QUEST FOR GOLD

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21396, 20 October 1934, Page 7

QUEST FOR GOLD

AUSTRALIAN Ft ELDS ACTIVITY IN THE WEST The history of the Western Australian rroldfields was related to the Duke nf Gloucester in the course of his tour i of that State. | The Duke was interested during the ! brief stop at Coolgardie to see the ' place, although only a ghost of its old | self, taking on a new activity. While there are now only two hotels compared with 11 in thei days of Coolgardie's glory, the Duke was? advised that many of the mines have been reopened, and, with the present high price of gold, are doing well. Speculation is rife, not only in mining properties and shares, but in real estate and accommodation houses. The Duke learned of the wide extent of these new operations even before he had evidence of the change in the spirit and appearance of the land in the vociferous welcome given him by every miner and his dog at K.algoorlie. He heard of Wiluna, which is reputed to have the most modern scientific plant in the world, and of Leonora and Laverton to the north. Prince Henry was told of the reopening of tho Lady Shenton mine at Menzies, on the Leonora branch, and of the bright prospects at Lancefield, where fortunes have been lost in the past. Here, he was advised, a modern crushing plant will shortly be in full operation on the reef. It is stated that with the revival of tho industry, the equivalent of £2,500,000 of additional capital ha 3 been brought into the State. Shows that had been abandoned as useless have been brought into reproduction, not only because of the high price of gold, but also becauso of the improved methods of winning it. Much of the ground gone over by the prospectors in the roaring nineties, and subsequent to the discovery of the rich belt that won world-wide fame for Western Australia, is again being prospected.