ZEEHAN SILVER FIELD.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2279, 14 November 1891, Page 3

ZEEHAN SILVER FIELD.

A friend in Zeehan writing to a chum of his at Geraldine does not give a very bright account of the Zeehan silver field. He says:—“With regard to the silver field itself, it is Nenthorn all over again only on a more gigantic scale. It will have its rise and fall, but there will be a good deal left; quite enough to support a few hundred miners after the downfall comes. But the crash will come gradually and will not be so hard as it would have been,the failure of the V.D.L, Bank having prepared a lot. Out of 5,709 leases taken up, there might be 50 working for a year year or two, and when smelters are erected and machinery, it will thin out then to perhaps about 12, 20, or 30, in the two fields. But as each of these mines will employ an average of 50 men, you can guess what it will be. One mine—the “ Silver Queen ” —the only payable one as yet, has about 100 men all told. There is, and will be, a lot of prospecting carried on, and as the country is so rough it costs a lot to do it. There are companies here that have spent a thousand or two in prospecting alone. In the paper I send you there is an expert report, and I think it is not far out as I have been all over Zeehan and Dundas. Just now a lot of mines are shortening hands for want of funds as the share market is at a standstill. You can hardly give away scrip though they are quoted in exchange. Things will look up a bit after a while, but the boom is over. As for accommodation there is plenty now, but the cheapest is Gs per day. There are plenty of hotels and restaurants all two storey high ; in fact, the town is nearly two miles long. Living is dear. The same as you would live on at 10s a man per weeks costs 16s here and no fire to buy at that. Wages are only Bs, 9s, and 10s a day, and in wet shafts 11s. The place is all a dense bush, and it is continually raining, the roads or tracks are all veritable sloughs of daspond.”