THE NORTH AUSTRALIAN GOLDFIELDS.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 189, 11 October 1872, Page 6

THE NORTH AUSTRALIAN GOLDFIELDS.

A late telegram from it Tel bourne states*that the - Charters ToweiV Biggin gs is complete failure. Miners are returning disgusted. .The Government. has been asked to bring back \ ictorian diggers. A from .Ivoekhampton says that tlie return rush from Townsville lias set in, and .fears are entertained of disturbances by- the rowdy portion of tlie diggers, who, arrived at Townsville fromthe southern colonies..

The following letter, by a Mr. Arthur Boyle, relative to . the auriferous character of Northern Australia, 1 appeared recently in the ' Bendigo Advertiser,' and is of interest :-r- ;

"Since my return from a three years' sojourn in South. Australia, I have been frequently - asked,.if I 'knew anything of the gold discoveries in the neighborhood of the Roper' River atid Port' Darwin.' with your permission I will'here tell what I do. know. The first authentic report! of the discovery , of gold in the Northern Territory was received b'y the'"South Australian Government about the end of 1870, and this was conjoined by despatches which were subsequently received from Captain - Douglas, the * Government ]Revident at Port l Darwin;and by 'officers of tlie telegraph survey parties. A smail quantity of" gold,, wliich was shotty and waterv\ orn, was .brought to Adelaide by some of Messrs. Darwent and Dal wood's employes, in June, "18/1, and several of these gentlemen told.me that gold was obtamable in payable quantities at no great depth from the surface. • An official despatch from-Captain Douglas about, this time, spoke most glowingly of the prospects of the new goldfields. Encouraged by these reports, .Mr. John S. an old Sandhurst digger, formed a prospecting party,' got a capital of £2OOO subscribed, • and started: fully' equipped wit li horses, tents, tools, and everything necessary for. making'a .thorough trial of ; the El' Dorado. \Letters'have been received, even by, the .last mail, from MY.-Wcsteott and some members'of his party, but! liey do not write very encouragingly or satisfactorily of' the-reported' ghldfields. It is true that one pqrty of six men are reported to be getting four ounces of: gold to 1 the load of alluvial 'dirt; but-I think if this were < the-, case,- ■ Captain : Douglas • would - 1 have heard of it, and would "not faiV'to communicate the-fact to the' Government of South Australia. I am, therefore, sur- 1 prised at the excitement that prevails here on the - subject, when all'doubts'upon that point might be, upon "inquiry, so easily set at rest. Euen supposing- that "such was the case, does it necessarily follow that it is worth while for any man who is earning good wages, and enjoying the comforts of life on Sandhurst; to. rush away to the tropics ith a certainty 'of having 'to, endure great hardships-and; privations, and perhaps,- like the dog'in the fable,'lose the bone in grasping at the .shadow ? I have travelled a-great'deal- in !< the 'tropics both in the East and West Indies, ■ Borneo, Central America^ 1 and very' recently in JS ew 'Caledonia, rand in none of these countries can-a man do a tithe of-the'work he gets through-in:Australia, even if-he is fortunate enoughto-, escape-'sunstroke,'; fever, and'ague/^elephantiasis, and 'a' few other evils that, flesh;is. heir to * in those climes.' In Borneo; P have seen* women standing, up to the middle: in the Sarawak Rivor, and- scooping -up -the sarid from anyw here kb'dut their feet, wash 2dwts.' to the dish,, and yet neither -European- nor Chinese can stand the work-—both have tried.it. In Batavia, Tanna, and " other islands'gold is abundant, but the. Dutch can t work it. Ia the French penal settlements, at - Cayenne, the prisoners are

made to 'work, sluicing \he; surface, ~ahtl I was in formed by tlie late llfrectorof convict's'there that the average'daily produce of two men s ' labor'was thirty ounces, of gold-; but it kills.them., Ivew Cayenne is in latitude lldeg.; and the goldfield. at Port Darwin is said to be in south latitude 13deg.; -the difference in the mean temperature cannot' therefore be great. I fear that I am trespassing tjo much oil .your valuable space, . but M- wanted to point' out that (here is- -plenty of' gold ,: in -many countries. Hie only question, is it Vorth fetching ?