AN EARL AS A MINER

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 348, 26 March 1910, Page 9

AN EARL AS A MINER

AN INTERVIEW WITH THE EARL OF HARDWICKE.

''lt was hard work, but I enjoyed it," said Lord Hardwicke to a writer in M.A.P., 5 speaking of the days when as quite a young man lie went prospecting and mining in Western Australia and the States. "I kept a diary in those days, and it enabled me to recall some experiences, many of which I had wellnigh forgotten.

"I have some notes about a camel named Tommy, which I purchased for £6B tOs. I don't recommend learning to ride a 'amel as an enjoyable pastime, the immediate effect of this sort of exercise being to make one feel excessively sea-sick and generally miserable; however, once you get accustomed to the animal's methods, the camel is a firstrate beast of burden, and simply tireless. When 1 started out prospecting in Western Australia, in addition to Tommy, I, -had two other camels for carrying the packages of our party, which consisted of two men named Smith and Black.

In my diary, by the way, there seems to me to be a needless amount of space devoted to the subject of our water supply; but out in the bush this is a matter of very constant anxiety. "You can't pitch your camp anywhere until you have ascertained where water is to "be had; it may take hours of searching in the broiling sun before you find it, and it is always salt, except such rain water as you may get in holes in the rocks. Salt water, of course, must be condensed before you can drink it, which is rather trying when you are excessively thirsty. AN AWKWARD SITUATION, "While searching for water, I once got lost; indeed, I got lost several times', but I was never in a really had fix except on this particular occasion. I had not been long prospecting then, and had no idea of how easy it is in a perfectly level country, without a landmark of any sort, to lose one's way; afterwards I grew more 'knowledgeable' and learnt how to 'track' and guide self by the sun. "Well, anyway, on this occasion I got lost; I think I began going about in a circle; after twenty-four hours of it I was dead beat and suffering fearfully from thirst. I had not had a drop of water ior nigh on thirty-six hours. I

bad left camp, by the way, on a bicycle, but the 'going' when I found myself was Tearfully heavy, the bicycle at last sinking several inches deep in the fine sand. "I got too weak even to wheel the machine, and had to drop it. A little while later I came on a sight which made me feel slightly queer; I saw a pair of boots and a waistcoat on the ground, and a little" farther on a young man of about twenty-six lying dead. He had died from thirst, poor chap, and must have perished in fearful agony. About ten minutes later, when I was about done up, I encountered Smith, who had ridden out from camp to search for me; I was, as a matter of fact, within less than a mile of our camp, but T didn't know it. TRACKED BY NIGGERS. "One had to keep a weather eye out for niggers in those days in Western Australia. They must have murdered and robbed hundreds of white men. I had a rather weird experience one night when sleeping in a cave by myself; the rest of the party had gone on to look for a camping ground, and I was. to follow next day. We had heard that »ome niggers were on our tr,ick, and I was warned by Smith before he left to keep an eye out for them. Niggers, by the way, can ''track" in the most wonderful manner; they will follow you for days, keeping perhaps two or three miles behind you, but you never get off yolur track, and it is impossible to mislead them.

"Their object in following a, prospecting party was simply to rob them of food; if they came across white men asleep, they nearly always murdered them, but seldom ventured to attack ■them otherwise. White men in the bush, of course, always carried firearms, whilst the nigger had only-his spear, but in his hand it was a very deadly weapon. I knew of one man who fought a sort oi a duel with a nigger. The white man fired three times at the nigger, but missfed his shot each time, and then at a distance of nearly twenty yards was speared through the heart'by his assailant. FALSE ALARM. "Well, on the night I am talking about, I did my best to keep awake, but at last, overcome by fatigue, I fell asleep. 1 woke in the middle of the night with a start, and, looking out of the cave, I saw—or thought I saw—a couple of niggers standing some yards distant, nodding their [heads in toy direction. It was a weird experience, and I shall not forget it. I felt about for my revolver, and, getting hold of it, I sprang up and rushed out of the cave, to make the diseovery that the two niggers were, after all, only two bushes, the tops of which were being swayed by the wind.

"Whilst in Western Australia, I stayed one night, by the way, in a small empty cottage which had a concrete floor; I afterwards discovered it was the cottage where Deeming committed some of his< murders. It may be remembered ihe buried his victims' 'beneath the concrete floor.

"I enjoyed very good health whilst out In the bush, and escaped fever, although my two companions were all down with it at one time or another. They were first-rate fellows, and we all got on very well together, but once I had a row with Smith which heariv *nded seriously. We were disputing about tracking, and Smith said I knew nothing about it. The way he said it irritated me, and I answered him sharply. Bough words were used by both of us, and then suddenly Smith seized his revolver; the next instant we were facing each other across a narrow table, with our loaded weapons in our hands. After a few rather tense moments, as a serial writer would say, we suddenly burst out laughing, dropped our weapons, and shook hands; we were always the best of friends afterwards.

"I have been speaking, by the way, it seems to me, chiefly of niy prospecting experience, and have said nothing about my work as a miner. I have worked in mines in Australia, the States, and South Africa. T went to the States to learn mining engineering, and afterwards took on a job as n. ganger at ten shillings a day.' One thiwA may say that when I was working as a ganger I gained more practical insight into mining that T otherwise could have done WAS TT CLAIRVOYANCE? "There is one incident recorded in my diary which, though it really has nofliiiHi' tn ()n with my experience's as a miner, has alwavs remained fresh in my memory, i was at Perth, in Australia, with several people. Anion,;.- the party was an English ladv. a Mrs.' T) . who

had come out to meet her husband, who had been engaged in a mining business for several years, in which he had done very well. The day before he -was to have arrived at the hotel where we were staying, 1 received a message in the .afternoon to say that he bad been drowned; and I was asked to undertake the unpleasant task of breaking the sad news to his wife.

"We were having a dinner party at the hotel' that night, and I decided not to say anything about the tragedy until the following morning. Before dinner Mrs. D was resting in her room when she suddenly began to scream. Several people rushed in to see what was the n.atter when they found her in a. violently hysterical state. She declared that she had seen her husband lying dead on the floor. After a little while she got more quiet, but was unable to come down to dinner. "The next day I broke the news to the unhappy lady, when she told me she had been absolutely convinced the night before that she would never see her husband again."