NEW GUINEA GOLD.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 302, 21 December 1926, Page 7

NEW GUINEA GOLD.

THE DISPUTED CLAIMS. WARDEN'S DECISION GIVEN. BRISBANE, this day. A wireless message from Bulolo gold- j fields in Xew Guinea states that the Warden has given his decision in the miners' dispute at Edie Creek. He has dismissed the claims of the . miners and decided in favour of the original leaseholders. The best of the ground at Edie Creek' was staked by its discoverers into four claims, which have become known as the "Big HFour." This is the ground which has been disputed by the later miners, who, after undergoing great hardships and incurring considerable expense to reach the field, found that all the best territory had been allotted. Suffering from a sense of injustice the men, in order to have the dispute settled, ballotted for the ground among themselves and then washed gold from the claims, informing the police of their action, and lodging the gold with the warden on the field. They sent a notification of their proceedings to the Australian Government with a request that a thorough inquiry into the position should be made. Accordingly a Warden was sent from Queensland with full powers to settle the dispute, and it is his decision that has now been given. The men say that their plight is desperate, and that if forced to leave the field they will do so broken financially and in health.