MINING ON THE RAND.

North Otago Times, 6 August 1903, Page 2 (Supplement)

MINING ON THE RAND.

THE MINIM WEALTH OF SOUTH AFRICA, —•I—----"The Industrial Awakening of South Afilca " is the title of an art--Hie contributed by Mr, Neville Kdwards .to the current issue of tho Windsor Magazine," Dealing Willi the Hand (lold Field, Mr. Edwards says.:-- The .gold-mining, district of .Johannesburg is. in maiiyways quife as astonishing as the place.wle-nuc the world's diamonds emanate. No one who has travelled there by ■that long, train journey, .of--over' a thousand -miles from Capetown through the - desolate red luiroo and the interminable prairie, stretches of empty, grass.: veldt in the Orange Itivcr Colony :and the Transvaal, can ever, forget his first sight of the. great Main: : lleef. During - the long journey il.almost seems at times as if .leave had- been taken of-the world nltogether.:utirl; a change miide to it; desolate' planet. Then this scene oi almost ; uuparralleled. human ■ ncti--vlty bursts upon you. '

■; Far as the eye can see on either hand, shaftlwad, mill, and towering chimney:kticcew) -each other In; uii nl-= most unbroken line. Where - once cannon thundered. and rifles rattled their death-dealing mstcs, the old,--sonorous sound of the nulls ' has-Tte sinned its swav, Pervading-all, like the voice of tho ocean,, they call to one another,, as deep calleth: to deep. Hew .day and night, lor ever, , the ■ mighty stamps, silent ' and rusting so' long, are once again .singing' their hymn of work us4hey uiiceas-. iiigly pound up the gold-bearin ore. All the way as the trains turn to left, at- lOlandsfontein .1 unction and head for dohannesb'urg, ■ Hie same roar and tin* same scenes greet ear and eye. Oi'. ■ Johannesburg which lives by this golden Diana, that, waniierlul inmhvoom- city which ■sprang up at ihe cry of " (!old," il is..■■not :necessary for me- to .speak here. Its marvellous ■ sWyseraping buildings,: ■-jls.'. telephones,. its ;cJ.<SC* trie lights, its activity, its wealth, and all other marks of its astonishing civilisation, have been described, so often. To- the.....thoughtful .man, however, interest, centres in the mines, ' the cause, rather than in Johannesburg,, the-effect,.