CAPE GOLDFIELDS.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, 8 September 1880, Page 2

CAPE GOLDFIELDS.

[Feok the Timabc Hebald.] We have been shown a letter received by a resident in Timarn from one of his late employes who went to the Cape Colony a short time ago, and have received permission to pu'»lish the follow* ing exacts, which we have no doubt will be read with interest. The lester is dated ' Beaufort West, Cape Colony, July 4, 1880,' an 1 the writer, after giving a brief account of his passage from Melbourne, goes on to say : — ' lam now 336 mi'es inland. This is the terminus of the railway. It is a fine level country, but I don't think it is of much account for agricultural purposes, as the land seems of too dry a nature. Thing* are in a bad state hero at present. Over 100 men came here for the gold diggings, hut there is nothing at all doing. Most o r the gold was being got at a place calleJ Pilgrims' Rest, but the Zulus hue driven every white man out of the district. From all accounts the diggings are very poor at the best. About 20 of the men that came with us returned to Melbourne by the first steamer, and I think more will go by the nest one. There is little doing here for labore 8, as the railway works are at a standstill, and wages are very low. Men, are getting 4s to 53 a day for nine boars' work and plenty of men can't get anything to do at these figures. I believe it is a grand country for anyone with capital, but at the present time it is a poor one for working men. Beef is 9d per lb. and mutton 7d ; oats are worth 3s 6d per bushel. There are no good draught horses here ; such as there are fetch high prices.' The wriler mentions that the railway works are at a standstill, and we learn from the Cape Argus of July they are 1-kely to remain so for an indefinite t me. The Government introduced a B;!l to provide for very extensive railway construction, but on the day before the paper referred to was published a long iebate took place in the House of Assembly in Committee on the Bill, which was of such a character that ' the Government, according to their previous intimation, cave the Committee to understand that they would abandon the Bill altogether.' The Argus speaks definitely of the ; collapse of the Kailwny Bill.' New Zealanders, therefore should think twice before leaving for the Cape, as we understand some thought of doing, in the expectation of making money on the Cape railways.