THE GOLD DIGGINGS

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 145, 22 June 1938, Page 4

THE GOLD DIGGINGS

A RUSH OF PEOPLE

VARIED INHABITANTS

Gold rushes and large construction camps are the happy hunting ground* of dealers in illicit grog, writes C, E. Hosking in the "Adelaide Chronicle." I have seen them trundling barrels of beer in wheelbarrows and handcarts along desert tracks to new goldfields and selling it as they went at exorbitant prices.

Although illegal, many of the grog shanties I have known were conducted quite openly, before adequate law and order were established, and the liquor was of the best quality. At-a large railway construction camp I knew of two well-conducted shanties, and there were several other "joints" which were in reality rough gambling dens. The weekly train that ran up to the rail head usually carried a large truck-load of beer in hogsheads and cases of wines and spirits. In the well-con-ducted shanties the liquor was served just as cleanly as in many hotels, but, i alas, in some of the others—apart from the doubtful purity of the grog—it wag simply "dished up" in unwashed tin mugs and rough glasses. The "fussy" and the "rough-and-tumble" customers found their respective levels at these shanties, and before one entered them, the class of people to be found within was a foregone conclusion.

In the hectic days of the gold rusher it was an amazing thing to see how quickly pretty little Japanese girls found their way to new fields. At Bleak Range, in Western Australia, I was at the nearest railway town, about sixty miles away from the new field, and within a week of the striking of gold five shanties were opened, and in three of them there were Japanese girls.

Improvised dancing floors were laid down, around and over which the : shanties were constructed of hessian and iron. Even before the frames were covered, music from mouth-organs, gramophones, and concertinas filled the air and lured men into the dens of doubtful virtue. The grog was mostly "pinky," or cheap wine, which was often made more potent with a mixture of low-grade spirit. As the nights wore on, the degenerates in their stupor even consumed "metho" neat, . and craved for more, until oblivion claimed them and they were thrown but to sleep it off in the scrub, which was known as dead man's land. NO ONE CARED. No one cared but the unfortunate victims themselves, and it was "not until the next day, when they came to with a terrific hangover, that they were sensible of remorse. Many of them faced the relentless desert .of. sand and scrub on the way to the,-new field, with no money in thejr ibeltf. with which to buy food and water. Not only were Japanese girls brought to these "joints," but, unfortunately, white girls came from Perth and the eastern States, whilst at Kalgoorlie in the early days several were brought from Europe. The white 6lave traffic was much in evidence, and many pretty barmaids, shop girls, and others were tricked into the illicit trade. It was not surprising that a certain class of men and women were quick to take advantage of the human weaknesses of the thousands of men who assembled at these gold rush towns. The one I now write about had a normal population of about one hundred people, but, when gold was discovered, five thousand, people gath« ered there within a month. When the . rush petered out the shanties disappeared just a? quickly as they- came. But what of the girls? Wei), strange; to say, those who were white returned to civilisation or went to other fields, • while some of them found occupations as wives or servants. But the Japanese girls vanished like magic. They . were spirited away "into smoke" await another gold rush. Being prohibited emigrants, it paid them to take a long holiday between times in some northern port among their own kith and kin, where they would not be conspicuous. ■ Chinese and Japanese cooks ana. laundry men, Afghan hawker*, Arab camel teamsters, and "Dago';. ,h,ot-dog venders invaded these new goldflelds, and in the heyday of -their, short-lived prosperity, the population was made up of a polyglot and often picturesque collection of men and women of almost every race and colour. Dancing, singing, fan-tan, two-up, quoits, skittles, bagatelle, cards, Yankee sweats, race wheels, opium smoking, and dope peddling went on hand-in-hand with grog drinking in the shanties, but as a rule fighting was quickly subdued by drastic action, as notoriety in this direction , too quickly brought the police »9™ "down south," and law and order meant the death knell to sly grog shops. A STRANGE CONTRAST. At the same gold rush I jaw » unique contrast Within ihe Aessian walls of the sly grog shanties all the devilish things imaginable were taking place and the revelry was. at -Urn. height. Outside, in the light . torch, stood a lonely group: of-three Salvation Army soldiers—one man ana, two girls. The man played a cornet and the girls sang, "There's a Land that is Fairer than Day." TWO ac-uk later I passed by the same. spot. . au was quiet and dark within the shaiitws, but the Salvationists were still n|# beneath their banner ■of scarlet jOitt blue, and they had about three nun* ; dre'd men around them Singing TeU. Mother HI Be There." £- : Jfc:' The Salvation Army is never, far away from evil, and to its everlasting credit many of these men,, with, heads bursting with a hang-over t)t "pinky" from the night before, went on their way into the hotdesert of gold, with the echo of thfrwelN known hymn still ringing m r their rushes and construction camps are not the only places wheret grog traffic is known. In these days of drastic restrictions sly W*°* exist in many forms.. Some of them are in hovels and some in mansions wbUsV others are in trucks and.cam vans They are hidden .further away, Zn thosfbehind the hessian^creen. S who" knows the condition* may not be any more refined and elevatinfn various parts of Australia thers are and have been, prohibition areas and colonies. Strange as it may..seem, one of these was reputed to have a higher liquor consumption per heal than any other district in the State. Ever since the year one man has indulged in some form of sly grog trading. From the primitive practices of the native races in extracting intoxicating nectars and saps from flowers and plants to illicit brewing and distilling on a big scale, he has sought to enrich himself at the expense of rus fellows. Some humans are like the beasts of the jungle, in that they haya an inborn instinct to prey on the weaknesses of their own kind, and to, profit by their misfortunes.