The Sun.
London, England, 1853-01-13 00:00:00

THE AUSTRALIAN GOLD DIGGINGS.

The steamer Australian, though anticipated by
the Marco Polo has brought a mass of interesting
and important intelligence from the Gold Colonies.
Its leading feature is the continued and increased
prosperity of, all the fields. Since the return of
spring—that is to say, ever since autumn commenced
in England—the New South Wales' mines have
exhibited symptoms of activity and success. On
the Turon a field known as Church-hill has been
opened, with the promise of a large yield. Many
mining parties are known to make as much as 15
ounces per day. On the Mountain River Creek,
five miles west of Mulgunia, another new field is
being worked with the best result. At Tambaroora
the men at work are doing wonders. There are
about 600 of them who, in one fortnight, obtained
3,000 ounces of gold. This is at the rate of 15
ounces per man. "In many instances," says a cor-
respondent of the Sydney Morning Herald, " a
single dish of earth yields half an ounce of gold ;"
and at one particular spot in that locality three
men took 20 ounces in one day. Accounts of such
large yields, to be complete, must have a seasoning
.of nuggets also. A twelve-ounce nugget has been
found at Bald Ridge, on the Dirt-hole Road, and
a great many nuggets, of the respective weights of
from seven to 14 ounces, are reported from the
new gold field of Bingara. Mr. Commissioner
Bligh, who has again visited Bingara, states in his
report that he had the " greatest confidence in the
productiveness of the Bingara mines," adding that
no gold field has ever been opened by so . small a
number of adventurers with such uniform success.
What that " success" must be like is shown by the
fact that diggers have been known to complain of
ill-luck after having gained two ounces before din-
ner by merely scratching the ground ; for as yet
deep sinking is entirely unknown at Bingara. The
diggers are all "surfacing," and yet they are all
doing well.
The Hanging Rock diggings on the Peel River
are in good report, not only on account of their
large yields, but also because the country is said to
to be exquisitely beautiful. " Never, perhaps,"
says a correspondent of the Sydney Empire, did
men pursue their daily toil in such delightful and
beautiful workshops as these ravines, where the
dark foliage of the oak, the rugged and fantastic
piles of rock, and the numerous cascades combine
to form pleasant pictures." Unfortunately the
sojourners in this Eden are addicted to shocking
habits of intemperance ; they " gain largely aad
spend freely," as they say in the gold colonies,
and the consequence is that the attractions of the
richest fields—such as the Hanging Rock, for in-
stance—are marred by disgusting scenes of riot,
debauchery, and drunkenness. The New South
Wales' gold companies have received an addition
to their number. A native association has issued
a prospectus of a plan for working a certain quartz
vein on the Lower Turon. The Turon Golden
Ridge Quartz Crushing Company have engaged a
Brazilian miner to report upon their claim, but in
anticipation of this gentleman's report they have
tested their quartz at Sydney. The results
are truly startling. Four ounces of quartz—thus
it is literally stated in Mr. Lloyd's Sydney Gold
Circular—yielded 12 dwts. of gold, or at the rate
of 1,2001. sterling per ton. Another specimen of
quartz, "in which no gold whatever was visible,"
was tried by another assayer, and produced at the
rate of " 152 ounces of gold per ton of quartz ;"
and a gentleman who returned from the company's
claim in September, stated that there were hun-
dreds of tons of quartz which were at least equally
rich. If these statements be substantially correct
the Great Nugget Vein will be shamed into utter
nothingness, for the " scientific of Sydney" valued
the nugget vein quartz only at 1161. per ton. The
people of New South Wales, who live in a state of
amicable rivalry with the golddiggers of Victoria,
exult in the continued prosperity of their own fields
and the brilliant future which is opening for their
companies ; and they protest on every occasion
that the yield of gold per man in New South Wales
is greater than the yield of gold per man in Vic-
toria. Certain it is, although the mining popula-
tion of the former colony has never at any time
been large, that gold to the value of 2,209,3451.
sterling has been shipped from New South Wales
since the first discovery of that precious metal.

In one respect the gold fields of New South
Wales are certainly inferior to those of Victoria.
The Victoria gold is fine and pure. The Sydney
brokers acknowledge this much, by paying a small
advance on the metal imported from the rival
colony. The New South Wales' gold sells at
31. 7s. 6d. per ounce ; the Victoria fields, Mount
Alexander, Bendigo, and Ballarat sell their yields
at 31.105. 9d., even at Sidney.
The Victoria accounts, too, are great in figures.
But then it must be recollected that there are not
less than 100,000 people employed in gold digging
in the province of Victoria. Nevertheless, there
is somewhat imposing in the fact that from the
3d to the 26th of September last the yield of
Mount Alexander and Ballarat amounted to
366,193 ounces. The average yield of a week
is 80,000 ounces, which, at 70s. an ounce, re-
presents an annual yield of 14,560,000/. sterling
—that is to say, if the productiveness of the
goldfields remains what it was in July, August,
and September last. There is of course no sign of
any falling off ; on the contrary, the yield has been
increasing from month to month ever since the
first nugget was found. " The weekly yield," says
the Melbourne Argus "is constantly increasing. So
is the number of diggers." Still, the paper from
which we quote calculates that a persevering digger
can easily procure an ounce a week. On the same
authority we state that the digger spends half an
ounce for his living, which leaves him profits at the
rate of half an ounce per week. That there are large
finds, too, that some are unsuccessful while others
dig out a fortune in a week, has been mentioned in
former reports, and is again incontestably proved by
the latest advices. In September, a certain digger
at Mount Alexander, picked out a noble solid piece,
about nine pounds of pure gold, besides a great
quantity of smaller nuggets around it. The value
of the " find" was from 8001. to 1,0001. Another
man found between nine and ten pounds of gold
imbedded in the pipeclay. A party of miners at
Bendigo, obtained in a day 208 ounces, and this
yield " increased as the party got further into the
dip of the rock." The Daisy-hPI Diggings, though
the operations have as yet been confined to
surface washing, were daily gaining • in public
favour. At Reid's Creek, near the Oven's River,
180 miles north-east of Melbourne, two men are
reported as having picked up 17i ounces in one day.
These two men computed their earnings generally
at eight ounces per day. The Melbourne Argus, in
gmivinustgeotuhvineseusfacotsf
thkhee theseut ht
iaot
capa-
bilities of the Victoria gold fields, and it hints that
convince tviecnultahr se' most assertsc
a
he would be a bold man who would dare to compare
the yields of New South Wales with the inexhaus-
tible treasures of Mount Alexander, Ballarat, the
Eureka, and Bendigo.
In spite of the large number of emigrants from all
parts of the world who reached the colonies in Aug.
and Sept., the cry for labour was as loud as ever.
But it ought to be remarked that in this respect
New South Wales is in a more favourable position ;
wages at Sydney are exactly one-half of what they are
at Melbourne. The quotations of the labour mar-
ket have already been given in a former report. It
appears, however, that even at the exorbitant rates
which are freely given all trades and professions are
languishing for want of manual labour. Money
cannot buy it. The Melbourne papers change their
correspondents almost every month. Journalism
is beaten out of the field by the superior attraction
of gold digging, and even of dray driving. Several
gentlemen who reported for the Melbourne Argus
are, it is stated, on the road " driving drays," for
that it appears is the more lucrative profession.
How the journals which reach us in due order, and
in such mighty file, aro brought out, is an inscru-
table mystery. Compositors and pressmen are not
to be had, even for the high wages which that
species of labour commands in the gold colonies.
" It has come to the worst," says the Argus in one
of its last numbers, " the editor is left alone this
morning to bring out the paper with his own
hands." Australia is the land of marvels, for that
and very creditably too.
particular number of the journal was brought out,