The Sun.
London, England, 1853-10-18 00:00:00

The Sydney . papers received by the last mail
contain, as usual, a curious and interesting medley
of information on the commercial, social, and poli-
tical progress of the colony. Its prosterity, though
seemingly eclipsed by the astonishing accounts from
the Victoria goldfields, is nct therefore less sub-
stantial, and perhaps is more firmly established,
and more general in its diffusion. The goldfields
of New South Wales, though less stupendous in
their results than those of Victoria, have never
since their first discovery ceased sufficiently, and in
many instances brilliantly, to remunerate a large
mining population, while the wealth of the colony
has been still further increased by considerable
amounts of gold and money obtained by inhabitants
of New South Wales in the Victoria goldfields.
Ample evidence of this fact is again furnished by the
Sydney Gold Circulars from the 4th to the 18th of
June. In the week ending the 4th of June, 2,161
ounces of gold, valued at about 8,0001., reached
Sydney from the various New South Wales diggings,
which may be enumerated as follows :—Bathurst,
Sofala, Vass, Bingara, Tambaroora, Avisford, Mud-
gee, Braidwood, Bell's Creek, Major's Creek, Goul-
burn, Murrurundi, Cameron's Creek, Tamworth,
Hanging Rock, Rocky River, and the Ovens, where
new and rich placers had been discovered. In the
week ending June 10, the arrivals amounted to
4,325 ounces, valued at 15,000/. ; in the week end-
ing June 18, 1,446 ounces of gold came to Sydney,
together with 2,8641. in cash. The total of the ex-
ports of gold since the first discovery amounted to

1,332,741 ounces, which, at 70s. per ounce, repre-
sent a capital of 4,664,5931. It is of course impos-
sible to estimate the amounts taken out by pas-
sengers, either on their own account or for others.
The prices of gold at Sydney in the third week of
June ranged from 3/. 15s. to 31. 17s. 6d. per ounce.
Considerable losses, in some cases amounting to Bs.
or 10s. on the ounce, had been sustained by Sydney
gold brokers from adulterated gold sent from Mel-
bourne, and the consequence was that New South
Wales gold was much in demand, while the parcels
imported from Victoria were looked upon with a
good deal of suspicion.
Among the gold fields mentioned above are several
new diggings which have never, or but very slightly,
been mentioned in England. The first among them
is Nuggetty Gully, near the Ovens, where the gold,
we learn, is distributed capriciously, and success
has consequently been unequal. Nevertheless, at
least 500 diggers were at work in that locality in
the last week of May, and the majority of these ad-'
venturers, says the correspondent of the Sydney
Morning Herald, " arodoing very well." By some
Nuggetty Gully was spoken very highly of ; others
maintained that the washing stuff is only a few
inches in thickness, and that, unless it is very rich,
it would not pay for working. Three or four
parties are mentioned as getting 12 ounces to the
tub. An instance of great good fortune is reported
from another new locality—Maitland Bar, on the
Meroo. A party of three were digging on a claim
for 24 days. They paid all their expences, sold the
gold, and in the end had a surplus amounting to
1,0801. Of the same diggings it is stated that four
diggers had within a very short time (there are no
further details) obtained 800 ounces of gold-dust,
and another party of three was mentioned whose
100
ornoinugus forees many.Thewwoerekk pas
ins
gotf rtainiegeadilufrvoimal
di2woegegktionlygs and the washing of the soil engaged the
attention of the diggers in almost all the fields.
Formerly, in the majority of instances, washing
would not pay, for it was necessary to carry
the " dirt" uphill and downhill for the distance
sometimes of a mile or two, in order to bring it
near the water. But, within the last month, water
companies have established themselves at almost
all the goldfields, which, by the aid of pipes, and
in some instances, with the help of machinery,
conduct the water to the places where it is most
wanted, These companies, it is said, are suc-
cessful, but their success would be greater if they
could command a sufficiency of labour to supply the
wants of all applicants. They offer 15s. per day
and rations, but they are unable to procure the
hands they want. A hundred miles of gutta-percha
tubing and a dozen small steam engines would, un-
der these circumstances, meet with a hearty wel-
come at the diggings.
The mining population seem determined to be
not only prosperous, but as comfortable as can be
expected under the circumstances. Diggers' tents
and lairs, constructed of dry branches, give way to
bark and slab huts, some of them constructed. in a
very substantial manner, and doing, by the taste
and judgment displayed in their arrangements,
much honour to the impromptu architects. Log
huts, too, are being built at almost all the diggings.
It is hoped that the established localities will be
more steadily worked by miners who have in this
manner provided themselves with homesteads, and
that the " rushes" to any new creak or gully which
may excite attention will not in future be either so
frequent or so general as has hitherto been the
case.

Post-office irregularities and the badness of the
roads are still standing complaints with the New
andtd iuet
duty.
r ioesvltna nitoci eiuedwl
loudly
firsti c
inveighed
instance,i s mo most frequently
tahg eantagainst,
miners
sle
South Wales miners, as with those of Victoria, but
etah ne noi mentioned,cteun ns
derstand why gold should pay any duty at all.
Others, leaving that vexed question alone, protest
that the manner of levying the duty by means of
a license fee is oppressive and unjust to individuals
and injurious to the revenue. They complain that
the unfortunate among the miners are quite as
heavily taxed as the most successful diggers ; that
the man who sinks hole after hole and barely makes
enough to cover his expenses, is mulcted to the
same amount as he who by chance hits upon a spot
which pays him at the rate of 50 ounces per week.
The opinion seems to be generally adopted, that if
there be any necessity for taxing gold at all, a
moderate export and coinage duty would be prefer-
able, as tending least to hinder the development of
the mineral wealth of the colony. It has been sug-
gested that an export duty of 2s. Gd per ounce would
prove more advantageous than the license fee. The
New South Wales exports in 1852 amounted to
856,188 ounces, which, at 2s. Gd. per ounce, would
give a revenue of above 100,0001. There can be
no doubt, say the colonists, that this duty will
eventually fall on the miner, but the tax would be
more equitable, as it would affect them in exact
proportion to their success.
It is stated in Harnet's commercial report, that a
new copper mine has been discovered, and that it
is being worked by Messrs. Samuel, of Sydney. A
lump of copper, weighing nearly half a ton, was on
its way to that town.
The Sydney commercial reports contain some
evidence of the overstocked condition of the colo-
nial market. About the end of May " prices were
still enormously high." Brandy, for instance, left
70 per cent. profit to the importer, and case gm and
rum 25 per cent., after paying all expenses. A few
days afterwards enormous shipments arrived, prices
of storeage increased to a very high rate, importers
were compelled to push the sales, and the auc-
tioneers were completely smoothered with goods.
The prices of produce and provisions were affected
by the general reaction, to the signal benefit of the
labouring population. Wheat sold at 7s. ; flour at
181. and 201. per ton of 2,000 lb. ; bread sold at 6d.
the 21b. loaf ; beef at 11d. to 1-W. per lb., and
mutton at 21d. to 2W. per lb. The prices of fowls,
k
as high English prices ; they are not
than the quotations of the London markets
thsuiiggrnhaeetyresd, eggs, potatoes, &c., may generally be de-
at periods of moderate scarcity. But it should be
understood that those prices apply to Sydney only.
At the various diggings provisions are still enor-
mously high, in exact proportion to their distance
from Sydney, the badness of the weather and the
'condition of theroads. At Spring Creek, flour sold
at 141. per bag in May, and the price declined in
June, as we learn from the Sydney Empire, though
it is not said what the exact price was when the
mail left.

The high price of labour continues, in many in-
stances,
to prevent the execution of useful under-C
takings, which, in the end, would doubtless be
profitable to the speculator and to the community.
The papers before us contain no regular price cur-
rent of labour, but a few odd paragraphs here and
there suggest some valuable hints on the subject.
Thus we learn that the shipwrights of Sydney struck
for wages in May. They were receiving 15s. per
day and wanted 20s. A man who wished to engage
a blacksmith was told by an unsuccessful digger
"to offer 1/. a day and rations, or," he added,
c, you don't deserve to have one." It appears that
in almost all other trades a like want of hands is
painfully felt, and corresponding wages are given.
The cry is still for useful emigrants. " With the
exception of clerks and professional men, says the
Sydney Empire, "there is an open field for almost
any species of honourable industry. A conside-
rable number of ships have arrived with living car-
goes of both sexes, married and single. Other ships
are immediately in prospect, and yet the complaint
is general. It is impossible to get work done in
awnhiraf
what
suchmustsufficienta
are thequantity.the com
lamentationsi nt sof the
o m
fthe men
fairer o f S
portion