Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1895-09-11

prevent the theft Of diamonds. wnal
they come Up from tho mine shaft, they
are carefully searched, and many in
genious methods are adopted to reducs
tho loss froll this source to q minimum.
Notwithstanding all that is done.
however, the theft Of diamonds still
continues. 1t is estimated that from 10
to 20 per cent of the diamonds found
arc stolen every year. In order to pre-
vent this very stringent law was pass
ed, providing that all rough diamonds
should be registered with the detective
bureau Of the government as soon as
they were found, and that every man
who sold diamond mnst give with it
certificate of registry.
"rhe penalty for having an unresis-
tered rough diamond is seven years on
the Cape Town breakwateT, and the
mere fact Of possession Is prinla facie
evidence and will secure conviction. SO
it happeEs that if ore laborer wants 70
do up another he manages to slip n
rough diamond into the other laborer's
coat. or into his ro0Ei, ard then tells
the police to keep sharp lookout. OF
course tho police make u search, the
coutraband stone is found, and the man
is i'll for q term Of seven years. A great
many unjust sentences have Mruucs:ion-
ably been secured in this way. but de-
spite the opposition TO the law the COM
pany is powerful enough to keep it in
force.
"There are other diamoud fields out
side Of the Kimberley district. but they
are difficult to work and are mainly ex-
plotted by diggers working on their own
account. The total product is not large,
ard the work is very arduous, the dig
gers being mostly men WHO have been
thrown cut Of work by tie consolidation
of the Kimberley 1niIIes into one vast
corporation and the subsequent restric-
tion Of production. This latter, by the
way, has had curious effect upon the
town of Kimberley itself. IS late as
four years ago Kimberley had popula-
tion Of $4,000 or 80, Geo people. It was
laid out for a great city and enjoyed for
u time q BIZ: boom.
"Fine brick blocks and residences
We're built, hotels and thcaters and wa
terworks and everything pertaining to
modern city. Row u good third Of
these places are empty, and kimberley IS
as dead as a New England town THAI is
dependent upon u single mill. All the
supplies aud machinery for tie mines
are now bought Of course by Il single
company, so that moro than two-taIr~es
of the business Of the town is gone.
There is nothing there to sustain town
except the rhine. and with the opening
up Of the goldfelds much of tin popu
latiOn moved on north to Johannesburg
Although the existence Of gold in
the Tran.;va..l had been known for years,
yet the Boars dislii-ed the invading
prospectors and for time kept them
out by law. Afterwards moro liberal
spirit prevailed, ard the Boer govern
ment offered reward for the finding Of
payins goidiields. But it was not until
1882 that tho now celebrated gold bear
ing reef III which the bulk OF South AT.
rican gold j. found was discovered, and
it was not until fuar years later that the
opening of the celebrated Shebai mine
and its phenomenal yield, gave rise to a
fever. Then prospectors poured in from
Kimberley and The Cape, coming by
pusIl tsd. N.Gtii- ii'iSSps'~A va va i'o'-
III year there were lO.OOO persons III
the district. The center Of the excite
ment Wa; tho little town Of Earberton,
but this section was soon thrown into
thc shade By the discoveries on the Wit
watersrnnd But while the excitement
lasted the De Kaap fields, as they We're
known, had their day, and 90 com
panies, with nominal capital OF Gl55,-
900, 900, were floatcd, and many Of the
shares sold ut & tremendous premium.
Most Of these mines are now abandoned,
though the Sheba mine is still a big
producer New York sun.