KIMBERLEY DIAMOND MINES.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 18 July 1881, Page 2

KIMBERLEY DIAMOND MINES.

4 From a private letter received by the mail, the Age extracts the foU lowing graphic description of life at diamond fields at Kimberley, in South Africa: — Kimberley is 750 miles up-country from Cape Town, being in Griqmlauu West, close to the border of the Orange Free State. To get there one has a railway ride of 320 miles to Beaufort drawn by 12 inulcs or horse*. This

mode of convcyan.-c is something fearful, 18 people being crammed into a space equal to accommodating a dezea with aoy degree of comfort The road l s merely a track across the most barren desert I have ever seen there being scarce'y any food or beds throughout save what a few Boer houses can offer and above all, a blazing hot sun. We endured this misery for 13 days the heavy rains having flooded the rivers and made the trades quagmire?. It did not hurt the men, but was very rough on the ladies v-ho for 10 days and uighta could only get such sleep as the seats of the wagon or the open veld afforded. Had we not taken up a good supply of provisions with us we must have starved. But by dint of much pushing of the wagon, wading up

bo the knees in mud for miles, on the 7th of March we made Ktmberley. The town is a bustling place enough with many good stores, but the streets •are simply vile— one mass of duifc when dry. The houses are nearly all buiit of currugated iron which hrsj* mosT comical appearance.* Many are made of canvas stretched over wood uprights, a relic of the earlier days, but no tents txist now, as was the case when the camj> started in 1871, Just now there is a great rush to the fields and fresh diamond mining companies are starting every day, The time of the private digger has passed. To get diamonis here needs large capital and expensive plant and machinery ; the mines, or rather quarries, being worked down to a depth of 300 feet The peoplo come up to .speculate, in shares, and, as a consequence, houses are scarce. Luckily I met with one well-built for this part of the world. It had a kitchen separate in the rear. For this cottage I hav9 to give £100 a year rent, unfurnished. Servants are Kaffirs, to whom wages are paid from 25s to 40a per week. Water costs 5s for 30 gallons, wood is £30 a waggon load and everything else is in proportion. Most of the people soem very nice and refined, and there is a great absence of the rowdy element one expects to find no diggings of any description. Ladies are not numerous in comparison with the scerner sex, but a good number have brayed the horrors of the journey up. Just now the weather is jolly, with winter commencing, the tempera' ure varying from 100 degrees to 48 di rees in the shade at noon. When th sun is out it is always hot, but the nights are cool and refreshing. I had a very beautiful diamond in my hand the other day a 104 carat stone, worth many thous* and pound. The owner carried it in his waistcoat pocket, wrapped up in a dirty piece of paper, such as one would use to put round a quid of tobacco. We have had several scares of Boers coming to eat us up, but as yet none have appeared, The peace is col* sidered most disgraceful here and tbo other day Gladstone was burnt in effigy on the market square. The effect of the peace has been so far to make Boer and niggers most cheeky and I do not think it will last long ; colonists of English decent are too riled.