The Sun.
London, England, 1852-07-02 00:00:00

le 2,

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bun. Its present leaL7e7s cocugh in their gene-
ration, and will Vael] it 7 to discht,rg- e with there pra-
denco %Lethir et.
p,,v&recictit 'or of op ,e,;i-
tion. The Whig's lawv. also 13:trnt from the last floor
Tears the. wisdom of union, the necestiity of se-rious ac-
tion, and the fully-of delal,s. The Lao of the; many
RIsSUi"CS p034-I,)%ied iron,. the session of 1850 to 1852, in
order to to lost for ever, or passed lky Lord Detby and
Mr. Disraeli, proves bow lath) trust is to be placcii in
the Parliamentary to-morrow. Lord John Russell'. new
Reform Bill is a matter of history,. and in a few hours
the writs will issue for a new Parliament on the old
basis, When a fortnight will (Lc ar° the character of
that Parliament, it is useless; to spend time in idle con-
jectures; but of one thing we may be sure—it will at
least attempt more than its immediate predcceiscr.

ASSAY OFFICE AND MINT IN
NEW SOUTH WALES.
The Legislative Council of New South Wales ap-
pointed on the 18th of November last a select Com-
move-
etseteabtioisihnirgirienintyo and
arne
Assay
-office
andexpediencyMint
repor t
Sydney P
athnedlnfoontihinethfoi
cvomalumaibttlee
üble:)offthDeeecleambobreari the committee presented
oneflegicatgiLegd theyevidence; have
after a careful consideration ionbtwaihniecah your committee
ion of which they have arrived
at the following conclusion.
That with reference to the establishment of an assay
htchvoetiegbahenedne.very difficult inquiry
office your committee are of opinion that, although the
expense would, in all probability, not be large, such en
institution would (of itself) be of very little, if any, value
to the colony.
Your committee, therefore, report, that it is not de-
sirablefoay
rnyour g
loantioeunranbpieenCouncil,
thematter,
feeling at present, to un-
dertake
per-
suaded, that the natural requirements and operations of
trade will, within a comparatively short Period regulate
the supply and demand of coin for the exigencies and
security of commerce, and remove any apparent anomie-
lies which during the first few months of the intense ex-
citement of the gold discovery and its wonderful deve-
lopment have affected the rates of exchange on Eng-
land, or apparently lowered the price of the commodity
itself.
Your committee nevertheless believe that if her Ma-
jesty would be graciously pleased to establish a mint, or
a branch of the Royal mint. in Australia, at which un-
assayed gold, or gold in tr s'or ingothohight be eIL
changed ter the current gold coin of the realm, on pay-
meat of an established charge, much good might be ex-
pected to result to the interests of all producers of raw
materials in the colony.
Mr. DARNALL, the chairman of the committee, pro-
posed the following draft report, which was not
adopted ; but it is published along with the above,
accompanied by all the evidence :
The circumstances which led to the appointment of
your committee were, the recent discovery of gold in
New South Wales, and its effects upon the exchange
between Sydney and Landon. Your committee have,
during the course of this inquire, obtained much valuable
evidence from several gentlemen well acquainted with
baukieg and other mercantile operations; and your com-
mittee have to thank those gentlemen for the readiness
with which they have given their assistance. The pre-
sent price of bills of exchange upon London, drawn
against produce, is 6 per cent. discount; and it appears
to your committee that, as long as the exports of the
colony are greatly in excess of the imports, so loag such
bills will have a tendency to go still lower, but finally
depending on the rate of interest and the expense of
trunit.
When this discovery of gold was first made, the ex-
perts of the colony t xceeded the imports; nod a compa-
rison between the imports and the population of the
coluny showed the consumption to be so large that even
Without the aid of the gold, the same relation between
the exports and • imports was likely to be maintained.
The exportstrebled; andare now suddenly doebled, and will soon be
must elapse betYo eoeu r committee think that many years
increase of business and po-
pulation—the inaporta3.-etihne
with the exForts; .nd sthath.ecibrought up to an equality
rate of exchange will contiatiourit4beeuchu
.interval, the
highly unfavour-
able to the producer it the present system of dealing
with the gold as on exportable merchandise only is
maintained.
Toe instruction to your committee was to inquire
into, and report upon, the expediency of establishing an
essay office or mint; but it has been suggested in the
ceueee of the evidence taken by your Committee, that a
Government Bank of Issue might with advantage be
established, ahich should be made by law the reci-
Vent of all the raw gold, and should issue its paper in
exchange fur such gold; by which means a paper circu-
lation, of the soundest character, based on and converti-
ble into gold, might be obtained, and an immediate cir-
culating value given to this gold. The question is so
dependent on the propriety of enforcing the collection
of the said gold by the Government on which this com-
mittee are not instructed to report, that they refrain
from expressing any opinion on the proposed bank.
Toero is a great diversity of opinion among the wit-
nesses who have been examined by your committee as to
the most advantageous mode of dealing with this new
product. It is advanced on the one side, that the gold
should be dealt with like any other production—by local
consumption or exportation for sale to some foreign
market, and that it should be looked upon as an article
of merchandise only. On the other side, it is contended
that gold possesses attributes not possessed by ordinary
mercantile productions, and that it should be convertible
into coin on the spot, without the necessity of exporta-
tion for that purpose.
Your committee submit that it is the duty of the So
vereign, having regard to her royal prerogative and the
prosperity of her subjects, to afford the greatest facility
for the conversion of the precious metals into coin of the
realm; and that this power of the Crown may now be
wisely exercised by the establishment of a mint in Syd-
ney for the common advantage of all the Australian
colonies.
Your committee believe that this general duty of the
Sovereign will not be questioned, and that the difficulty
in applying the rale to this colony, which arises from
the want of an exact precedent, suggests its Own solu-
tion, namely, that no such opportunity or necessity for
the exertion of this prerogative has ever yet • risen in the
history of Great Britain, whose subjects now,
,for the
first time, in one of her most remote dependencies, are
the producers of a vast amount of the most precious

Your committee are informed that the two processes
oftranrcsi;titeligeand assaying are conducted by distinct o
he melted aneedecealeetseindteoelbteagrswoitrh
ingots,
mass which is to
a small portion of such ingot,ge tsll9ll7ldly theabout o other
with
grains. The minuteness of the portion dealt with by
the azsayer requires scales of extreme delicacy and cor-
rectness, and this your committee understand to involve
the chief difficulty in obtaining a correct assay. There
seems no difficulty in the melting and casting. The as-
saying is described to be a simple operation, attended
with so little expense that, in the Dublin Assay-office con-
nected with the Customs department of that city, where
this duty is performed under the multiplied checks of
three competent gentlemen, for each assay of gold one
shilling only is charged; and it is obvious that each as-
say may determine the fineness of an indefinite amount
of bullion. Very little delay is incurred in melting and
assaying, and your committee see no room to doubt that
persons of sufficient integrity and competency could be
readily obtained in this colony to perform such duties in
a satiefectory manner, so as to leave no reasonable ap-
prehension of the accuracy of their investigation, or the
fidelity of their reports. Your committee, however,
aloneth i lik
bt he ant
1., the
sufficientnitin melting
valueand
to theassayingpublic justify
of gold would not
to
which the same result can now be had at trifling cost;
and that the mere ascertaining of the value of raw gold,
ing.rhserodeitocs;eolfastthlye tsoocvoenresiidgenr
ttoheaffexorpdedtioentheye
as of any other merchainndcio.ene,:xeioyenopmwrpoinpthteirtailnyrn:bfieninlgeltantdo
the operation of private skill and
of
assay
sY: Fc:ffit) committeeieiseh.
inferred
precious
Firenmz
cbatesd
fonnetthiet gmenaeyralfarevenueinoffe'
so fully recognised that the Mint,
subject the greatest
metals into coin, is facility for converting the
is London,
country.
of the best
that, in the opinion . authorities, the
-con-
version of the precious metals, for private holders,
• to coin, is
in so useful to the public, that it may be
prop-r . d eat the public experse.
.ly OS . The
original
. ot the construction of a mint is a cos6subject
hich your committee have not b
upon w exact evidenc , • knot been able to ob-
tain
soy
Tory . . e, Lie:, oy the estimates sanc-
tioned by rarimalent, lt appears that 47,0001. per annum
is about the cost of maintaining the English
the salaries
Looking at the comparative expenses mint.
of
and machinery eniooyed,
andthelaries
official patronage spread over the manifest traces of
surface of this cata-
logue, your coranliee.e
entertain no doubt that this an-
nual expenditaie might
impliring the utility that, ,
nines b or security of the d. pirtment; and
in machinery, y experience and recent improvements
y, a mint might be constructed in
Sydney,
at a cost not disproportionate to the
advantages which
Would arise from it.
Your committee think that by these means the trade
and prosperity of the colony would be advanced, and
the gold discovered in the colony would discharge its
proper function; and that the exportation which is now
compulsory, would, by the wholesome interference of
the Crown in favour of its subjects, be made a matter
of choice.

Your committee finally submit to your Honourable
House that it is expedient to petition her or"
gracious Majesty to regard with favour the require-
ment of her Anitralian subjects in this matter, and to
cause to be established in Sydney a branch of the Royal
Mint.

LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. BF AGNES
BTRICKLAND.—The new, revised, and cheaper,edition of this
interesting series of biographies, is just completed in 8 vols.,
price 41. 45., embellished with authentic portraits of every
queen. 1•, e cannot part from a work so important from the
nature of its subject, and so ably executed, without congra-
tulating Miss Strickland upon the successful termination of
this portion of her literary labours, . and thanking her in the
good taste and good fe'll_ng,Which she has brought
Dumper at once so attractive and so in-
structive,name of the British public for the indefatigable industry, as
well as the
complete history of England during the to the performance of her task. While the narratives which
'9heha7
pe-
riod over which they, extend, they have the additional charm
of exhibiting that histery in the mirror of our female courts.
•froirtmtenaiaa
The women of England May well be proud of the share which
royal ladies have had in the advancement of everything that
diffuses grace and ornament through the different classes of
society, and they owe it to the talented writer of these vo-
lumes that the debt due to their sex has been thus hand-
somely discharged,—John Bull.

OBJENTAL B kli K.—At a meeting of shareholders of
this corporation, held yesterday, the resolution passed at a
previous meeting for raising additional capital Was con•
grated.