SOUTH AFRICA AND ITS DIAMOND MINES.

Tuapeka Times, Volume 21, Issue 216, 21 March 1872, Page 6

SOUTH AFRICA AND ITS DIAMOND MINES.

.In compliance with the request of £he Tuapeka Hospital Committee, . BUhop Moran delivered! 4 lecture on" the above subject in the Athenaeum pn evening last. When it is fonsiiered that an entertainment for the benefit. of the Hospital funds had taken place in the early part of the week, the attendance to hear his L,ordpbip's lecture was very good.. There . must have been at least 120 ladies and gentlemen present. About twenty minutes pa?t eight o'clock, Vincent P-yke, Esq., 8.M., took the : chair, arid, \u introducing the .reyerenjj. lecturer, pajd that he thought the same feelings £hafc prompted him i<a be present had prompted all. First, they had come po hear some accurate information regarding those diamond fields,,- of which so much had been said ; and secondly, they had come to listen to the eloquent utterances of the reverend lecturer. i It seemed presumptuous on his part to say mqre, seeing they were all aejjuainled with his Lordship, some personally aud all by repute. He had now the pleasure of introducing his Lordship the Most Beyerend Bisho,p Moran. , : His LoTdsbip then commenced th& lecture, of w.hieh v. c give a summary. He j|aid be had been requested some since to deliver a lecture for the benefit of the Hospital, but it had been out of his power to do so, and ft would have still been out of his power had not some gentlemen of the pomun'ttee told him they would be satisfied with a repetition of the lecture which he had delivered at the Teyiqt. The Teviot people understo.od fhat the lecture was going to be on the subject- of education, -and they telegraphed to him at Alexandra to change the subject to the one he delivered. This be gladly agreed to do :—lst,: — Ist, because it would gratify them ; and 2nd, because the subject was one which would not cost him much trouble. They were all anxious to get gome reliable information as to these gold fields ; and as he had resided pearly fifteen years in the eastern province' of South Africa, he was well acquainted with the place, and in a ppsitfop. to supply that , information. jn his repacks he would, not confine .himsejf to the dianioud fields alone as fhe -lecture so confined would be inpomplete and- unsatisfactory. He would therefore speak of its climate, modes of government, and tuode of travelling, aqd give an accounb of how £he diamond fields were discovered, and bow they had progressed. This he would dp from personal knowledge, and frqm information he had received lip to la§t November, from some of his fqend?, and from Dr. Richards, who was. one of his priests, in South Africa, au4 .who had recently visited, the ftiamqnd field?, and whose, information , yfas thoroughly reliable. When speak- ■ ing o,f South Africa, some people were pnd'er the impression that there were pnly -two- independent governments, and that: there was. no other. That was not the case, as there were many. ]$y Soi^th Africa he embraced that pqrtion south of the line, but the part " whigh they were concerned with in the f lectiy-e, .was,,t,he iouthern; extremity. In looking, -at-,. the" map 7 one would^ i think -.it,, runs 40, a> point, whereas' in" reality it is'--ne.ai*ly» 1300 / miles' in ex~ tent:- 'jfr you- V o "tb the' C.ape, you I require tq gd east 'to Port ' Elizabeth, |hen from Borb. Elizabeth to Natal, a , (iujfance qf 1200 "miles. 'Tliis country glong the sea coast is (Jape Colony, • 'which belongs to the British Government. Passing Cape Colony, we come .';so Eaffraria, Which, if it has a sovereign . iit'-'all, 'is savage. But here we have . aiso.^-large extent of country called ' %o, roan's Land, to the, J east of which ''js"thi Qbloqy'of; J^atal*,- which, is not . jp.uch larger than Yorkshire. ' Each pqlqny has, its own government,- and jtr Qwn legislature. . Of these there -.jsaro f twa Dutch republics, .although I tinqeir Britain. These arc the Trans?;Va»j Bepubli?, and the Orange Frse ; ; :^taie. lie'pUblic. Qrange Free Sfcato t b.e}o;nss to the British Govern.^e^t, : i, ; lo]itß early history it belonged: ,-to.. Eqgland, although. under a distinct' • <foctq '.itf Government called the { Sovereignty. Immediately after the slays emancipation, the Dutch pqpula-- . tiotr became, dissatisfied^ with the Brijli|b..ijule, and removed from this state £^d founded the Colony of Ifatalj but here^Tthey were conquered, by Sir Harry Smith. However, . Sir Harry waslafterwards unsuccessful in a war, ajid was. recalled and s^ppla^ted, ' by " who was/ afterwards attacked « of the chiefs with 30,000 men. Gathcart then wrote a dismal description otf' the country to. the British • government, speaking of it as, a waste - hqw.liqg. wilderness, "and recombend-;ty3'-them/to give "it if}* That they didyan'd- the. Diitc.h"a'n.d : English left Jliere fojmed the Orange Freja State into a c : 1 Bepnblia The Be'pnb'Uc is separated fro.m the Ojrange - feubiiic. by the r^ver,. it, is a larger •a i nfLfj(n,er country. Roth republics are governed alike— they <ha.ye each a " bfcneral /Isssembty and president, and the, country is, divided, into coqstifca'Phtf Ti\an>yaaJ Biver ia one \9J hApi>rtan<*e. to. the "dja'inond fleMa^-j. M° * ';«■ • Anujgof jfe^ Coies.- • l»Rg- a^m .Qp-pe- OoMyi/ifih, divided t^,^?Jt^o r .p.riMtmce.B, .which differ in tfottjroy;>reßp©cts'fro,!n ttefbtfu.iiti'y ahfcfve c^^b.e.4 mier ciimflte H* Very ' a)fT .^reilt. For three tn^tlls in winter fc &w* a. 44 r «>p #?m Mi- T^

products are the same, only the eastern provinces are more fertile. There is more pasture land. In the western portion of the .eastern province many of the Huguenots settled down and devoted their attention to the cultivation of the vine.. They make excellent wines and brandies. Along the share from the Cape to Natal there are ranges of mountains rising from the low lands at distances' varying from ten to forty miles inland. The highest cones that are seen from the coast will not be over 4000 feet high, and rinovy *can never be seen on them. -These mountain ranges are pierced with roads, some of them forty - miles in length, and well macadamised. They have all been made by convict labour. Tou would imagine that after reaching the summit of these mountains you would commence descending, but it is not so. From the elevation gained, tb,ere is a plain stretches out a distance of perhaps eighty miles, and then another range of mountains, rises like stairs. Between the second range of mountains, known as the Great Garew, there is a peculiar country. Not a blade of grass to be seen, and the , place looks dreary in the extreme: 'The eittle there look well, just aB if they had been groomed ; this is owing to the fattening properties of the rowey^ bush — a plant which grows about eighteen inches apart. The Fed earth can be seen between each bush baked with the sun, and you wonder Where these cattle get their liring. The soil is very productive where springs are discovered ■ and the water saved and made use of. This is a fine ■ country for grapes. Unless the grape withers, and dries on the vine to almost a raisin, it does not make good wine. On account of the dryness .of the atmosphere ill the Carew district, it is well adapted for the cultivation, of the vine. Prunes also abound in this country, and excellent wheat. The next range of mountains rises from 8000 to 10,000 feet above the sea Jevel, at the Catsberg, i which, his Lordship said, he had himself crossed. The next is the Storm berg, aud then the traveller comes to another vast plain, which stretches to the Orange river. There are few or no' hills in the Orange JBVee State, but towards the Transvaal the country begins to descend. The climate here is moist, and everything, can be grown — all kinds of cereals and other things. One great disadvantage this country labours' under is this, that it has no port — no outlet for trade. Two crops every year can be obtained from the soil — a winter and a summer crop ; so with potatoes; and if you plant your fruit tr3es judiciously, you can have fruits in aU seasons. The climate of the Cape is not surpassed by any part of the world. It is in the same latitude as New South Wales, but it is nob so ' hot as either "Vicfcoiia Or New South Wales. In winter there is ' frost, excepting for eight or ten miles inland along, the coast, owing to a current from the Mozambique river and a counter current, which affects the temperature along the coast. The coast is therefore the resort of invalids in the winter season. In Grahamstown there is frost in winter, but he had never seen ,sn£w f any where in the Cape olony excepting on the Winterberg, some 10,000 feet- above the sea leveL- In the /parts he was most acquainted with the frost went before the sun. In fact the best resemblance to the ordinary winter w.eather of the Cape he could give, was the weather they had had yesterday and to-day. TKe sun is not very hot in tht summer time — not unbearable. He wore the same kind of dress there as he wears in this colony. Taking one. part of the country. with the other, the climate is excellent.- He. would now- refer to the mode of travelling in the coftntry. Years' ago travelling was chiefly on horseback,' or by bullock 1 waggons capable of carrying 10,000 lbs. bnrden.." These waggons are yoked with sixteen or eighteen bullocks. If you travel by waggon, you can take your bed and suspend it- from 4 the top of tiie waggon and make yourself comfortable enough, if you have got patience , with the slow .travelling. Recently very fine reads haye r been made and bridges put' over '"all the dangeronsrivers. Somtfof theseroads and bridges are really noble .works.! , The road over the Catsberg is carved out of the mountain and kept in excellent order.' At present Cobb is running a coach from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth. The charge in his time was £2 10s. to Grahamstown, and £3 10s. to Port Elizabeth,- exclusive of your own hotel expenses. Then it takes about £20 by Cobb, from Port Elizabeth to the diamond fields. The road is good, there being-no Vlanger attending it all the way. If the season be wet, travellers should be cautious, for a dry river of,yes•terdayibecomes a torrent of to-day. ♦In the Cape colony the Government is carried on by a Governor and Legisla ture; the latter is composed of two Kouses of Parliament ; one is called the Legislative , Assembly, and the other the Legislative Council. For the .Legislative Assembly • the colony is. divided into twenty-nine constituencies, returning in J all - sixty-fqur members. Foh ,tbe i rlJpper House .the,, colony is mio,, f fcw.o.. provinces— ;bne praYino.er returning eleven members; and the ''qfch.er.ten, -to! .p.revsrtt '"& "tte&d-Jodk. Hert^ in Jt\ii# =cblqny o£ 'New^a-land, ■v^»' ; KaVj6 frl Vhat is* cafjed \ resjjjonsiblei g^veramein^/in.^eiofr^ of a, Cabinet responsible, far,* th,ejTr/ act^ '. ' B|ttt in } reality, we have eight or teg respp^iblej

governments in this counhy, and yet we .find none of them responsible, ft is different in Gape Colony, The Executive Government is not responsible to the people, but to the Governor. »These responsible governments which exist io this colony only tend to jobbery,j obbery, and to the postponing of good efforts to an indefinite period. He stuck fo these views during his residence at the Cape, and used all his influence to carry them out. The population of the colony is 500,000. Of thes-e, 360,000, are almost savages \ about. 130,000 are Dutch, and the descendants of Huguenots, and are not the most highly educated. The only people there who know anything of constitutional government are those who came from England and Ireland ; and a daring and unscrupulous man might, under what is termed a responsible government, get members returned to s,erve his own purposes. That was the chief reason he had for opposing what .was termed responsible governments. When he left Gape Colony there were 500 schools, which were attended by 23,000 children, mostly of European descent. The cost to the colony of these schools is £19,000 a year. He might, without fear of contradiction, say that these 23,000 children get a better education for the £19,000 than the 6000 children who are educated in Otago get for their £30,000. Perhaps his audience were beginning to think he was engaging their attention too long on these matters. His Lordship then described die position of the diamond fields. They are situated to the north of Cape. Colony, to the east of the Orange Free State, and close by the Vaal river. The diamondiferous land was discovered by the Orange Free State colony, who laid claim to it, but the English Government bought what claim the Kaffirs had to it, and made terms with them, so that it now belonged to the British Government. The country has not a desirable appearance, being very barren, and was left uncared for until its wealth in diamonds became known. Some person living at Colesberg discovered that some of the natives had a stone which was supposed to be valuable. A gentleman became, for a small consideration, the .proprietor of it, and sent it" to a certain .doctor, a geologist, at Capetown, but he could make nothing of it. It was afterwards brought into the' house of Dr. Rickards, who possessed a number of scientific instruments, amongst which was a very powerful microscope. Nothing could be made of ifc excepting at one corner, where the surface had been broken otf, which gave ;it the appearance of a diamond. It was then sent to the Colonial Secretary's office at Cape Town, and he (Bishop Moran) having occasion to go to Rome, called upon the Colonial Secretary on hisTway, and they went to a lapidary there, who, after testing it, offered £40 for it. "It was twenty-three carats. The diamond was then sent to the Pans exhibition in the same ship that he sailed in, and he afterwards saw it exhibited" there. This gave occasion for enquiry, when it was discovered that some other smaller diamonds were in the hands of the natives. Certain jewellers in England sent a geologist to visit, the place, but he represented the whole affair as a hoax, and that the cry had been got up by some land sharks who wished- to sell certain lands. This to him (the Bishop) was very provoking, as he knew better. Soon after he returned from Rome, a 63 ca^at diamond was bought of a native for £200 and sold for £11,500. Still the place from which these diamonds were obtained remained a secret. The natives now began to recognise their value and to charge accordingly. A merchant took it into his head to buy the farm where the diamonds I vvcrefound. He had offered £6ooo for it and was away completing the deeds, when some parties came and offered a larger sum which was accepted, the i merchant getting £2000 to give up his bargain. This company then set to work prospecting, and a wattle and daub hut on the ground, was actually studded with diamonds. In a very short time, there were 2000 men on the ground — all novices and unacquainted with mining, to whom the idea of washing and cradling was unknown. They .all armed themselves with magnifying glasses, and went .groping along the ground looking for diamonds. They at last thought of digging and carrying the stuff to the river to wash it. Some were weeks and months before getting anything, and others made fortunes in a few hours. One merchant who had left his business, worked away for six weeks and got nothing. He determined to return to his store . where he could be doing better, but just before leaving he thought he would have one more trial — the result of that trial was the unearthing of a beautiful gem, worth nearly £30,000. Others have! made great fortunes and . many have made nothing. It might be described by an old saying, it was either a "golden chain or a. wooden leg." With regard to the present state of affairs at tbe mines, he would read an extract from ■a letter of Br. Bickards, dated 13th Oct.' The letter stated, tjaat Dr. Bickards had "visited the , DiamondFields, and co.uldl gjvs an independent | judgment /r pegarjding them. The" writer thbufgKf the effect o,n the Colony taoqld'be prodigious. It had already ! been raised from a state of hopeless insolvency; tq' o^e. o,f comparative wealth,. . The . fields, \^era increasing in value every, month. The present fi^lcl ha.d % been, pro^d to bja. ai\ extinct

volcano". '€ldftes 20 x &) feet which' had bee; purchased for lOseacb^ were" now sol for, £.looo to £1500 each." 80 jfeet outside the reef, water had been fomd but no diamonds. . The writer ontinues by saying that the whole, ountry presents the same appearance, so there is no knowing what sbres of wealth may be in waiting for them. There were, he thpught about 70,000 people on the field, con\isting of blacks and whites, about tlree of the former to one of the latte I*.1 *. Such was the account given by j)r. Rickards. The audience might n^w wish to know his own opinions, ,n reference to people going there. .from Melbourne to Port Elizabeth! is the nearest way — the natural rmte. If you go to Cape Town, yoi must go from there to Port Elizabeth ; then if from Melbourne to) Port Elizabeth, it will take 40 days ,sail v and cost you £30. There it will cost £20 to go from there to tie diamond fields. Add to these sums, outfit, <fee, and it will be E seen that a good sum of money is. required. Then people cannot calculate, on getting employment. • The most of the 'diggers are colonists, and the white man cannot compete against the black man in the labour market. The blacks require less remuneration. At Grahamstown, white men are paid ss. a-day, and black 2s. Out of the 70,000 on the fields, 50,000 are blacks, so there is no want of labour. Men with capital are there, and.no doubt they are employing the blacks in their mines. As no employment can be expected outside the fields, he thought people ought to act prudently before going there. No one should go with less than £150, which it' well managed would leave him something to bring him back if unsuccessful. But men will run a risk to make a fortune ragidly, and some .do make one. Some persons have gone from this country and from Australia, and unless some fresh fields are discovered, he would strongly advise any one who intends going there, to wait till the report of those who have gone reaches them. Here bis Lordship concluded by saying, that he though he had referred to all that was necessary, and if his remarks would have the effect of making one man act prudently, he should feel more than for the lecture.

Mr. Meara said that in the absence of the President of the Hospital Committee, he begged to move a vote of thanks for the able and instructive lecture which his Lordship had delivered. (Applause.) Mr. M'Swiney, in seconding the motion, said he was sure when the people of Otago knew Bishop Moran better, they would recognise his great intellectual powers, his largeness of heart, benevolent disposition, and great suavity of manner. (Applause.)

In thanking the audience for the vote of thanks, his Lordship said he was only sorry the lecture was not more worthy of the object. (Applause.)