NEW GUINEA GOLDFIELDS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20289, 23 December 1927, Page 10

NEW GUINEA GOLDFIELDS.

EDIE CREEK STORIES. WHERE “MUG’S LUCK” WINS. (From Ode Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, December 15. The Edie Creek and Bulolo goldfields of New Guinea—the world’s newest 'great “strike”—have been responsible for many romantic stories of lucky finds, and every now and then some of these trickle through to Sydney and Melbourne from that outpost of the world. Tangible-evi-dence of the wealth of the field is given in the consignments of gold which arrive in the strongroom of every steamer which comes here from Salamoa Bay, the nearest port to the goldfields, and in the miners who have ‘‘struck it rich” and have come south to enjoy henceforth a life of ease and plenty. It will pe many a day before the full story of Edie Creek and Bulolo is told, but until it is, the newspapers find good "copy” in the stories of miners who visit the capital cities of Australia. One such ipiner was Mr R. Shaw Moody, who, while on a visit to Melbourne, related tales of riches, of lucky strikes of from £20,000 to £30,000 clear profit in a few months. This was the lucky experience of one syndicate, but more than a dozen other partnerships have yielded up to £lo,'ooo. “ One of the richest leases over there is held by the Daydawn synidcate,” said Mr Moody. “ They struck it very rich. One of the syndicate told me when 1 was along at their claim one night that there was about £20,000 worth of gold in their dump, but, of course, expenses would fiav e to come , out of that. There was a tin dish on the floor of their hut containing gold worth a few hundred pounds. There is no fear of crooks operating over there. —not among the miners. If anybody was caught stealing gold it would not be healthy for him. Tlie miners would deal with the thief themselves, r r- 1 I should not like to think what would happen to him. Some of the natives a,.. ,e been caught trydng to steal small quantities of gold. All the ‘ boys ’ on the field were mustered and warned what would happen to them if they were caught thiev. ing.” “ There was romance,” said Mr Moody, “ in the discovery of the chief lease of my syndicate, th e Kiandi. It was the finding of a small nugget on the side of a large boulder in the creek, among a pile of debris washed down the stream, that led the prospectors to locate a rich alluvial claim. This is situated high up on a terrace, which was the old bed of the creek. The Kiandi syndicate owns 19 leases on this lode, which is considered to run right through the ground at this place. We spent £2200 befor e we got a pennyworth of gold. Then I discovered this terrace, and we got it all back in 17 days. It is remarkable that it is the new chums at mining, like myself, who have been lucky, and old, experienced miners who have failed. The latter have walked over ground full of gold, which they have rejected, to peg out areas that scarcely paid for their grub. Then the new cliums have com e along, leased the rejected ground, and struck it rich. That’s how fortunes have been found and lost. But it’s all in the game of gold mining. There’s no monotony when any day the lucky stroke of a pick may unearth a nugget worth thousands of pounds*, It is a hard life, but the lure of gold exeicises a great fascination.” When the field was first opened, the arduous eight days’ journey over mountains and through jungle and swamps sapped the strength of many men, and with the necessary carriers proved a costly business.. Now an aeroplan e service, conducted by Ray Parer, the second airman to fly from England to Australia, cuts down that journey to less than an hour. According to Mr Moody, the ’plane does two trips while a man on foot was climbing up the first 4000 ft from the landing place at Salamoa Bay. The fare is £25 up to the goldfield and £5 back, as the ’plane has no cargo to carry on the way back. Extension of this service is expected to solve most of the field’s transport problems. Surely Edie Creek is the first goldfield in the world to be served by an aeroplane service.