SEARCH FOR GOLD.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 268, 12 October 1932, Page 8

SEARCH FOR GOLD.

UNEMPLOYED IN CHILE. The fact that gold prospecting offers opportunity 16r absorbing unemployed workers is recognised in countries other than New Zealand. The scheme in operation in the Dominion, under which prospectors are assisted by the Unemployment Board, is being carried out on a much larger scale in Chile, where nearly 100,000 unemployed are washing for gold in the rivers whicn flow from the Andes. The scheme has been devised by the Socialist Government of Chile, and a report from Valparaiso states: “Everywhere there are scenes reminiscent of the days of Spanish dominion, when the ‘conquistadores’ turned the whole population to the same task. But, instead of the colonial taskmasters with their whips, there is a Socialist Government paying the workers fourpence a day and providing them with free food and cinema entertainments. President Davila is the author of the scheme and he has visions of amassing huge quantities of alluvial gold to swell the reserves of the State Exchequer. “According to official statistics, the production of ■ alluvial gold during June, when only 30,000 men were employed, was 5000 ounces. The August total is expected to exceed 15,000 ounces. Newspapers, however, contest these figures, pointing out that they represent more than Klondike produced at the zenith of its boom.’.’