WEST AUSTRALIA AND ITS GOLDFIELDS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XVI, Issue 5004, 19 April 1895, Page 2

WEST AUSTRALIA AND ITS GOLDFIELDS.

Written for the Wairarapa, Daily Times,

[BY G, A. CAMEBON,] JA>

"Tothersiders" -nsWestAustHlians call visitors from the other colonies - complain of the' slowness' or conservatism of Swan River colony, forgetting that this conservatism is inevitable in any colony which has only reached the pioneer stage of development, and most noticeable because of the Easterner having just left colonies which may be labelled "finished." The traveller en route to Coolgardie, by rail from Albany to Southern Cross—should lie hail from New Zealand—will not bo favourably impressed with the country for pastoral and agricultural purposes It is almost one unending ' stretch of poor sandy country, heavily timbered with gums, ironbark, and 6andal wood. Tho scenery is sombrehued, the dull colour being relieved now and again by the bright tints of wild flowers. Jleverley—the first stopping place—is distant 243'ijfc'\ from Southern Cross. '^,, TUB RAILWAY JOURHIT - is a yery dreary ono, the weary eyes of passengers being occasionally wide-opened by the unaccustomed sight of "bark humpy" stations and anon-huge boardings crying out in the sandy wilderness to the hateful " totherside " speculator, " That town acre lots are for sale, right here, and now is the tims to buy." ' These projected big cities still remaiu peopled by possums and kangaroos, who are likely to remain holders of the fee simple for some time. Piles of cut sandal-wood are stacked at wayside stations; tho war between Japan and China having left' large quantities on cutters' hands. The price of sandal woodused by those countries for making fancy goods—has fallen from &frrf| , £3 a ton... ..Ihe . Beverley, and U miles eastTEb" Northam is much better, and a fair ! amount of crops are grown, Farmers ■ raise 20 bushels wheat, and 2 tons ( hay to the acre, The average annual . rainfall is 16 inches. Since

COOIiOIKDIE GOLDFIEI.D was opened up, these places have prospered, the demand for chaff, etc., beiug greater than the supply. The title to the land is freehold, and is held by English speculators. Southern Cross,—t!io terminus of the railway, and famous as the township where the notorious Deeming was arrested—is 111 miles from Albany. The journey is accomplished in two days and nights, and is not a pleasant one. Like all things West Australian, the railway system is very far behind that of the Eastern Colonies, Coolgardie—l2o miles from Southern Cross—is reached by team or coach. The fourhorse coach takes two days, and travels far on into the night, changing horses every 12 milesMj'he track is a heavy one, and the jffltoey up is enlivened by the passing of numerous teams of " Sydney-sido swampers,"-tho name the oldestablished and conservative West Australian man has found for the energetic Eastern teamster's, who are keeping the gokifields supplied with "tucker." Cauiage is £2oa ton, but fluctuates according to quantity of water on track, 450 teams teams arc reckoned to be alwaysontho road. The teamsters drive their horses in single file, owing to the (rack being narrow, and heavily timbered on both sides. "Tho swampers" nro remarkable f° r two things, good horses, and a stock of forcible language that would bring a blush to the cheek of a New Zealand bullock-puncher, " stuck" on a bush road in winter, The first view of Coolgardie, with its Hessian roofed, tent-dotted, back streets, establishes the notion of itstilfeing only Jf

A MISIKG CAMP, Bayley Street—a long wide street —possesses one or two substantial buildings.bufcucarly all the shops and hotels have only progressed as far as that galvanised iron, and Hessian i stage, which no shrewd fire insurance agent would consider good risks. There are shops of all kinds, a few public buildings and seven hotels, The thirsty' tothersidcr' who may have been used to cool his thirst with beer at 3d a pint, unless h.e be a lucky claim-holder, has perforce to remain a teetotaller, as all drinks at Coolgardio are Is oach, Notwith, standing the price, the 'bars'—who baye all imported painted women and plate glass galore—do a roaring trade, Living is fairly choap,.one can live well on 25s a week—considering i the high freight, Oats cost 6d lb; chaff 'ld; water 4d a gallon ; flour £4O a ton ; potates 4d a iW all other vegetables are tinned. ; fresh mutton is procurable at lOd lb, beef at Is. Most of tho live stock is driven 200 miles from Duiidss way. There are no' stations' near Cool- . gardie, The land 'outback' is mostly poor, sandy, and ' mineral' country, growing

A MTTU; SAW BOSH FEED. Tinned goods from all parts of the world are continually rolling in to feeithq hung.y diggers. "Tinned , dog "-as riiiiiq|.',s tqrlii m'eatgqodg- ' are healthy enough eating, although a prolonged course of them generally results iu. thfl hardy prospectorsuffering from scurvy op "barcoo rot." flow Zealand lias been putting into the tinned trado,more espeoially with butter, Taranaki' (Bgmont) i butter is considered the best brand on the field. Of fresh water on Coolgardie, there is little; but saltwater lakes or "pans" are very plentiful, and tho country is given over to the condenser maiij who retails " the condensed" to therahied prospector at prices, varjinreom 4d to Is Gd a gallon, according to '' the distance from town, Saltwater, is struck at a depth, of four feet, and after being condensed and exposed to the air, is as good as any Renall can turn out at Masterton. Tho Government has erected

SEVERAL dams, .• buttheycaughtsuclu'liftlflptep ' (Inning tho last rains that people are questioning whothor the country will hold water, The population of Coolgardie goldfield--w hick' runs away back 250 miles north to Mt, Margaret and couth to Esperance Bay-ij about 15,000. Of this total some ■;■ 6000 or 6000 are located in the town ofCoolgardie. They are a khakidressed cosmopolitan crowd. Johnmes, posing as bier capitalists from London-in all the glory of turned up pants - brush shoulders with bushmeu from theßardoo dot's from 1 Johannesburg; Canadians I and Americans ) busted-bank-bb3mete ' from' Melbourne, ttiobbinjj'witb: 'one time .'confiding 1 BhWeho%sj; tough members' from Sydney «>; and advonturers generally, all go 'ft make up a queer medley with the Quo great Micawber .in their heads"of "a'tni-n.up. I .' though '■'' society, is very mixed, an<J the police force inadequate,' up "to now tnety

lias been little crime, the ono solitary serious instance being the murder at Bardock, an outlying camp, where a supposed foreignor by means of a ,<Wblow with a pick, let his mate's out. The murderer is ■ still at large, but may likely onough have perished making tor the coast. The change from good feed on to tinned meat and condensed water, coupled with, the fact that the town is in a wretchedly bad sanitary state, is responsible for THE TYPHOID EPIDEMIC which is now raging. After thelast rains threo months ago. typhoid became so prevalent that at one time it was computed there was 12 per cent down with a mortality of 10 per cent. The hospitals threo in number, ono Government and two private, are field tents. In the whole three there is accommodation for ■ about one hundred, and many outsidepntieutsdeathsmay beattributed . to being nnablo to secure proper nursing. Patients suffer from the disadvantage of being unable to pro!AlU'o fresh milk and eggs. The nurses J(Reserye all praiso for their attention y to the sick. Four cases of suicide occurred in the hospital, the causo ' ■ probably being patients disgusted ' with their surroundiugs. The number of New Zealanders that die from fever is very noticeable—the reason given is extreme clmngo of climate and conditions of living. Until very strict sanitary supervision is exer- • cisedit is very doubtful whether ■ • the health of the town will improvo • much, though with colder weather setting in, the fever should diminish. That Coolgavdie contains an enormous number of quartz reef forma- '■'"' tions, no prospector, however bad " his luck—and thoy mostly all speak acfiording to their luck-will dispute The development of Coolgardie gold claims which have been floated off in London, is something like this. jjjjhe prospectors sink a trial shaft on pme reef to a depth of 50 feet, generally less, and if the reef at that depth shows a good face, post off to Coolgardie and get one of the numerous London agents to come out and have a look at "her," who if satisfied BUYS THE CLAIM at so much cash and an interest in shares. The buyer usually puts up a doposit of ten per cent, of tho purchase money, and contracts to complete the deal within three mouths. The buyer's principal then floats inLondonforusually£loo,ooo, which is, in digger parlance, only a ; fair show, (a fair show realises to the prospectors about £5,000 or . £6,000 cash), of this £IOO,OOO, the London promoter sharp grabs £50,000. " That's where he comes in!" And the general public, who subscribe all the capital, will wonder in many instances where they come in. There is a lull just now in the : Coolgardie boom, South African- ' Witwatersrant field having for a ■ jdfime ousted Coolgardie from its ' place in the eyes of London speculators. Companies have been , floated in England with subscribed \ capital amounting to £(1,(0,000. Of this enormous sum, not more than £500,000 will be used in developing themines and paying tho prospectors their purchase money. The greed of LONDON' lIROKKUS in so highly capitalising mines, will ' act detrimentally—after the boom \ is over—against the floating of good ! properties. "Will Coolgardie be- ; come a permanent field ?" ' Will , the reefs carry gold to a depth ?" are two problems which may well \ agitate the minds of capitalists and ■ prospectors. The solution can ' hardly be forthcoming in less than ' two years time, when considerable j sinking will have taken place, and many batteries been erected, Tho of gold bearing country in yLL, is of unparalleled size, and surely it is reasonable to oxpect, that, among so many quartz reefs—of which, from Coolgardie, east,west, north, and south, to the Jlurchison, there are literally some thousands—a good portion will prove payable. In known country, such as Hannan's Find, White Feather, Mt, Burgess, Black Flag, Broad /Wow, Twentyfive Mile, 1.0. U., and Menzies, all good main lines of reefs are found. In some cases, as at "Menzies' Find," and " Whifc Feather," the Hue of reef is pegged out for mjles. " The Broad Arrow " is another good lino, which, until lately neglocted, is now coming very much into prominence, When it is considered that, though 207,0C3 ounces of gold was won during 1894, and that the tonnage of ore raised, would be barely sufllcient to keep 20 head of stampers . going, one realises that the developfit of the reefs can yet only be in infancy. One hundred and fifty head of stampers will soon be working on various mines, and the eud . of 1895 should see A URGE IN'CRKASE in gold production. Baylcy's Reward—the pioneer claim—turned out gold from March' 93 to Apiil '94, valued at £234,050. April '94'9s—twelve months gold won, will probably reach not more than £120,000. There aro erected on this mine, twenty head qf stampers, bnt .flpyer more' than Jen, are' in use. ijntil a couple of months ago, the wpckly output of gold was 7Goqzs., . from 100 tons of ore raised, and has doolined to as low as 2Coozs. The shareß have fallen in sympathy, ' from £l to Bs. Whether the abnor- . mally rich shoots of gold havocut out on sinking, is a much vexed question, and one which is affirmatively answered, perhaps, by a reference to the above telling figures re output of gold and market value of mine git the 280 foot level, they have .'jfoi battery stone mixed with pyrites, and " Bayley's" may, in the near future, fall fit n its high J: position, to an ordinary H to. 2oz mine, and then hardly be able to pay the nsnal divjdend on 48Q,000 shares. Tho first twelve months the mine was worked, the value of a ton of ore raised, was £244 7s, averaging 82ozs to the ton, and has paid over] 1 . $150,000 in dividends, in two years, Tho reef at its widest,-Is 9 feet, and entirely lost at either end, reappear,; on Bayley's South, where it is met ha gully, "the Londonderry," ' . 12 miles west of Coolgardie, for which the first holders received £IBO,OOO, is yet undeveloped to a greater depth than 50 feet, The reef is 3ft 6in. wide, with small outcrop, The size of lease is 25 acres, and the lucky prospectors obtained 5,000 ounces from a pot hole, before the ;|find was blown 1 ." The' 'English cdb'panyareabbuterectiiigbatterics; ind"The Londonderry" will need be as rich in gold as ". King Tfis'oloihpn's mines" to pay dividends ron : the huge share capital:' 1 ! Too much'/watering"of stock' again!' 1 Dunn's Wealth'of Rations cjajm is another sensationally rich "fiiid. ' A great number of ricp specimens were picked'"up' on/' tlie' Burfyce', many

maintain, tliat vory little gold is to bo seen in tlie shaft sunk to 50 feet on tbo reef. Thero are numerous otbci' reefs on Coolgardio field, which will prove, without a shadow of doubt, good battery ones, and naturally enough, many claims floated in London' may not turn up trumps but be troubled with insufficient gold to pay dividends on their largo capital. The reef formation is quartz, and occasionally iron and quartz intermixed, with walls of diorite and serpentine. Several good alluvial finds have occurred since the opening of the field, but Coolgardie, through lack of alluvial grouud, is emphatically

NOT A TOOR MAN'S FIELD. A large proportion of tho diggers ckc out a precarious existence by " dryblowing " obtaining " tucker." Tho lucky ones aro few and far between. A great factor in the solution of the payable problem is, whether it is possible to obtain sufficient water to work the reefs. There seoms an unlimited supply of salt water, obtainable by sinking here and there. Many experts calculate that fresh water will be struck by boring to a great depth into different strata, Various schemes are brought forward. A feasible enough one is that ofj a firm of London engineers, who will a cost of £500,000, to pump water from the Swan river, or from Esperance Bay, the distance being about 200 miles. The concessions they ask in return, are solo suppliers to tho gold country. That the water difficulty will be overcome seems certain. The extent of rooting country—perhaps the greatest ever opened np—will hardly stop " London" from attempting somebig water scheme for crushing purposes. Do you advise me to come to Coolgardie ?" is an oft-repeated question, and my advice to any restless spirit is,|" If you have a stout heart and a hundred or two at your back, just try your luck!" Its mostly a matter of luck, and hearing of fresh " good finds" every week, one concludes that all the good things in reefs are not yet gone. The great trouble with most prospectors, is their wont of luck.