LATEST NEWS FROM KLONDYKE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVI, Issue 2, 13 May 1898, Page 28

LATEST NEWS FROM KLONDYKE.

DR. NANSEN'S OPINION OF THE FIELD. THE Sydney Freeman just to hand contains the following which is the very latest reliable news from the Klondyke fiel 1: °' By the steamer Moana. which arrived in Sydney from Vancouver there landed Mr, James Henry Hector, a seafaring- man, who left Dawson City, near the Yukon and Klondyke goldfields. on January 16 of this year. Mr. Hector proceeded to the Yukon River by way of St. Michael's in August last, and since that period he and his mates cleared £600 per man. The reason why he retired was that having contracted an attack of fever in New Guinea just prior to going to Yukon, he was somewhat weak, and developed pneumonia. He says that men can only work four months out of the year and that for the remaining eight there is idleness. There is plenty of gold, but many hardships have to be encountered on the way to the field as well as in the auriferous region. He proceeded and returned by way of St. Michael's in the Arctic Circle, and then had to go 600 miles up the Yukon River in a smaller steamer. At St. Michael's there are nine hotel steamers anchored, 400 houses, five hotels and two churches. There are few Australians on the field, but Paddy Slavin is keeping a saloon in Dawson City, and doing well. Mr. Hector brought a letter from Slavin for the Melbourne Aram Everybody on the field is armed, and several lynching-s had taken place there. Gangs of ruffians from all parts of the world were settled in St. Michael's, Dyea. and Juneau, and they were committin"all kinds of depredations. They have also started a new industry 1 ,by selling false papers concerning claims on the goldfield. The new•comer generally jumps the claims, and as it takes a whole season to prove that the papers are false— reference having to be made to Canada — the newcomer generally has the gold dug out before the 'fraud can be discovered. Altogether, times appear to be very lively at Klondyke and on the Yukon. Gold is found at St. Michael's Dyea, and Juneau as well as on the chief field. ' Dr. Nansen, the famous Arctic explorer, was on the field when Mr. Hector left, and the Doctor is of opinion that the Klondyke and the Yukon will not be made easily accessible for as least two years He purchased the gold obtained by Hector and party, otherwise the latter might not have been able to get away, as there are but few buyers there. It cost Mr. Hector about £l."» 0 to return from D.awson City to Sydney, and he does not expect to be able to return there under two years, as his health has been impaired by the exposure. He says there have been some fearful accidents and catastrophes on the tracks from Dyea and Juneau, over 100 persons having been overwhelmed by an avalanche which had been threatening to fall for over two years. " MORE JESUITS I'OE THE KLONDYKE. The Very Rev. B. Rene, Prefect-Apostolic of Alaska, sailed on Saturday, February 12, on the French liner La Ga'-cogne. He was bound to Paris and Rome to obtain from the heads of the Society of Jesus, to which he belongs, at least ton more assistants for work in the Klondyke. Speaking of the present conditions in the gold regions, he said : " Itisnot known here that we now have finished building in Dawpon City, a hospital, schoolhouse, and a church. They are "not very pretentious buildings, being built of logs, as all our houses there are The hospital is two storeys high and is under the charge of a Father from Baltimore. It has twenty-six patients who are nursed by the -miners, Thirk of it ! _ Those rough, hardy miners, after digging for gold, go t° the hospital and care for their fellow-miners. ** ° " Six Sisters of St. Anne started irom Montreal to act as nurses and teachers, but they became stranded in the Lower Yukon and Jiad to return to Kosirefski. They will reach Daw&on City as'soon as the weather permits. •' My predecessor, Father Tosci. died recently at Juneau from apoplexy, brought on, I believe, by overwork among the miners. He was HO years old, and a man of great energy. "I have greatly at h.-art tho establishment in the centre of Alaska of an agricultural institute to tcai h the best methods of raising all kinds of vegetables, and to breed cattle and reindeer, and to cut and dress lumbjr which will be a great benefit to the natives'. " The miners in Dawson City are elated over the prospect of soon having an orchestra."

An expert declares that a GO-minute engagement between two ""big fleets of the modern type would involve a cost of over X, 100.000. And this estimate takes into view only expenditure of ammunition . and wear and tear of guns— leaving out of consideration damage to .and loss of vessels.