A NEW ELDORADO.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19836, 8 July 1926, Page 10

A NEW ELDORADO.

DISCOVERY IN NEW GUINEA MINING AMONG MOUNTAINS. (Fbom Odb Own Cobbespondent.J SYDNEY, July I. A new Eldorado has been found in the South Seas, according to the accounts that are drifting down to Sydney from New Guinea. There is every reason to believe that the discovery is authentic and already the passenger lists of the steamers leaving this port for the north have swollen far beyond their usual size. Travellers, too, from the island have brought to Sydney tales of the richness of the new field, although their stories are tinged with warnings of the difficulties of reaching the field. The field lies along the Bullolo Kiver and Edie Creek, in the mandated territory of New Guinea, in country of the most rugged and difficult description. Not only is this region a jumble of steep mountains, hut it is also covered with dense jungle. There is ft tremendous tropical rainfall, rising even along the coast to 2ooin a year in places, and probably exceeding that among the mountains, though no records are available. The country is without a vestige of roads, and even native tracks are absent over much of it. Yet in spite of all difficulties the miners who have pioneered the district seem confident of success, and reports of good discoveries have reached the New Guinea and Papuan towns. Proof of this was obtainable in tbe arrival of the steamer Marsina from New Guinea last week-end. That vessel carried among her consignments ISOCoz of gold, valued at over £SOOO. According to advice from Moxobt, where the officer in charge of the wireless station, as agent for the miners, has already registered a number of claims, the find is of real importance. There are rumours that the field is enormously rich and that wonderful finds have been made, but owing to its inaccessibility much remains to be done in the way of proving the value of the field. The gold is described as semi-alluvial, and is fas from pure. The winers are tremendously handicapped by the nature of the country. Tools and stores, including practically every ounce of food required, have to be carried over the mountains and through the bush on the backs of native carriers, the only transport available. Moreover, it hard to secure carriers. Owing to its mountainous nature the region is thinly inhabited, and the few natives have been little affected by civilisation, eo that there is little or no local labour available. Though the field is but 15 miles away from the nearest port, Salamoa it takes a full-laden earner seven or eight days to make the journey. It is not a poor man’s field. Apart from the cost and difficulty of reaching Salamoa itself, the more cost of transport to the fields is prohibitive to the poor man. Then there is the expense of secunng native labour to work the claims. For a man with only a few pounds to venture into this field womd be sheer madness. A clear capital of at least £SOO is necessary. Apart from the monetary aspects, there are other difficulties. As soon as the news of the discovery was published in Sydney and Melbourne, men with long experience issued warning? to intending prospectors. While these generally confirm that the district le potentially rich in gold-bearing properties, they point out that the district reeks with blackwater fever of the worst type, and also that the natives are of the fiercest type in New Guinea. “For 150 miles saye one of these old hands, "there is not one semblance of a road, pathway, or clearing, nothing but the most primitive \ mountain jungles, and not a bird beast ,suitable for food, with danger at cvery etep, not only from the natives, but from dyaentry, malaria, and exposure.