THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. TUESDAt, JANUARY 2, 1878.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2777, 8 January 1878, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. TUESDAt, JANUARY 2, 1878.

An effort is being made to get up a party to proceed to If ew Guinea, and it is quite possible that the reported discovery of gold in that terra incognita will prove sufficiently alluriig to induce some to undertake the expense and discomfort of a voyage, and the risk of residence in a tropical climate in order to be first in the field of new discovery. We can scarcely blame men for ibis restless spirit of enterprise. When men have followed gold mining for any ""length of time-* not as carried on here by powerful companies, but as-it was in the early days of Vietoria^Otago, and the West Coast, on the rich, alluvial fields—they become infatuated with new fields, and it is surprising hovr '• distance lends encliantment to the view." It is not with any purpose of dissuading intending prospectors that we write. We know full well that when gold miners make up their minds that they require a change, it would be a difficult task to induce tliem to change their minds. What we do feel called upon to do is to ask them to consider what they are leaving and what they are going to? We have previously had a similar duty imposed upon us. We warned men against proceeding to Northern Queensland, but many went and few returned, a good number having "joined the majority " and left their bones to bleach on the arid plains of that colony. The news from New Guinea is mere rumor, but if it were verified by official report it is not nearly so glowing as wore the reports from Queensland; while there are infinitely greater drawbacks than were to be en* countered in Northern Australia. New Guinea lies in the tropics, is inhabited by tribes of unfriendly and, in some cases, hostile natives. The island is nearly covered ;-with the luxuriant vegetation peculiar to tropical countries; in some parts it is low arid swampy, and fertile in diseases which work such havoc on the natives of temperate climes. The island teems withinsecfclifc, the pest 3of existence being varied and numerous. All these things will not deter men from going where gold is to be got. Visions of another Ballarat or Bendigo, of a Gabriel's Gully or Hartley and lleilly discovery, will egg men o# to deeds of greater emprise than a trip to New Guinea. What we would impress upon them is. to be sure that they have reliable, accounts of gold discovery before starting, and, having such, let them well count the cost of their enterprise. We venture to say that |f forty or'"fifty men were to combine together and subscribe, say £10 or £20 each, to give the back country of this peninsula a thorough prospecting, it would result in richer discoveries than any that can be vouched for as having taken place in New Guinea. The reports of rich finds in New Guinea are to be treated with suspicion. A paragraph we publish in our local column from the Herald deserves consideration, as it is as likely to give a correct version of matters as some of the highly colored reports lately published; and we would caution all intending " emigrants for New Guinea to pause before they enter upon their will-o'-the-wisp chase, for it may end, as many a rush before has ended, in disaster to those who undertake it.