THE KARLGOORLIE GOLDFIELDS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 4339, 29 April 1896, Page 6

THE KARLGOORLIE GOLDFIELDS.

Mr Frank Kelsall, formerly of the ' Woodville Examiner ' staff, writing to a friend in Woodville from the Kalgoorlie goldfields, gives the following account of the place: — "There are a very large number of New Zealanders on the fields, and I have met several from Hawke's Bay. We have had very changeable weather lately, with the results that there has been a lot of sickness (pneumonia and fever) in the Menzies and Coolgardie districts. At Kalgoorlie there is not so much sickness ; but in a country like this, with a tropical climate, one must expect to see typhoid and other diseases in existence. I am sorry to have to tell you that Mr H. F. Greenwood, manager of the Bank of Australasia here, succumbed to typhoid on March 3. The deceased gentleman, who was thirty-two years of age, was a native of Feilding, New Zealand, where I believe he has relatives still living. . . . Water is very scarce, and at the time of writing was being retails at Is per gallon. There was every prospect of a famine in January. The dams on the road gave out, and the teams could not get through. Half a gallon per day was all that was allowed to a man, and the authorities prevented water being used for other purposes than human consumption. I have seen water used for tea making that you would not wash your feet in, and one begrudges himself the water he washes in. ... This is principally a reefing field, but some good alluvial finds have been made here. Bread is retailed atls per 21b loaf, meat Is perlb, potatoes lOd per 1b (and half rotten at that), fresh milk Is 6d per pint (and very hard to get at that), and equally high prices for other produce. One good thing, there are no Chinese on these goldfields. Two Celestials recently came up to the White Feather under engagement to a publican, but the miners had a 'drum up,' and gave them notice to quit, with the result that they left before daylight next morning." j