The Sun.
London, England, 1852-06-17 00:00:00

[PRICE SD.

1 tacked to it, and is used solely as a convenient machine
for rocking an iron sieve placed at one end of it. Under
the sieve is fixed in the cradle a board slopirg down-
wards, with a couple of ledges across dividing it into
three nearly_ equal • parts. The earth and stones are
thrown into the sieve, when the cradle ought to be
vigorously rocked, water being all the time poured on
so as thoroughly tovir and earth
heeep.arsh e . d t the mud, city,
from the stones. a nine° is euffi-
cient to tell if there are anyi3nl6u‘ggpinaes' of Lg' old smong
.tbe
etones—though, for that the risk ot throwing
1 them
„ array wienout looking would not be very great,
so rarely is it' tb
The sieve .is then filled •agair;
''' case that there are any
stones thrown out, mad the process p d until the
accumulation of mud at the ledsgoesi
the cradle reeked,
s ropey
cient, which is then carefully -lie:lstedeted suffi-
cient,ands the
gold picked outa Frequently thergr"lV away,
neap, sometime'
only a few grains, bus occasional'
taken out. In the 'case of dry diggings iuCmanT ounces are
been supposing, the soil will of court have that we have
vo
curried
some distance to the cradle at the streaneto 4C'
hemmed in by other claims the diggers will
exatnedied theirif"(l'4.
operations at the surface, to save tabour, unless
tl
find the yield as they go down more than compensates.
But river claims are considered the moat valuable,
and
here it is not such a sine qua non to procure gold at the
surface, because, they look to the holes and crevices in
the original rock bed of the stream—pockets as they call
them—for the chief reward of ell their toil in reaching
it. So the prospecting party will most likely direct
their steps to the river, and examine well all its peculi-
arities. Perhaps they will choose some promising bar,
where if with the prospecting dish they procure gold in
any tolerable quantity it settles the point at once, and
they will bring down the cradle, pitch their tent, &c.
But the soil may be gravel, and they can scarcely then
expect to produce gold, by washing, near the elerface; for
the gravel being easily separated by the current will have
allowed the gold to pass through to the bed of the stream;
but if after removing the top stones that almost in-
variably find their way to these bars they reach a tena-
cious day, as it will never in all probability have been
thoroughly disintegrated by the current, they may cal-
culate on finding at once. A blue clay especially is con-
sidered very promising, though it gives of course a great
deal of trouble in the washing, being exceedingly diffi-
cult to get thoroughly away from the stones and pebbles
that it clings to so tenaciously. If they determine upon
working this bar they will dig a trench, and by the aid
of back troughs divert the stream. They will then dig
till they reach the original bed, after removing in their
way to it enormous slabs and stones—a labour which is
not unfrequently for nothing. Or the party may choose
some bank or spur over which at some ancient date the
river has flowed. Here they will notice where the point
would have been, and probably will choose the spot
whore they think tho eddy caused by it has existed.
Should they not procure gold at the surface they may
yet, according to circumstances, determine to work it,
and very often holes twenty feet deep and upwards may
be'seen, out of which not a particle has ever been
procured. As before, they will dig till they reach
the original bed, and should they be so fortunate
as to obtain a good yield from its pockets, following
their direction, they will tunnel under the adjoining
banks. Sometimes it happens that while in one hole
hundreds of pounds worth are thus procured in one day,
the next claim will have yielded nothing. Many, in-
deed, work for weeks without meeting with any success.
During last winter, the wettest known for twenty years
at the mines, the working of the bed claims has been
most seriously impeded; in fact, it has been impossible
to work some of them at all for months together; but
this circumstance, so unfavourable to the New South
Wales diggers, has proved quite the reverse to those at
work on Mount Alexander, notorious as it is in ordinary
seasons for its want of water; even before I left Sydney
this complaint was again abroad, and I hear that sixty
men from Sydney had returned disappointed in conse-
quence. It would be extremely desirable to determine
how far mining, as at present carried on, partakes of the
nature of a lottery; but the data are so contradictory,
exaggerated, and inaccurate, that this is almost impos-
sible; still I believe the present impression to be unwar-
rante by facts; it is very questionable whether the ac-
tual gross yield of the mines has as yet equalled the ex-
pense incurred in consequence of their discovery—isolated
facts, accounts of individual success create undue im-
pressions, people are apt to forget the oblivion that
attends failure in reading the glowing accounts of one
suddenly enriched. Now there have been numerous
failures at all the diggings, even at Mount Alexander;
but there are no certain data by which we can arrive at
the average earninge. The licenses issued afford no
clue, as at one time only a portion of the diggers took
them out, and it can scarcely be doubted that in the nu-
merous out of the way 'rallies, there is many a digger
rocking his cradle and saving his license fee. We can
only surmise them from the accounts of the diggers
themselves : the average earnings of the first 400
at Ophir appear to have been about 1-os. a day; but
their success was most unequal. Mr. Forbes gives
i, as his opinion that where one got 201. or 301;
fifty earn 10s. a day, and forty-nine scarcely their ra-
tions. Later still a newspaper correspondent estimates
the average earnings at 21. a week, and says no one would
set ie above 31.; few rated the average earnings el
the Turon above It per week. At Louise Creek,
the correspondent of the Empire puts it at 10s. a (let
per man, when successful ones were getting a quarter of
an ounce daily, and scores not earning rations; at Braid-
wood, at the best time, 15s. to 30s. At Mount Alex
ander some estimate it to have been at one time as high
as 31. a day per . man; but the commivioners at the
same time puts it at from 15s. to 30s. Comparing all
the accounts, it seems probable that at a time when the
mail and weekly escort were bringing down between
5,000 and 6,000 weekly, the number engaged in mining
operations approached at least 25,000; but failures were
very numerous, so many totally unfit for the work en-
gaged in it, to say nothing of other causes. Indeed, ge-
nerally, I do not think the fit character of the only
proper persons to emigrate can be too strongly insisted
OR. Both in Australia and New Zealand I have met
many who should never have left their own country."
The CHAIRMAN said that he felt much indebted to
Mr. Shilling, in common with the meeting, but would
feel obliged if he could throw any light on a fact which
had been communicated to him. A friend had sent out
800 sovereigns as a venture to purchase gold, and the
result of the transaction, after paying all expenses, was
a profit of only 11. Iss. 91
Mr. SHILLING suggested that the gold might not
have been properly assayed. There was only one person
in Sydney who knew how to assay gold.
A Gentleman present read extracts from a Sydney
paper just received, to show that there were numbers of
persons oat of employment there, and seeking it at
small salaries, also that the average earning was about
an ounce and a quarter per week per man. From this
paper the gentleman inferred that wages had not risen at
Sydney.

Mr.—AHILL/NG said when he left Sydney wages were
rising rapidly. Tinmen got 31. per week, and bakers 21.
Mr. S. SYDNEY said there was no doubt there was
ample employment in Australia for strong men, but per-
sons of the better class who thought of going out
would do well to recollect that the work was something
like laying gas pipes in London. There were many
young men here who dressed well but had very little
money in their pocket. If they were not afraid when
out of sight of their friends to become shepherds or
bullock-drivers, they might get plenty of employment
and good wages.
Mr. J. SAUNDERS said he had resided thirteen years
in the colony, and believed that those advertisements for
situations wele from men of bad character, who would
not get employment anywhere.—(Hear, hear.) lie be-
lieved that forty or fifty thousand hands could at this
moment be absorbed by the labour of the colony with-
out inconvenience.

In answer to an inquiry, two or three gentlemen
simultaneously said that sovereigns were the best ven-
ture that emigrants could taha with them, and lir.
Shilling added that the expense of living at the diggings
was about 15s. a week.
Mr. FOSTER, proposed a vote of thanks to Mr. Shilling.
Professor TENNENT, in seconding the vote, dwelt upon
the necessity of some chemical and mineralogical know_
ledge, as preliminaries to the Australian voyage. Many
were now going who did not know one ore from another,
and the best advice he could give to intending emigrants
was to go down for two or three weeks to the mines of
Derbyshire or Cornwall, and there study the variouslpro-
cesses connected with digging, washing, and smelting the
ores.—(Hear, hear.) The Learned Professor, in con-
clusion, observed, that without some previous study of
this kind, the emigrant from Saxony and Prance would
have great advantages over the English, as, generally
speaking, they were much better educated.—(Hear.)
The vote of thanks was then passed by acclamation,
and the proceedings terminated.

LATE FATAL RAILWAY ACCIDENT.
AYLESBURY, WEDNESDAY.—This forenoon, at tehn.
o'clock, the Coroner for Buckinghamshire Mr. Joseph
Parrott, and the jury empannelled on Saturday' last' to
investigate the death of George Allen, the guard, killed by the extraordinary accident which took Place (giblet,
line of the Aylesbury Railway on Friday, re•assem ru -
at the Aylesbury Arms Inn,nt Cheddington, for thaP
peso of further prosecating their inqeiry. t. Inspector
Captain Douglas Galton, the Governwn: „,, day to of Ra!lilays, N‘lio had been clown on the pErre;tigation,
examine the line and to institute his owni,ll3o. Mr. J. P.
was present during the inquiry,
Bruyeres, general superintendent; Ncr• Tes- fad, superin-
of the locomotive department; Mr. l'e",.- officials of the
as was aos-connell, chief
tendent of the railway police, and anbeairany. London and North-Western Railway ‘-cleed,
Several witnesses having be" "f4lirit• having delibe-
The court was cleared, and thor.,Jtuu
rated for upwards of an hour, -- Enj'ed the following
special verdict : "
George Allen came by
We find that the deceased
h,rune, b accidental -
his death on Friday, the lltJ
fthe engine eir
of the train of
cumstances, in consequenee.aemping cif the line of the
which he WAS the guard J
Aylesbury Railway owing to the clay sub-soil, the
" The jury think that,require constant attention and care,
rails and sleepers
efr the evidence that there is not
and that it apPears from
above the clay; that the bear-
in places sufficient brat;
the
jury considering that there
ings are too far apart;
under each rail.
should be another