THE KIMBERLEY GOLDFIELD A FRAUD. Mr Reubens Kerry's Statement.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2221, 2 October 1886, Page 2

THE KIMBERLEY GOLDFIELD A FRAUD. Mr Reubens Kerry's Statement.

Prom a private letter written to Mr W. Dey, Hamilton East, by Mr K. Kerry, who left Hamilton some time ago for Kimberley, we are permitted to make the following extracts. Mr Kerry writes from Auckland on the 27th September :— You will perhaps have heard before this of my return from Western Australia. The supposed gold Held turned out a monstrous failure, or, I should say, swindle, as the Western Australian Government rejwrts are all greatly exaggerated t > induce people to take capital into their wilderness of a conntry. The field would not produce gold sufficient to keep 100 men in food. There may be another field discovered between the present working and Port Darwin, but of course that has yet to be found. The track going up is bad travelling, as part of it is heavy sand, and part rough country, covered with rocks and stones, no soil to be seen on the hills, as the tropical rains have washed it all away, and it also looks as if it had been under the influence of volcanic eruptions. The soil in the gullies that gold has been taken out of is very shallow, From an inch to six inches ; it looks ridiculous to take picks and shovels, as it is only scratching like picking weeds in a garden walk. There is very little water, but sufficient to wa«h bags of dirt from nil parts of the country, and find out that the sooner one is at the coast the better chance there will be of clearing out of the country. On our leaving the Gulf there were quite 100 men that had not the means to leave the place. Many got as far as Fort Darwin and got stuck. The S.A. Government have started to make a line to run 400 miles inland and put on returned diggers to work. Europeans cannot stand it. The heat and insects are unbearable. I took my final departure on board the China S.S. Sikh from the above port. Those that have taken waggons and drays seem to undergo the most hardships. As an instance, a young fellow I became acquainted with on the track, who with his mate took from Brisbane a strong dray and five horses, harness and 2ocwt of stores, started from the Gulf with three hordes in the dray and two packing. The first day he found ho had to leave scwt., as the load was too much for the three. With great difficulty he got 125 miles on the track, then the dray smashed down. He then packed the horM3« and as 2cwt is a load for oach, they could only take lOcwt., sell what they could and throw the rest away and make a fresh start. For two days they pushed on very well, camped and turned out the horses. Next morning three were dead, poisoned with a grass, (it has not been found out which grasses are poisonous, so that a man is travelling in fear of his'horses constantly. It is a more serious thing there for a horse to die than it looks on paper). They then packed 4cwt. on to the supposed field and found it was a sell. The young fellow gave his share of what was left of the wreck to his mate, put his swag on his back and tramped tack to Cambridge Gulf. He travelled with us and landed in Brisbane with a sad heart and an empty pocket. The ab«vo instance is similar to what happens every day. The track is lined with deserted and brokendown drays, waggons, spring carts, harness, dead horses, &c. Carved with a knife on many of the large bottle trees will be seen the name and death of some poor fellow who has succumbed in his efforts to reach the field or the Gulf. One young man who had lost his horse, being overfatigued, laid down with his head on his swag and his arms crossed and died. We constantly met men coming down looking perfect wrecks with the fever, scurvy, or dysentry. The eyes, if not protected, are ho frequently attacked by flies and blight that it is very common to see men with one or both eyes as large as a duck's egg. Wo were lucky in not making any acquaintance of any of the blacks. They are wild and keep out of sight, but several Europeans have been killed and also many horses. Their fires can be often seen on the hill tops at night. Game is hard to get. As every man has a gun it is difficult to get a shot, birds becoming so shy. The bronze pigeon and quail are the most plentiful for fifty miles from the Gulf, then crows and hawks and sometimes a cockatoo. There had been no fresh ir.eat on the field, and only one old Queensland working bullock killed at the Gulf, and he, I was told, was the cause of all the Epsom salts and Ferry Davis pain-killer being bought up so quick one day. Wyndham is a wretched place, at the foot of a stony hill, and hemmed in by a mud fi.it and a belt of mangroves. Many of the ve«sels that had arrived from New Zealand did not unload, but took thoir cargo, some to the Islands, others to Perth, &c. Three paits of the population are from New Zealand. I hope our Government will do something towards bringing back the poor fellows that are caught in the Western Australian trap, as .so many of them have wives and families. One day :it Wyndham the thermometer stood at 12.V in the shade— not so bad f >r thft middle of winter. It has every appenrmice in the. wet aeaaoq of being a hot bod of

f«\«r. Your iiuuiblu scr\aut was ono of 40 who left tho Gulf in an Auckland cutter for Port DiUWtn. W« worn p.u'kud together like act many slave-* on dock, hh'l allowanced out three pint* of wator per day, and aimispd ourwlvos l»y eating tinned mcati and munching biscuitH.