Discovery

Walts Great Gold

A Practical Joke That got Results

WAU, at present, is suffering a lean period. One would think a depres sion had hit the town. Gold is scarce (so far as the individual miner is con cerned) and men are on the alert for news of fresh and prosperous fields.

So imagine the excitement, on Sunday, a few weeks ago, caused by the discovery of a huge gold-bearing rock on the site of the Wau Hotel.

The previous day, “boys” at work in the hotel garden had unearthed this enor mous stone. Two “old-timers” happened to be looking at it, when suddenly they caught the glint of gold in the sunlight.

Further examination was made. The

hotel manager was excitedly called. He too, saw the precious metal embedded in the boulder.

News of the discovery soon spread, and an excited crowd gathered round the spot, quite hiding the huge rock standing s 2 c }£ se the hotel entrance. Members of the Amalgamation Committee, then visiting Wau, were interested in the find and photographed it with gusto.

A couple of mining engineers examin ed it, and declared that the rock con tained quantities of gold. “Phenomenal”, exclaimed one of them. “A most remark

able discovery!”

Most people were convinced that a great discovery had been made. How ever, there were a few sceptics. Their statement that the rock had been “doc tored” was howled down with derision.

Conversations turned to similar miracu lous discoveries during the early days Gold became the topic of the day. It looked as if anew field had been dis covered, right in the building block of the hotel.

Then arose arguments as to whom this prospect should belong. To the finders naturally, some averred. Others stated that it was the property of the hotel and others firmly declared that the rock stood on gound which had been pegged by New Guinea Goldfields, Ltd.

Rumours next spread that probably the stone would be stolen during the night.

The manageress detailed a line of “boys” to haul the great rock to the safety‘ of the back precincts. So, to much heav ing and hauling, the object of interest, was removed by a team of sweating and straining “coons”.

Interest did not die with this removal.

Most events in Wau arouse the gambling instinct. Many of the “sports” now started betting the sceptics that the rock did contain gold—and the sceptics took them on! By night, the gambling fever ran high, and quite a few men stood to lose a lot of money if the rock proved valueless.

Meanwhile, the two old-timers who had made the “discovery”, and kept the interest in it running high, began to scratch their heads. They had not ex pected events to take this turn.

Observing the rock that morning, they had seen the opportunity for a great practical joke. To see was to act, but it looked as if their sense of humour had gone out of control.

So they drew aside a pal who had much money invested in the betting. To him they explained the origin of the “gold” in the rock. They confessed that they had visited the local garage where they obtained a tube and some filings. The tube they scraped over the rock and rub bed in with their boots. The filings they inserted in the crevices. Nobody had no ticed, in the excitement, that whenever a curious onlooker dug out a piece of metal, one of the two invariably got hold of it, and conveniently lost it.

So all bets were called off, and “the great gold discovery” died a sudden and natural death. For nobody likes to be tricked—especially in this case, as the “tricked” were mostly men who had been dealing with the elusive metal all their lives!

But no harm was done, and the joke caused plenty of excitement and amuse

ment.-

-J.A.S.

It is reported that a soil survey will be undertaken shortly for the Nederlandsche Maatschappij voor Nieuw Guinea (Neth erlands Company for New Guinea), under the direction of Messrs. Gortmans and Schwartz, in the southern part of the Nimburan District, Dutch New Guinea.