a_\ that the now solid sand-tone once formed part ot a -ea-beach, winch had formed o\ei a wildly \olcanic di-tuct, and that a tall of volcanic a-h and bomb-: killed the poor inhabitant-- ot the watei (they all belong appatenth to -hallow -w atet specie-) who-e lemain- \\ c ha\ c noticed, and that the land 1 o-t abo\ c itt. old ie\ el. Xe\t come the long age- dunng which the -ea tat- a\\a\ again at the lull-, and then the land rise's again. And we hnd the old -ea bottom today with tiees heie and theie t\en on the hill-, where biid- ha\e diopped their undigested seeds ; and the pool gta-s stiuggle-s to live and co\ er the naked, uglj locks, duiinjr the few month- in the \eai it ha-: an opportunity ot growing m. Man ha- come too -oon upon the«e plain-— -unit live thou-and yeais or too -oon.

DISCOVERY OF THE (.OLDFIKU). The iou;:h outline of the hi-.toiy or the di-coveiv or the ieef-> nia\ mteie-t \uu. In 1835 a Mi W ('. Blown mana./ed a i-t.ttion (Cioydon) on the plum, a feu mile-? westward of the ( royclon rin^e-., neai to the lonely Xormanton and (toilet mui road. \oimanton i- the jnilf seaport Un Crovclon. Biow n knew nothing of quait/, and u-ed to anatliematioe the lon^ lidj;* 1 * of tl)c '•arne that alnio-t bla/ed theii golden jrloiie* in hi c e\e-, beean>-e he mu.-t need> udu lound them m cio--in^ the run. One day. ho^e\er, he had to to Cloncuiiy, two liundied mile.- -outh. "A little learning, etc."' Hiown learnt that quart/ otten contained He I'tmem^ heied that he had counties ion^ of what •tta^ pii/ced at Cloncuny at hi- very dooi . He trembled all ovei : jjeihap-5 a second Ghaitei> Toweis lay in hii> back j^riidcn. Making *lie fa-te^t time on recoid to the telegiaph of lice, he wired to two brother.working; on the run at a wire-fence contiact, namt-d .Aldnd^e, to .seaich for auiiferous (|uart/. They had already seaiched, havinrr finished then contract, and had found -gold. A little learning U tiuly a rla-njrerous thin<r. Blown up hi 1 - eomioi table (foi the (JulfKstation hou^e, and went in for mining, with dwntiou.^ con-sc-fjuence*- to him-elf.

RICH AYE Li ACES, But what about the \aliio of the iield Dige&t the following iactb and figntes, and I will then pioceed upon the line jou aic probably mo^t inteiested in : — Victoria in a well-known mining colony ; let us take hei an a base-line by which we can arrive at a true estimation of the value of the Croydon iield. The total area of the Victorian goldfieldh was last year 316 square miles. The Croydon field, as pioclaimed, has as many a*- 4,700 square miles within its boundaries. Of these about 500 have been piovcd to contain auiiteioub reefs. The real iield is about twenty live miles long, north and .south, and twenty-two miles wide. The Victorian average yield of gold per ton of .stone crushed i.s a.s follow &: —Last year, lOdwts l'2Bgrs; in 1886: 9dwts 10"31gr.s ; average for 10 years, 9dwls lOgrs. Now look at the Croydon returns : At the end of labt year, the amount of gold extracted at the various mills upon the field was a.« follows : — Croydon Quartz Crushing Company's machine, 4,587 ton& for 13,8080z3 ; average. 3ozs 19grs. Hale'.s, 78 ton& for 1640zs 13dwts ; average, 2ozs 2<n-b. Dufiy'fe, 84 tons for 1370zs 7d\vts ; average, lozl2dwtb2grs. Spent's, 1,356 tons for '2,4430z5; average, loz 17dwls l'igrs. Byce'c, 1,318 tons for 6,1410z.s ; average, 4ozb b^vs. Bibby's, 3,381 tons for 6,7970zs

sd\vts ; average, 20/s Odwts 4grs. There was also cevLain .stone crushed at Georgetown and elsewhere, the grand total being for 1887 : 10,904 tons of stone crushed for ;U,3970/s 15dwt? ; with an average of yiokl of 20/.s 17ch\ ts lOgrs. Last quarter's return (to March) is 21,7010z,5. Croydon has, as will bo scon by these figures, de\ eloped factor than any other of Queensland's many goldfields. There ib also no doubt but that the disastrous Kimbei ley riu-h kept the field bju-U, without counting the loh- occasioned to it by the numbers ot mineis who might have come to C'ro\don that bocame ruined, 01 who ,e\en lo^t tiieii li\c^ at the other deceit \liggings. Space is drawing to a close, ho\\e\ei\ to 1 must condense \\ hat 1 have to s.iy furthei. Cioydon is

NOT A POOR MAN'S !)Ri(UN(!S. Cioydon will be a big Held; it has as great a iutuio before it as any part of the colonies Hut what must- ami will be done i> the woiking of tin, enormous lecfs by large, cheap-working, mnrhine-u^ing companies, which, like tho^e celebrated ones ot Ameiiea ami Victoria, knock out laige di\idonds> troni eight 01 nine pennyweight t-toue. Take the C io>don Queen leet, with an a\erago width of -say two toot, and a length ot at an\ rate two mile*- ; or the Homewiud Hound, to be traced .six miles or the Iguana and True Blue hue, extending for o\er two mile-;: and twenty more like the-e. Some ot the^e leefs aie bix, and c\entwel\e feet tlnough. Theio aietew, oven with the 1 ude batteiie- at woik heie, the muddy watei and the ab^en^e ot heidan pan-, or eoneentiatino tables, but c.m turn out an ounce to the ton. Cinching eo-t- trom 2'J- bd to 25> lit was, till latel>, 30--), and caitiuc: o\er tluee miles, 10> pei ion. The gold, al->o, i> woi th in mam ot the leeN ouh a mattei of 38-- oi C 2 per ounce. The noted ( v >iueu line gold i J an in-ta.nee of thu Watei, <i- I w lite I \!a\ ), or lather tlie wantot it, it inakuiLT the neai tutuie of the field a glooms one. Dig down in \om allotment tot twenty teet, oi t-ui leptitioueh lowei j oui bucket inlo\oui neighbour^ well, imd >ou \w\\ iret what Queenslandei^ will tell \ou, and behe\e fchem^eht?, to br good watei. Sing Hi ' tor the Wai Maoti ot New Zeal'ind's tern tiee-shaded gullies 1 \ c-, theie it> pleuU of drinking water, but the tonent^ that should luva c fallen dining the month*- preciibod to the wet -ea-on ne\er came. Were it not heait tendimj: (to the shai eholder*) it would >eem alnu^t "a tit subject tor mi i rth," that dry, dut-ty looking, silent battoiy m tiont ot tit It i^ known a>- " T.he La^t Chance, and the man who put it on that hill, ha\ ing lived main \eai> in the di^tiict, .should ha\e known what water might ha\e been expected to drne it In thiee oi toui month-t une if no lain come-- no batceiieh will be at work; exemption miht then be gi anted b\ the waulen (Mi Towner), and a gieat exodu^ will take place

BLACK RUIN HOVERS ROUND nearly all the stoiekeepet- in the township. The ica-on is chiellx that theie aic 01113 6.500 people on the Held, instead of 15,000, as expected, and because ot the decieased freight chained bv the earners namely, iio" instead ot i'2."i, and e\en C4O per ton. The foimer miscalculation caused the storekeepers to out stock themsehes, and they consequently i-annot treet then bilK and the latter alteration m atlait- enable^ outsideta and neu comas to undei-eil the oldei hand-., who biought theii goo Kup in the wet season. E\en tu.w there aie at least 1,000 unemployed on the hi Id, which ought to suppoi t a mining population 01 half a-million, at any rate. 1- ie -o unhealthy at Ctojdon as some atate it is '' W ell, 1 think it is a- unhealthy - eountty a-, one could wish tot it jou weie mauled to a -tiong-mindcd woman 01 a lady doetoi f asked (me man, who has been m Cuijdon two \ear-, the question f can imagine \ou aie a.-king me. "This climate. -11. answeied he, \\ ith a gha-tl) ltuii, that puekeied up hi- sun (hud iaee till you eouldn t help thinking of the pooi little monkt y next (loot that \ou -aw die of eatin<_ r uncooked tin tack^-—" Tin* climate 1- a delightful one. lie went on to explain a- wcfl a- he could — he i- one of -i\ ,it t hi- hotel down uith tevei, and 1- lathei weak |iK-t now that the only (Wy, indeid) Ikul month- are those tiom Maich to Jul\. The^e tevct months come after the lain-. The month's ot Octobei , Xo\embei, and I>ectmbtM, howesei, ate t!io-e that t uki leii£ol\ to tlie annual death-ioll of the place with tat.d t u-e- of seiou- apoplexy. 1 went out and checked this lattei state m< j nt ot the lono, thin, h-tle-- patienf in the ratio chait, and found that neatly 70 pet cent ot the annual death:- ot this place and Xoimanton take place in those thiee mouth-. It, gentle icadc t, \oti intend to tiv _\oui hu k in the-e pai t->, take the tollow mo ad \"K c In-iuejout lite in ~.t , secondly, become a total ab-tamc 1 , -a\ c fot a hot nobbier befoif tiMinnjrm fot the m^-hL — tin- cools you wondeihdlv, and mo-quitoe.s woufc peichon noie till you have had time to jro to -loop : and la-tly, don t. " cool down ' in the delicious owning. Out oi a do/en cases 1 could mention, neail\ all, 1 titmlv believe, be^au with a ,-vi ( ulical attempt to eti|oy the dan^eroutj e\enmg /eph} t.s on an hotel \eiandah, wit h an open t-front. Finally, to capitalists J si\ — "Thcte.ue \aluable chances at Cio^don;' and to inmei- and othets I siy — "s" s Wait toi a year. Theie 18 plenty of 100 m in a jjoldlield extending as far as AuckLmd is from Taulanya, and .ts many mile- w ide as the fot mer i-, fiom Mercer on the Waikato. " As to pei-ons tinnkin^ of coming o\ci as cutets, ot to sell hoi. so, oi pioduce of New Zealand: to all ?a\e tho^e who can -end o\ or mai/c and oats to Nocmanton, J .say lea\e the place alone. Ihu m«( m\ months' coutinuoius joutneyin^ tiuough Queen-land Ih,i\ene\ei ta.sted good buttei 01 cheese. Why should not New Zealand tinneis try what can be done in tln.s line? To sum up, then, 1 will piophesy that, despite a .-hocking climate, a present scarcity of water, a dearth of minin<; enterpii.se in the field, the coming bankiuptcy of the majoiit} of the stoickeepets, the jjooines^ of the £°Id, and the omallncsh (ccjtnparati\ely) of the letiun.s pei ton — despite all thi 1 -, l belio\ c these <;iant reefs, so easily wotked. will be, sooner or later, taken up by great syndicates and companies, who, with cheap winding and crushing, and improved machinery and dams, will make Croydon the greatest gold and siherh'eld Australia — perhaps the wot Id — has yet seen. All the same, J agree with a friend who has been on the field foi twcl\e months, that " €2,000 a-year would not suflice to tempt me to live at Croydon.''

< J Alii ,ICK &CX A N WE LL are .selling Furniture find Carpels very cheap. Iron r Jod .steads and Spiincj Mnttro.sseh at <>reatly reduced ptice.s. Bedding of all Rinds ready foi de)i\ciy Oil Cloths from Is. square yard. Linoleum from 2,s 3d. Blankets, -heel-,, quilts, curtains, and all furnishing :/ood.s -plendid value. Wire Wove Mat tie.-ses tnueli cheaper than they used to be. A stiong lioi, Bedstead and Wire Wove Mattress for ,wa ca&h. Simple Iron Bedstead and Who Wove Mattress for 38s cash price. Our goods are carefully packed, eve y attention paid to prevent damage by tiunsit. Buy all your household goods from (■AIiLICK and CRANWELL, Cabinet, tnakerb, Queen V.reet. AuokUuuT