A WARNING.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1697, 12 January 1874, Page 4

A WARNING.

: . [OTAGO DAILY TIMES.) " On more lihan one 1 occasion we have warned the miners in this Province against, putting faith in the glowing reports circulated regarding the goldfields in the Northern Territory of South Australia. Nevertheless, from time to time, mqn have been unable to resist the temptation ongoing to those gold-fields, and yte .have not heard of any of them being particularly enchanted with the change. •1b is mow generally known that the highly colored accounta respecting the North ■Afisfaalian gold-fields emanated from Adelaide scripbroVers ; yet despite the knowledge of this fact, a few of the miners still cliftg'to l their /former belief, : Jt may tend to- remove a few of their doubts if we .q«ote a few/statements recently made on the spot, at Palmerston, one of the town"shipsithat have sprung up therp. In the newspaper' just established ihere we read an account of a meeting of minors, at which some very strong language was used 'By 1 thW speakers regarding; ,the reports by which they had been induced to proceed thither. One of them declared' that "it waV' 'not/! a/gold;. L coiintry. .There were rnaiwell-defined reefs ; ard the hills were. all iron-stone. There was no alluvial gold, no proper ifeef, "and no ieal diggings at all." These statements are reported to haye 1 be'en" received with cheers, and the same speaker was also loudly applauded •when he*3ecia'red 'that ' ' he had not seen fi\e ounces of gold got in the Territory "dfuring the eighteen months he had been '• v The dther, ; speakers delivered (xtlreinßelves , jn a ; similar strain . . One of themrsaid- T . < jVlt.was a country of ants, 4 flies, and starvation; and men' would be 'fools to remain heW. . ; . ' V v There 0 were 1 i)b diggings, ;and the whole thing was got up by promoters, who wanted to -float -companies and swindle the public." . On the other side, while the.non-existence of alluvial diggings is not denied, it ia alleged'tbat.tljere:arjE>:reefs, but/it is admitted that very, little: has been done to 'deyelppi ithe,nyapd , also that shareswindling haß been rife. When these admissions ase placed in juxtaposition to the ofMepeated 1 assertions of rich crushings aiid' protestations of boiut fides with which the Adelaide journals have teemed 1 for months 'past/one/may -be pardoned for doubting whether payable gold exists "at" all in~flie~ Northern Territory. But <5 eveu^if bei given to the statement that payable reefs have been found there no reason now remains for any one bajfiWngßrT theT<fxu&en© .of 'alluvial diggings. That bubble is fairly burst, and should therefore deceive no more. It is now evident that any Otago miners who go to seek their fortunes there must be prepared tp^inJorreee.ng, and that with very problematical results. If these facts be generally recognised, we do not think wo shall lose many more of our ~ miners. ' ' ' ' <\ ■■';% ...