THE SOUTH AFRICAN GOLDFIELDS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 8734, 21 February 1890, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE SOUTH AFRICAN GOLDFIELDS.

A GLOOMY VIEW OF THE INDUSTRY.

Mr P. V. Browne, M.K., New York, who has just arrived in Melbourne from South Africa, where he spent eoims time examining the gold-fields and making general investigations of mining, has favoured the Argus with some information on the subject.

He considers the gold-iields of the Rand, South Africa, the greatest frauds ever known since the South Sea Bubble. The fields are 300 miles from railway communication, and are located in a country almost barren, and with no streams of water in the vicinity. The water used for battery purposes is rain [ water, collected in dams, and it is bo impregnated with clay Mint it floats all the light [ gold away. A great many of the mining companies, he says, have been floated on deposits of baaket that will only average 3dwt to the ton. From a number o£ assays he had tnade, he is of opinion that the whole fields would not average from 7dwt to Bdwt. It wa.-i now three years sincu the fields were opened out, and the deepest shaft (vertical) was only 225 ft, showing that these deposits wore' simply floating, and that they had pi noised out all over the fields at that depth. He had seen the balance sheet o2 one of the largest mines, with a hundred-stamp battery, and it showed a profit for last year of 2.j per cent, qp the capital invested. About £:-8:;,000,000 had been invested on the fields in machinery, buildings, and in purchasing fjom the Boers land for prospecting. The total output of gold for the Rand—that is for Johannesburg and an area of about 40 milds on each side—for 1889 was 381,0200z, value;! at £1,333,570. The Government of the Transvaal Republic estimated ■ their revenue for that year at £1,382,601, and for the first half of the year tlie actual receipts from direct taxation on the mines and miners were £8G2,040, showing that, the estimate was a good deal under, and that the amount would probably be £1,72-1,080. Previous to the gold discoveries the republic was practically bankrupt, and the Government sold to the Netherlands Company the exclusive right to construct railways for a term of 20 years, and received from the company a loan of £ 10,000 at 7 per cent, interest. This year, Mr Browne points out, the Government has an estimated surplus of £1,300,000. These figures, he contends, go to show that the Government have received, in direct taxation on the mines and miners, who are principally Britishers and Americans, more than the

value of the total output o£ gold. There are about 9000 miners on the field.

Extortionate prices are charged, Mr Browne slates, for miners' "and diggers' rights. In the first place, no one can get legal permission to prospect until he lias paid a poll tax of £1 per annum, and those who pay the tax have no voice in the administration of affairs, nor have they any of the ordinary rights enjoyed by citizens in civilised countries. The President of the Republic, Paul Kruger, advocates 20 years' residence in the country before persons shall be allowed to vote. Every digger must render assistance to the Government when called upon to do so, and if he reiuses he loses his mining license and is fined £25. The area o£ a mining claim is 150 ft by 400 ft. A prospector's license costs 5s per month for each claim within that area on Government land, and 7s Gd on private land. If any alluvial deposits are found the miner must pay a double license, and if be sells or transfers his claim to another he must pay the Government 4 per cent, of the sum received. The transport expenses paid to the Boers are also very considerable. Mr Browne says that in the' colony of Natal last year some IIi.OOO waggons, bringing supplies and machinery, crossed one bridge, and with the waggons which travelled by other routes for the Transvaal the total number would be about 25,000. Ileckoning the freight at £60 per load, the amount which passed in this way into the hands of the Boers was £1*500,000, which is £16G,430 more than the value of the total output of gold. This, Mr Browne considers, is a satisfactory explanation for the dislike ot thfi Boers to railways. They have no railways in the republic. He says that the value of the diamond output at Kimberley for the month of October last exceeded the value of the gold output by £2U2,5C0, and yet that for every £1 invested at Kimberley £11 are invested at tli3 Transvaal.

He has met there miners from Australia, a great many of whom stopped at Natal, where it is almost impossible to get work just now, as many of the batteries are closed for want of water. Mr Browne predicts that in a year's time two-thirds of the batteries will be idle, and that some of the remaining third will be used by the Boers to crush their meal. The English and Americans in Johannesburg fmm the majority of the population, and there is a deep feeling of dissatisfaction amongst them on account of the excessive taxation and the opposition of the Boers to railway construction. A great many of the miners would leave the country if they could. Mr Browne strongly advises miners, even those who have money, not to go to South Africa. The cost of living is very high, as well as the cost of travelling, and he adds that the Boers are the only people who have made money there, and that they are not miners.