GOLD MINING AN ADVENTURE?
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—With reference to the statement made in your issue of December toth by one of your correspondents (Under Thirty No. i), that gold mining is one of the most adventurous professions in the world, I the undersigned who have been in gold mining and other activities abroad for a number of years, would like to refute this statement, and declare, in fact, that gold mining is one of the most monotonous jobs possible. Gold mines, with the exception of those on the Rand, are usually situated far from civilisation, and this implies tinned food, unpalatable water and ill-health coupled with insect pests, &c.
Further, in reply to Paymaster Lieut. Warren Take, I would state that in my experience, adventure as such is prac- tically at an end. If Paymaster Take lived here or on any other wild spot for any length of time he would soon realise this. Also his remarks on the North American citizen are irrelevant, the average American is far less inclined to leave his native shore than we are. South America is often put forward as a goal for the adventurous, but this continent, for the person who has no job to go to and no capital of his own, can be a heart-breaking experience, and the end usually is that he is shipped home, D.B.S. (Distressed British Subject) or ends up "on the beach."—I am, yours faithfully,
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