The Sun.
London, England, 1853-05-31 00:00:00

TIE GOLD.

A statistical table drawn up by Mr. Westgarth ex-
hibits as accurately as possible the produce of the Vic-
torian mines up to the end of last year. It will be seen
that the total represents the astonishing amount of
4,890,000 ounces. Our own calculations made it some-
thing lower, but they were founded upon. less carefully
collected data, and we have no hesitation in expressing
our belief in the superior accuracy of Mr. Westgarth's
estimate. Since the commencement of this year the
quantities brought down by escort have been as under ?

BY PRIVATE ESCORT. Ounces.
January 7. From Mount Alexander 32,060
~ 14. ditto 20,145
„ 21. ditto 18,772
.... •
„ 28. ditto 20,204
February 4. ditto 23,747

Total 114,928
BY GOVERNMENT ESCORT.
January 5. From Ballarat
PP 5. From Mount Alexander 20,007
PP 12. ditto 5,870
12. From Ballarat
„ 15. From Mount Alexander 3,897
~ 17. From the Ovens
PP 19. From Ballarat
PP 19. From Mount Alexander 4,942
„ 22. ditto 4,577
PP 26. ditto
....... , 5,617
I, 26. From Ballarat
3P 29. From tho Ovens
PP 29. From Mount Alexander 5,943
February 2. From ditto 10,803
PP 2. From Ballarat
PP 5. From the Ovens
PP 5. From Mount Alexander 6,132

Total 126,617
By private escort
Taken to Adelaide by escort 26th Jan., 1853 33,763

Total 275,308
RECAPITULA.TION. Ounces.
Estimated produce to 31st December, 1852 4,893,926
Ditto from Ist Jan. to sth Feb. 1853, 275,308

Grand total..

5,166,234

Which, at 755. per ounce, is equal to £19,373,377

The produce for the present year shows that there is
not yet any reason to apprehend a sudden failure in the
yield of gold ; but even if the amount were less than it
is, there are still abundant evidences of the inexhaustible
character of our mines. Of these the most remarkable
is the fact that within the last few days three unpa-
ralleled masses of gold have been brought to light—such
as perhaps the world has never seen before. They were
found in a spot never much frequented hitherto, and
there are reports of numerous smaller lumps having been
found in the same locality. The largest of these three
great lumps weighs 1344-lbs., of which upwards of
1201bs. are pure gold. The other two lumps weigh
931bs. 2 oz. 5 dwt., and 831bs. 9 oz. 5 dwt, respectively,
only a very small proportion being quartz. They are
superb specimens of gold and quartz interblended. The
largest weighs many pounds more than the famous
" Kerr hundred-weight of New South Wales, and has
the additional advantage of being in one solid lump.
The fortunate finders are taking it to England in the
Sarah Sands for exhibition.

The locality where these splendid masses have been
found is called the Canadian Gully, and is a branch of
the Ballarat diggings. These diggings were the first
opened up in Victoria; and attracted a large number of
people ; but they were almost wholly deserted when the
superior richness of the Mount Alexander diggings was
discovered. They have lately risen again into favour,
however, and there is no doubt that tens of thousands
will now flock to them, and explore them more
thoroughly. The difference between the two localities
seems to be that at Mount Alexander the gold is finer
and more equably diffused ; while at Ballarat it is in
larger lumps, and occurs less frequently. A similar
difference has been observed between the Ophir and
Turon diggings, in New South Wales. The difference
would seem to indicate the existence of an orignal
matrix or fountain head of the gold deposits, to which
Balaarat probably lies nearer than Mount Alexander.
Our scientific men can help us but little in the solution
of that problem ; but there is no saying what continuous
exploration may reveal. There really seems no ante-
cedent improbability •of the existence of some such
original gold-beds.
The price of gold in Melbourne has gradually risen to
3/. 16s. an ounce, and it is likely to continue rising till
it reaches the Mint price. The abundance of specie, the
competition in the trade, and the raising of the rate of
exchange by the banks, have increased the pride, and
almost annihilated the profits derivable from exporting
gold. Yet the number of brokers is very considerable ;
and the dubiousness attaching to the transactions of
many of them is proportionately increased.
The Sydney people have organised a private escort to
the Victorian diggings, with the design of drawing some
of our gold in their direction. The scheme is not at all
feasible, and it appears likely that it will fail. Our
neighbours may well be satisfied with their own diggings
and the large quantities of our gold which, as Mr. West-
garth's table shows, find their way to the Sydney mar-
ket in the regular way of trade.

MELBOURNE, FEB. 10.—A circumstance has just oc-
curred here which fully warrants the observations made
in my former letter relative to the continued yield of
gold to the labour of the digger, and its effect deranging
the general labour market. I stated in my last that not
the least probability existed, as I considered, of the gold
fields ceasing to yield their present average return for a
very long period, and in my first letter, of the 9th of
November, I remarked that " new rich spots will con-
tinually be found there, new excitement will be created,
and renewed desertion of ordinary occupation follow."
The news which reached this town a few dais ago from
the Ballarat diggings, and the immediate results of it are a
verification of this. The discovery of this splendid mass of
gold is thus announced in the Melbourne and Geelong pa-
pers—" 1201 b. nugget ! A most splendid discovery of the
largest nugget of gold ever yet found in the world has
taken place in Canadian Gully, Ballarat. The mass is
quite pure, and the weight no less than 1201 b. It was
deposited in the office of Mr. Commissioner Green, at
Ballarat, and conveyed from Canadian Gully to the
commissioner's tent slung to a pole carried on men's
shoulders. Since then Mr. Welsh has arrived in town,
and informs us he has handled the specimen. Placing
the mass on the ground between his legs it was a good
lift to raise it from the floor. The fortunate finders were
a party of four. It is their intention to proceed to Eng-
land with the gold. After finding it they offered to sell
the hole for 3001., but there was some hesitation, and
they went down into the hole again, and got another
nugget, weighing 76 ounces. A purchaser then stepped
forward, and the lucky diggers retired from their toil
with their fortunes made."

I am informed that within a few hours of the appear-
ance of this statement—of the correctness of which there
is no doubt—some hundreds of persons left Melbourne,
and an advance instantly took place in the labour market.
The passage in the Queen's speech alluding to the sub-
ject of transportation to Van Diemen's Land has given
the highest satisfaction here, it being concluded from it
as certain that the wretched and unjust system of Eng-
land's continuing to flood these fine colonies with her
convicts is to cease immediately. I believe the power-
ful articles on this subject in your own influential jour-
nal, have mainly contributed to bring about this most
desirable alteration. But whether or not they have
been the means of opening the eyes of her Majesty's
Government on the natter, it is difficult for any lan-
guage of mine to express adequately my sense of the
inestimable benefit such a measure will be to the future
well-being of Australia. No one can have been, as I
am, a daily observer of the amount of crime, for which
the large number of bad characters are mainly respon-
sible, who have contrived, in one way or another, to get
over from the neighbouring convict-cursed colony, but
must hail with the greatest joy the intelligence that
at last the death-blow is to be dealt to the system.
That it will powerfully stimulate the immigration into
these colonies of a better and higher class of emigrants,
I have no doubt ; for, in spite of all the advantages they
hold out to the intending settler, there was this one
plague-spot which loomed upon his vision, and inter-
fered with the otherwise almost perfect brightness of the
prospect. Thus another impulse has been given to the
rapid colonisation of this great country.
I am glad to say that a committee of the Legislative
Council has presented an elaborate report on the impor-
tant matter I alluded to in my last, namely, the drain-
ing and water supply of this city, without some
effectual proviso for which the inestimable benefit we
enjoy of living in one of the healthiest climates in the
world is in a great measure lost to us. As there is no
difference of opinion as to its urgent necessity, I trust,
notwithstanding the high price of labour, the work will
shortly be commenced.

Another thing which for the comfort of the inhabit-
ants is greatly needed, and the absence of which is
greatly felt by all the now corners, is the daily watering
of the streets by water-carts, as in England. If required
there, it is far more here, for the extreme drynesss of
the atmosphere reduces the unpaved streets to a mass of
sandy dust, which the wind raises into a column more
like what you would expect to meet with in the deserts
of Arabia than in an English-built city.
Many fears have been entertained for the fate of the
Melbourne steamer, owing to the unfavourable reports
which the English papers had brought us of her bad con-
dition, and of the disastrous commencement of her
voyage, but these fears were happily allayed on Friday
last by her arrival. A portion of her mail is said to be
seriously injured, some of the letters being in a defaced
and rotten state, from the access of water to the bags
during the voyage. It may be •truly said, that, up
to this time, steam has been of no service whatever
to the trade of this place ; but, on the contrary, from
the irregularity and utter disappointment as to the
length of passage, it has greatly inconvenienced the
merchants of Melbourne, goods arriving in some
instances by sailing vessels before the adviees and
bills of lading forwarded by the steamer. However, it
being simply a question'of better management (effectual
arrangement for an abundant and quick supply of coals
at the coaling stations being the main point), I antici-
pate this will soon be set right. The general state o 1
trade here continues good, except that among theretai
shops there has been some decline in their generally tace-
tive business during the last few weeks. One of h
most noticeable features in the business of the plaisce
is
the vast amount of property of all kinds which is
dis-
posed of by public auction. Some of the auction rooms'
are really such fine spacious buildings as would do credit

to any city in Europe, and they are crowded daily h -
buyers of all classes, from the dealer to the private con
sumer. Unlike what t
it is in England, where a grey
sacrifice in price is usually made when property
brought to the hammer, the rices which are realised are
on the average excellent, paying the owners a handsom.
profit. In fact, it is the general and preferred mode f)!
effecting sales, and has the great advantage of a raped
disposal of goods, saving warehouse rent, and mall
other expenses incident to holding over goods for the
chance of higher prices by private oontract.
There is nothing particular to notice connected Nri.t.
the gold fields, except that the dangerous course vihr
the Government were about to adopt in licensing public'
houses for the sale of spirits at the diggings has bel
abandoned. The bill for this measure was innerduoT
into the Legislative Council by the Attorney-
but public opinion was very properly opposed to it, an
it was thrown out by a small majority. Bad it bi_ef,
carried the evil consequences, I fear, would have 7,e
appalling. The pursuit of the gold digger is of .1417
one of the most intense excitement, and it being follovi;
mostly by a class possessing so little self-control,
obvious, as has been justly remarked, that "gold-dig' it '
•
and spirit-drinking 'cannot, consistent with the geltrt
safety, go together." The " sly-grog selling, as, it
called, exists at the mines, no doubt, to a consiaert-,ts
extent, and to put this down was one of the argcle'7,.
of the framers of the bill ; but I am satisfied that fs,lll.
toting the sale of spirits would have increased the de'
mand and consumption on tho whole very greatly.
There has just been compiled an accurate accouel''„,
the quantity and value of the gold produced by the r,',
toric. Mines in the year 1852, which I quote for the";
formation of your readers. In the year 1862, it ftlis
pears that the total number of ounces raised frelli_iren
various mines in Victoria was 4,475,247, which, Toni
at Si. 10s. per ounce, produces the sum of 14,163,3 e;
sterling. With such wealth you might well suPPe.lll
that everything conducive to the comfort of 0%5:
habitants which internal improvements and 00.
cient police could effect would be speedily a„if
plished. It is far, otherwise, however. Not °Pi;
are public improvements of every kind retarded ly
the very high price of labour, which I hays in trio
former letters adverted to, but there it; a .1r
apathy and indifference to allpublic business 1:0;
vading the community. the merchant, 'to
the shopkeeper, nor the professional man, ear_„eBblic
step out, even for a brief space, into the arena of Fi'm
usefulness, for the hours and the minutes just o_t:d
period are too richly wealth-laden to them to
such a diversion of their thoughts.
0%
Altogether we must be content to take things as
are. The evils alluded to are, perhaps, inseparable flo,
such a sudden and extraordinary change as, in the g
covery of the gold fields, came over this vigorous Ye„,,—no
colony, which I verily believe is destined to becorseorie
of the greatest commercial countries which the W
has beheld, either in ancient or modern times. Of
P.S.—The delay of a couple of days in the
the Sarah Sands enables me to add a postscript, eeil;':f
ing the interesting intelligence that two more mast;
gold, of large size, have been discovered contiOnbe
the spot whence the monster nugget was dug ;hi
two weighing together 163 lb.—Correspondent °I
Times.