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

him. Its present leaders are wise enough in their gene-
ration, and will teach it to discharg e with more pru-
dence the duties whether of governr:.ent or of opposi-
tion. The Wbigs have also learnt from the last five
Years tLo wisdom of union, the Ilex Of ity of serious no-
tion, and the fully of delay:. Tire fate of the many
measures postponed from the session of 1850 to 1852, in
j order to ie lost for ever, oy passed by Lard Derby and
An.. Disraeli, proves how little trust is to be placed in
the Parliamentary to-morrow. Lord John Russell's 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 declare 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 predecessor.

report :
ASSAY OFFICE AND MINT IN
NEW SOUTH WALES.
ot,TeslataebLiise:iir:glative Council of New South Wales ap-
pointed on the 18th of November last a select Cona-
L'.itee to inquire into and report upon the expediency
in Sydney an Assay-efface and Mint;
andti:,
e which
followinghnt
the
thece h eO,
ou lurGsr co
committee
00 of, b eeoleambohreartethanedcvoenriymditiffiteceupitrieznutireyd
ItMDeittee have been etig,figed they nev
ebtainttl !elite valuable, though coracting evidence©
otter a caret-al conbidcration of which they have arrived
at the following; conclusion..
That wida tetetence to the-establishmeret of an assay
although tho
cs.p. ii, all probability, not' be Marge, each au
institution woulget itself) be of very little, if any, value
to the colony.
Your committee, therercre, report, that it is not de-
sirable for your lleneurabe Council, at present, to uu-
,ffie,,,nse.e.awrocucily,,ratttee are Of.opiLion
that,
per-
suaded, that the natural rEquirements and operations of
dertake any legislation upon the matter, feeling
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 &nom,_
lies which during the first few months of the intense ex-
citement of the gold discovery and its wonderful
on deve-
lopment
have affected the rates of exchange 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 an-
assayed gold, or gold in bars or ingots, might be ex-
changed for the current gold coin of the realm, on pay-
ment 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 London. Your committee have,
during the course of this inquiry, obtained much valuable
evidence from several gentlemen well acquainted with
banking and other mercantile operations; and your com-
mittee nave 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 long such
bills will have a tendency to go still lower, but finally
depending on the rate of interest and the expense of
twhietheoxu ptn ther andaid ofini thep argusold, was thleike s
transit.
Trp
hos ren tnse
xopf
o t
betweenrht es caor lectonhnuyaor
wi
nexceededupdodretsnl
suddenly
hndedo iumbt
the
eeodr,pt sao;np
duainwadtiilaal
niscoooofmn pt
bha
ea-.
When this discovery of gold was first made, the ex-
colony showed the consumption to be so large that even
willan continue to be highly unfavour-
able that.: during such interval, the
rate laymetarelbantiomnaibnettawineeedn
trebled; and
Y _ committee think that many years
must elapse before by theincrease of business and po-
pulation—the imports will be brought up to an equality
with
to the producer if the present system of dealing
with the gold as an exportable merchandise only is
maintained.
The instruction to your committee was to inquire
ot the exports;
exchangeexport s ;
into, and report upon, the expediency of establishing an
assay office or mint; but it has been suggested in the
course of the evidence taken by your committee, that a
te
Government Bank of Issue might with adnantage be
established, which should be made by law the reci-
pient of all the raw gold, and should issue its paper in
exchange for 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 13y the Government on which this com-
mittee are not instructed to report, that they refrain
from expressing any opinion on the proposed bank.
There 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, aad that it should be looked upon as an article
or 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 epot, 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 tie conversion of the precious metals into coin of the
realm; and that this power of the Crown may now be
rigsay exercised by the establishment of a mint in Syd-
ney for the common advantage of all the Australian
colon;es.

Your committee believe that this general duty of the
Sovereign will not be que-:tioned, and that the difficulty
in applying the rule to this colony, which arises front
the want of an exact precedent, suggests its own solu-
tion, namely, that no such opportunity or necessity for
the exertion of this preregative has ever yet risen in the
history of Great Britain, whose subjects now, for the
first time, in ono of her most remote dependencies, are
the producers of a vast amount of the most precious
metals.
Your committee are informed that the two processes
of melting and assaying aro conducted by distinct ope-
rators; the one class dealing with the mass which is to
be melted and cast into bars or ingots, and the other
with a small portion of such ingot, usually about 24
grains. The minuteness of the portion dealt with by
the assayer 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 oneas
shilling only is charged; and it is obvious that each
aunt-
say may determine the fineness of an iud9finiteelffaum
g and
of bullion. Very little delay is incurred
persons of competency could be
sufficient integrity and
..
assaying, and your committee see no roomintomdoubt that
leave no reasonable a satisfactory manner, so as tfo
readily obtained in this colony to perform such duties in
Your committee, however,
their investigation, or the
ap-
prehensionfidelfidelity
of their
ithe r
eapeacrufrsa.c y
_o_.
think that the melting and assaying of gold would not
the
public to justify the
alone be of sufficient value
be had at trifling cost;
which the same result can
•
and that the mere ascertaining of the value of raw gold,
Government in interferingatoawwith private assaying, by
as of any other merchandise, may properly be left to
skill and competition.
ovamteein connexion with a refining and
the operation of e
lastly to consider the expediency
f the Sovereign to afford to the
subject The duty o , . . e
assay c •
greatest facility for converting the precious
se fully recognised that the Mint,
o f Your
th e establishingcommittee a-rci mint,
on the general revenue of the
is charged_ • .
From this fact it may fairly be inferred
country.
opinion of the best authorities, the con-
versionthat, in thefhe
precious metals, for private holders,
imnettaalsndinatao, coin, is
of .
0 so usefulth to the
apxupbelines,o.thatThite moraierginbt:si
cyoin,
at
committee have not bee able cupinoprstoootnee:°:
evest.evidence, but by the estimates the construction of a mint is a subject
ateestosaonbc:
nt,.i.t appears that 47,000/oer annum
cost of maintaining the English mint.
leerherayyr:unir
is about
Looking st the comparative expenses of the salaries
tain anyh
and machinery employed, and the manifest traces of
official patronage spread over the surface of this cata-
logue, your committee entertain no doubt that this an-
tioned by
the
an-
nual expenditure might be greatly lessened, without
impairing the utility or security of the department; and
that , aided by experience and recent improvements
in meehinery, 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 most
gracious Majesty to regard with favour the require-
mentr of her Australian subjects in this matter, and o
cause to be established in Sydney a branch of the Royal
Mint.

LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. BY AGNES
this
completed in 6 vols.,
STRICALAND.—The new, revised, and cheaper edition
_of
interesting series of biographies, is just
price 41. 45., embellished with authentic portraits of €very
queen. '.., 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 sucFesfill termination of
this portion of her literary labours, . apd_th.anking her in the
name of the British public for the indefatigable industry, as
well as the good taste and good fe!h,ng,which she has brought
to the performance of her task. IV title the narratives which
she has written in a manner at once so attractive and so in-
structive,
whichfor n l a t
he 3 n, e o Iplete bistor of England during the pe-
riodexten
d, they have the additional charm
i
of exhibiting that history n the mirror of our female courts.
The women of England may well be proud of the share which
royal ladies have had in tue 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.
OBIENTIL BANK.—At a meeting of shareholders of
this corporation, held yesterday, the resolution passed at a
previous meeting for raising additional capital was con-
hrm ed.