Item 01: Fred Hamilton-Kenny letter diary, 29 August-19 October 1914 - Page 71
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[Page 71]
We then walked & inspected a very fine coco nut palm grove & then to a Japanese ship building yard on a small scale - I gathered a few plants by the way side but its too dry for anything to thrive - A little Japanese lady – very finely Kimonoed gave us a gracious bow - Then we came off to our ship - A guest at dinner nicknamed 'the Admiral' – told us a good deal about the island & island life - Tales of plantation life – gold mining on New Guinea. The gold mining on Woodlark island & the main land of N Guinea is all alluvial - Not a single quartz reef has been found on N.G. - However N.G. is not yet fully known – mining is a pure gamble - You get niggers - Pay them 6£ per annum - Feed them & they do as you say - Your claim under a miners right is 100 x 50 yards I take it - This doesn't seem to me very much - A plantation of coco nuts pays well but you want 5-7 years before its in full going order - It seems this is valuable property & very very hard to buy - 100 acres will return anything up to 800£ per annum -