COOKTOWN AND THE PALMER.

Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1819, 4 June 1874, Page 2

COOKTOWN AND THE PALMER.

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[COOKTOWN -COURIER; /APRIL 25.] The news to hand" from the Palmer date's; to the /I^^rU^/;^ißYep4l;W^cb. loads ; of, pr^yis^nsTh^e $rriye;d at. the/; lower- town, arid 'there are.from^O to "s® drays .between the iPiWrjand'. the ' Ethe^ ridge: which are; ; expected in.aaUy! ,T,he \ present , population of ,■ the .pjaimer,, 'ati^a '^ rough estimate, is about '2000. Batumi are to be obtainediat the flower 'township at the following prices : flour, la 6d "per- '•' lb^ ! sugars 6(Ho'2a ;■ tea,' ss.- A,t the upper township ratioris^ar^jhot'tobeob-'^ tamed, owing to ! 'the : 'continued^ o wet 1 ; weather. . _ • .. On the whole,Vthe diggings' are/dull, '.revi. lieyed, prily> by ; „a., few^^ occasional small ■ rushes. At the-headLof CraclleVlpree^;r near • the Left Hand- Branch; some nicel : nuggets have been found, [varying; from it * to 30o?, On this creek a few miners are making wages; ' A . nugget"; weighing J6og was found' there on the 14th. ' the men .oh ! the s Left H^nd Branch :j fcre' i' 1 doing fairly] 1 and wh£n the? river' 'gder 1 down they will no doubt do v ' ' One or two prospecting j>haye/ been some distance up the Right HaiNLL Branch, but aolfinds to speak of ;hav c eiiasu yet been reported. The parties referred to have not* been i able to ptthetrate f *eiry- r far up the river, owing to the difficulty of procuring supplies, andthepr^tlence'^df' 1 the natives"."'"""™ ' ~ -«"--•■—-. ■•.--.■ Three 1 or' >four liries j of reef J 'have beSr£ laid off by the Commissioner,, the prospectl^of which are goodr'" I'■'1 '■ ' ■ Barlow was a passenger by the steamer Leichardt, 1 on 'Thuwday^bonHd^south. We are afraid this popular favorite ha "' ' ' *'" ' M

not done so much by his visit to Cooktown as might have been expected. But the fact is "hard times" are upon us, and the publio purse is not so long as it would be if the Palmer was thriving and gold.in galore in the pockets of our diggers. On Thursday morning a party of men started for the Palmer with ahout Bcwt. of provisions in a handcartdrawn by four men. A good start was made, and we shall be aoxious to know how they get on, as we believe similar projects for conveying provisions to the diggings were failures. However, we hope these men will arrive at their destination without mishap. The authorities in Cooktown have endeavored to meet, as far as possible, the destitution which' exists among the returned diggers from the Palmer by giving work to a number of destitute men at the rate of 5s per diem. , This will no doubt meet the worst cases. There are, however, men here who wish to get away, and who, if detained much longer, will he utterly unable to pay for their transit south. Many of these men are holding on in the hope of " something turning up," whilst their small stock of money is gradually, day by day, becoming less. We estimate that there are at least 500 men here who, if assisted, would be glad to get away ; indeed to many of them it is a question of starvation if compelled to remain. The recent heavy rains have tended to make matters much worse, by keeping men in this town, who would have made a struggle and endeavored to have cleared out by way of the Etheridge via the : Palmer. It is a matter of vital importance to us a community that these malcontents should leave us, as they become a burden to -the- charity and institutions of this town. For the skilled artizan and mechanic, work is nearly always to be obtained, hut the vast majority of returned diggers are mere laborers for whom work is not procurable owing to the limited demand. These men would no doubt be invaluable further south, but in Cooktown the market is glutted. We trust that some action will be taken with regard to the removal south of these penniless and destitute men as soon as possible.