NEW DIAMOND FIELDS

Evening Star, Issue 19519, 29 March 1927, Page 12

NEW DIAMOND FIELDS

DEVELOPMENT IH SOUTH AFRICA One of the biggest things that -has happened in South Africa for many a. day is the discovery of diamonds in an area of the Transvaal lying about 150 miles north-west of Potchefstroom,. in the Lichtcnburg district. There has been the usual rush, of course, and today the old-fashioned town of Lichten burg is the centre of a prosperous and ever-increasing 'community. Iji various directions farms (or portions of them) have already been proclaimed “Public Diggings.’’ The chief of those are Elaudsputee. Vaalboschpntte, and a section called Bakers or .Treasure Trove. It has been estimated that the population of these is now close on to 80,000 soul-, - i e., men, women, and children; and of this number about 50,000 arc natives, earning an average of a pound a week at pick and, shovel work. : Previous to prpclaniatiou fln-'se-areas have been-“ prospected,” and declared payable in an official manner. Then the great day comes when an official of the: Mines Department mounts the rostrum and declares the ground open. A great mass of humanity is ranged up in line, and at the report of a pistol, races for the fancied piece of ground. The would-be digger is previously armed with ; a license and four, iron rods, surmounted by a name plate. As soon as the individual reaches the spot which ho. thinks will prove a payable “claim!’ (fifteen feetsquare) he throws down’ his pegs and proceeds to take possession Having secured his plot he may proceed to dig and wash his precious gravel after first obtaining a license to do so from the Mining Commissioner —at a fee of is per mouth. „ , Good, runners on such occasions command a respectable fee, in some cases as much as £2<). V'Ru ; t>:the..*.c>te,j)i is. not in great favor, and it Ims been suggested that a general Ibk'ldCAvould bo a fairer mcan,s of allotment.

Diggers ;< wajjjuf grave! : about, every third day, some have their own machines, and*OtW>« Mre^tl&ni'r?#aturally there is a great coirimnntion of water, and on some diggings this is an < expensiv<j-jitem,-'-thoughv? the; water carriers makeu- ojjlsfof -.it -at 2s;6d )fpf jabopt'>thirt3vfiye gajlmis.;.!, a On /f ’d there tS‘a: gqbdtsupply,. howevprj, and up&prdote 1 ities h.*jvc. been dhs’ta Iledi: Motoritroliisshave largely taken the place of the old bullock or donkey waggon hi ’this lhlsi‘ ness' of the distribution of water, and so far these diggings present quite a modern appearance. In fact, for all purposes motor-driven vehicles reign supreme, and things move ahead much more rapidly under tbo new conditions. The -.camp is a heterogenous mass df corrugated iron buildings, canvas shanties, and tents, where, human beings of every class move about like so many' bees-in a-'hive. Mining, offices have ■; ; ' '■" "T:' v *■

been temporarily erected by the Government, also post and telegraph offices, native pass office, police barracks, ,and the 1 like., A MATTER OF LUCK. A majority of the diggers are the poorer class of Dutch farmers who have been unfortunate during the last few seasons and have; gone to the diggings in the hope of having a bit of luck, because, after all, it is a matter .of luck. Very often a digger may wash “ blank” two or three times, and ope day strike a rich patch and make quite a lot of money. On the average, the diggers are making a good living, and many have done exceedingly well. Some men have gangs of natives at work; that is, from ton to thirty hands, and these turning over a greater amount of soil make at the rate of £2,000 to £3,000 a year for themselves. All live in hope of getting u really valuable stone one day; hut the average of these seems to, be about tme and' a half carats, and a fair wash for an individual digger employing say a couple of natives would represent £3O in money. There are no less than fifty-two diamond buyers on these fields; they have little corrugated iron offices in which all purchases are officially tabulated and subjected to the strictest scrutiny by Government. I.D.S. (illict diamond buying) is heavily dealt with by the law. Each digger has to keep a record of finds and sales, and.it .has to tally with that of . the buyers, from whom they get a numbered “broker’s note” containing all the details of the parcel sold. A TOWN’S PROSPERITY. A computation of the output of these fields is not available at the moment; it has varied much, and. the area is only now getting into its stride, so to speak. But the reader can well imagine with such a crowd of,.people busy digging all the time the production of diamonds must.be enormous. One wonders where they all go to .eventually, yet the price ! remains g6od!'- .. /The-,,town of Lichtcnburg is very busy, whereas less, than a year ago it was commercially dead. Properties ■have-'gone i: up ih price, and rents have been'raised. 'A hotel is'a little gold, mine now, that was.in the market hot so'lohg ’ago-'dnd ‘could not find a purchaser'. Even the diamond fields farms were ■ being ■ hawked about quite' recently at Is Gd per acre! d'. People are glrawing parallels between early 'Johannesburg and this .mow • diaimoqd field'; but is-an-entirely diffei 1 - i enfc uprppasitipii.' CNo untie - has bean 'discovered,ias yet, and -alluvial ■ digger* are only permitted by law to go down H6’ a depthtef 30ft. The permanency of the field rests on'the fact that there are manj- more areas in the' vicinity about to be thrown, open, and this process will go on for some time. All the way north to Mafeking the ground has been proved to be diamondiferous, and a. territory that was formerly looked at askance .is drawing towards itself people from all points of the compass in search of the gem of gems.—W. V. Johnstone, in the ‘ Weekly-Scotsman.’