IN CHILENO LAND.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 989, 2 December 1910, Page 2

IN CHILENO LAND.

AN INTERVIEW. GOLD AND FLOCKS OF MAGELLANAND TIERRA DEL FUEGO. In bygone days the region about Cape Horn was looked upon chiefly as a nome of foul wealther, a rallying point for all tho storm winds of the Southern Ocean. It is now fast coming into prominence in a very different aspect. The vast plains of Tierrn Del Fuego and of. the adjoining mainland are being extensively turned to account ns pasturage for. sheep. A. considerable gold-mining industry has arisen in the territory adjacent to. the Straits of Magellan, and other industries are in process of gradual formation. The Lost S.S. Mataura, A late visitor to 'Wellington from the province of Magellan, which forms part of the Chilian Republic, was Mr. C. A. Milward, R.N.R., who arrived from Sydney by the Warrimoo on Wednesday. Until 189S Mr.'Milward was master of tho ill-fated steamer Mataura, owned by the New Zealand Shipping Company, which was wrecked, and became a total loss, on January 8 of that year, at a poiiit some miles south of the entrance to' Magellan Straits. No lives were lost, and the mails carried by the ship were brought safely ashore. Her captain emerged from a subsequent inquiry with fiyiiij colours, and his certificate was restored. Nevertheless, he decided to abandon the sea as a calling, and embark on a new career. • Soon after losing his ship he was appointed British, Vice-Con'-, sul at Punta Arenas, a position which he has ever since retained. ■ , Punta Arenas: Outpost of a Continent. . Punta Arenas, in Mr. Milwnrd's phrase, is a very modern' town. Its street are well-paved, have asphalt side-walks, and are lighted by electricity. The population numbers about 12,500 souls, most of whom 'are Chilians of Spanish descent. There are about 300 British residents of tho town, and altogether eome 3000 British people have settled in the Magellan territory, which has, to a great extent, been developed by their capital and enterprise. The climate vcr.v much resembles that of Aberdeen, in Scotland. During a great part of the year it is temperate anil mild, and extremes of either heat of cold are unusual. The inhabitants of Punta Arenas are much given to organising social functions, and, in the town, there is a club fitted and furnished' on a lavish scale. In its social hall thero is a pnrquette floor capable of accommodating one hundred couples. The harbour is merely an open roadstead, but it is already the scene of an enormous export trade. This Way Lies Wealth. / Prior to ISS2 Punta Arenas was a. Chilian convict station, birt, in that year,' a period of development sot in. The first attempts to acclimatise sheop wero unsuccessful. Mr. Milward, in 1879, as captain of a steamer calling at the Straits, took away a cargo of sheep in order to' save their lives. The animals had been bred in tropical latitudes, and were unable to resist the more rigorous climate of tho south. In 18S2 a more successful experiment was made. Sheep, wore brought from the Falkland Islands, and the-ilocks, increased from tinio to time, have sinco thriven and- rapidly multiplied. Most of tho sheep are of either Romney Marsh or Merino breed. The province of Magellan now boasts tho biggosb snoop farm in tho world. It is owned by a big company with a Spanish name, implying that it was constituted to exploit Tierra Del Fuego. . . '■ ■ ' An Enormous Sheep Farm. .This great corporation controls tho greater.part of Tierra Del Fnego, in addition to enormous blocks of land lying oast arid west...of Punta Arenas. Its flocks at present contain, in round ■figures jj,loo,oGo,_shcon, and.it is anticipated that next year tho nnmbsr will be increased to a million and a half. The Vast estates of the corporation are managed by .a.' New. Zealander, Mr. Alex.. Cameron, lato of the Oamaru district, and several of . his . brothers aro .submanagers -under him. The province of Magellan contains in all some two and a- half million sheep, and a great part of the area available as pasturage has been occupied. There is a large sheep farm' within 18 miles of Capo Horn. The country, both in tho Island of Tierra Del Fuego' and on 'the adjoining mainland consists chiefly of high-lying pampas, clothed. in indigenous grass, but bare of trees or shrubs. The sheep feed and thrive on, tho nativo grass, aud handfeeding is unknown. The animals aro left very miich to themselves, aud apart from fences the, ortancias demand little in the way of improvement. Exports from Punta Arenas "last year included some 4-10,000 carcasses of mutton and ■10,000 bales of wool. As indicating the amount of development that has been carried out it. may be mentioned that a stock road, 100 metres wide, runs from Punta Arenas 200 iriiles into the interior country. Gold-dredging Among Chilcnos. ■ Gold-dredging is another industry carried on in the province of Magellan. About a dozen dredges have been established within a radius of 35 miles from Punta Arenas. . Many of them stand on mountain streams, at an altitude of from twelve to fifteen hundred feet above sea level. The method followed in tho case of small streams is to dig out a paddock for the dredge. A number of small companies formed by residents a few years' ago obtained very satisfactory returns,, but the smaller companies have now been bought up by American speculators, and returns for some reason have fallen away. In some cases good dredges have been placed in claims which have produced no gold at all. Speaking from memory, Mr. Milward stated that the best weekly return obtained for any length of time from a dredge was a quantity of 1100 grammes, worth about £137. ',