ROCKHAMPTON.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7550, 25 September 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

ROCKHAMPTON.

Most people are interested In bearing about a now gold Geld. We nro not, for for wo have boon thus before, but as the reefs at Rockharapton, Queensland, are said to be lookiug up, speculators may like to hoar Boraelhing about thorn. Rockhninpton, we may mention, is somewhere in Northern Australia, and is situated in latitude £7 3d. 2sd., and longitude 9.>z. JfJwt, ICgrs. It lies on ttio Fitzroy River, and has lift} thero ao long that it has almost forgotton how to tell the truth. According to the geography books, it ia boundpd on the north by the desert., on tho smith by thu wlldorness, on tho oast by Sahara, and tho west by a vmb expanse of howling desolation, which howls two octaves higher than any other desolation on record. Tht>re is sometimoa a little water iv tho Filzroy River, and when 9ome gin and nutmeg are added to it it ia as good a river as anyono oould desire. The principal exports of Knckhamptou are wool and measles, and. the imports consists of anything that cau be got on credit. Since tho discovery of Mount Morgan, however, a great rovival has set in, and now every body ii either a secretary, or a manager, or a director, and tho rest of the people spend their tiiuo wandering about tho country looking for outcrops and indications. In tho principle thoroughfaroa of tho town it has now bocomo impossiblo oven to In - dulgo ia tho harmless pastimo of swinging a cat, on account of tho gold discoveries, for just as you uro gutting tho impetus on, tho gyrating fulinoiisuH her oiaws in some passing speculator and ronds him. Throwing pails of xlops from uppor windows is also prohibited, for such an act is certain to result in drenching ati unsuspecting batterymanager below. In some districts outsido tho town, the strangor would do well to avoid nocturnal rambles. If ho isgivon toßuoh aimißeuun's, hopresonlly finds himself stepping upon nothing in particular ; (hen, after a second of awful Biupons*, he olftwes the ambient atmosr pliero and rushes wildly down into the old red hfimlstono period of tho oarth'a goology, and after a foaaful fall of six

feet, of, perhaps, even seven, he lands all in a heap among the fossils below. When such an incident ocours tbo newehum may be certain that he has fallen Into Iho entiro assets of a company with a capital of £30.000 in 60,000 shares of 10j. each, 2s. 6d. paid up, and the balance due in calls of Id. per share at intervals of not le3s than a month. When ho has lifted himself out of this limited liability trap he must koep a keen look out, or he will presently fall over the company's pestle and mortar (it is generally called in the prospectus a twenty-five-stamper battery, with one Bcrdan and two Wheeler pans, but that is only the Queensland name for an iron-bowl, with a life-preserver to mash up the specimens). The importance of a oompany may be known by the number of shafts it possesses. Three is about the average, but a wealthy corporation may have as many as six or eight, varying in depth from four to nine-and-a-half feet._ It never occurs to the Kockharupton miner that if he put his shafts on the top of each otbor he would get down faster, and if this this view of the caso is laid before him ho very naturally points out that if ho got down a long way he wou'd have to waste all tho more time in gotting up again. The last dividend paid in this district was in tho year 27 be, and another is therefore nearly due. No correct ostimato has yet been made of the average yield on the Rockhampton goldfiold. Tho return? yrr/from 3oz. per ton, when a company is b ing floated, to 2dwt. after the capital is all called up and the Bank has resolved not to allow any further increase of tho overdraft. It generally rises again to Aoz , or even more, whilo the liquidators are calling for tenders for the purchase of the mino, and after that all is desolation. The district, however, i 3 a rising one, as is clearly demonstrated by au examination of tho fossil beds in the vicinity, and it offers many inducements to a harmit of retiring habits, who has grown weary of tho hollow world, and longs for peace. In fact, the peace which now reigns in Central Queensland is of the hind which passoth all understanding, and except for tho wild excitement attendant on an occasional fnneral there is nothing to break tho solemn stillness which pervades the land.— Sydney Bulletin.