THE CROYDON GOLDFIELDS NORTH QUEENSLAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 8988, 28 February 1888, Page 6

THE CROYDON GOLDFIELDS NORTH QUEENSLAND.

AN AUCKLAND MAN'S EXPERIENCES. OPENING FOR AUCKLAND PRODUCE. Mr. Richard Kelly, an Auckland native, now stationed in Normanton, Queensland, on the Gulf of Carpentaria, Queensland, sends us a lengthy letter containing a good deal of valuable information as regards the country, its difficulties, and the prospects of its goldfields ; from which wo give a few extracts. Normanton, we may state, is situated in latitude 17 degrees 38 minutes, longitude 141 degrees 25 minutes E., a township about 40 miles from tho mouth of the Norma River. Mr. Kelly says:—"On landing at Normanton, I noticed the Rapido barque 1 dismantled, lying close to the bank of the river, to be converted into a storeship for receiving cargo. Robinson, lan Auckland man, is in charge of her. Old Kennedy Brown has a new store nearly completed, intended for produce. To give some idea of tho traffic, I may say that tho punt for crossing cattle and passengers was sold for eleven months for £840. Two men are required to work it, at a cost of £8 per week for labour. Tho population of Normanton is about 1500. There are ten hotels and throe butchers' shops. Tho principal butcher's shop is kept by a Chinaman, and only for the Chinese we would have no vegetables, as they grow them on tho high banks of the Normanton River, close to the township. I made the acquaintance of the Rev. Father Brown, who, I believe, is as popular in this distrist as Lord Carrington is in Sydney. He has the only church in the district, and can give strangers a great deal of information, as he has travelled over a largo extent of the goldfields of Croydon. There is a big gap open here for direct steamers touching at Brisbane, and calling at all ports to Normanton fortnightly. I commend it to an Auckland syndicate, and believe it would be a great success. Potatoes, timber, oats, &c., bullocks, draught and pack horses, mules, &c., would sell well. The steamer would be filled with passengers on all occasions. The present rates from Brisbane to Normanton are £14 4s, and freight, 75s per ton. This place would afford a good market for Auckland produce. It is staring you in the face if you wake up and let a suitable steamer bo despatched, and you will all bo surprised with the success of the pioneer steamer to Normanton. The present loading for teamsters from Normanton to Croydon is £17 to £20 per ton, three to five tons on a waggon, and 16 to 20 bullocks in a team, and there are about 300 teams on the road. It is wonderful all the liquor and beer consumed here. Colonial beer per hogshead (cask given in) is £6 15s, and this should be a very good line for the Auckland brewers. All drinks at Croydon are Is, and the population is from 8000 to 10,000, and before another three months, after the wet season is over, there will be another 5000, if they keep coming as they have been doing by tho present fortnightly boats. I may mention that 38 saddlers shops seem very busy, and two tinsmiths are making a fortune manufacturing tanks. A soap factory and lemonade factory would bo profitable, and the Auckland boot factories could open a profitable business j here. The principal clothing hero is light j pants, singlet and shirt, with straw hat, 1 a good handkerchief to keep drying the perspiration, and a small net to the flies out of your eyes. People here suffer terribly from blight, and my boy has been blind now for a week, and is suffering very much. Horses also suffer very much from this cause. Snakes are very plentiful, and the climate is very trying. To conclude, when I make sufficient to live comfortably, and Auckland being my native home, I will return to the best country in the world. I have seen nothing equal to it anywhere. " In regard to the goldfield,l look forward to Croydon, before six months are over, being one of the best goldfields in all the world. It has machinery, and particularly water, and trial crushings from new claims are very satisfactory." Mr. Kelly forwards us a number of newspaper extracts. The Croydon Age, of February 4 says :—"The year has opened well, and Southern investors in Croydon will doubtless feel pleased when they learn that for the month of January 1574 i tons of stone were crushed for a yield of 6~3650z 2dwt 12gr, or an average of slightly over 4oz to the ton. This output is not far behind that of Gympie. The principal contributing mines to this splendid result were: Croydon Queen, p.c,, 120 tons, 14600z, Caledonia, 423 tons, 25480z ; and the Highland Mary, p.c., 316 tons, 1106oz. The revenue received at the Warden's Office for January amounted to £789 153 3d, 273 miners' rights yielding £136 10s, and business licenses £116. Twenty-three leases have been applied for since the first day—the ISth January— an aggregate area of 165 acres." Mr. Henry Niccol, of tho North Shore, Auckland, is now in the Croydon district, and from the same paper we extract the following —"The shifting of the Norman Hotel bodily has been successfully done by Mr. Niccol. We are given to understand by competent judges that the work was most carefully and expeditiously executed, and reflects great credit on the contractor, Mr. Niccol."