The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1853-01-28
Resources - the Great
Golden Island.

We submit to the deliberate attention Of our
readers to-day and especially 30 the flnanciers,
spectators, and brokers of Wall street, the
highly interesting compilation of Australian in
telligence embodied elsewhere i'm this paper.
Its statistics of the astonishing products Of gold
from the mines OF Mount Alexander. Ballarat,
and other localities, are scarcely OF greater in
terest than the comprehensive statement which
follows OF the general resources and social con-
dtion of that wonderful island continent of
Australia. From these authentic details it is
manifest that Australia is destined to be the
focal point for the devclopement Of the COM
merce and the civilization Of the vast regions
around it, island and continental, compre-
hending two-thrds of the population of the
| globe.
On bright sunshiny day-we remember it
well-towards the close Of the summer of 1913,
q small parcel Of gold dust, from the correspon-
| dent of the New York HERALD in California
was received at this Office. 1t was q tiny little
sample Of that scaly kind Of dust still to be
found along the original milrace Of Captain
Suffer, in the valley of the Rio de los .in,eri-
canos, or the River of the Americans, SO called
all the rest Of California was exclusively occu-
| pied by its Spanish, Mexican and Indian races
This tiny parcel was taken, by Mr.. BENNETT,
| from descriptive letter; and, after examining
it, together with several of his assistants OF our
editorial bureau, the dust was sent to a min
eralogist to be assayed II was promptly re
turned, with the gratifying assurance that it
hmm, fill vim
ly exceeded two dollars in value; but as the
first shipment from California to New York, we
date from that bright sunshiny day of l84S the
Inauguration of the present wonderful, progress
sive, expansive, enterprising golden epoch Of
the nineteenth century.
Since that historical summers day, the ire
mcndous amounts OF gold extracted from the
mines of California have simply advanced us a
hundred years in the march of prosperity enter
prise, and Improvement. But we had scarcely
settled down to the full belief and recognition
Of the unparalleled wealth Of our own Ell Do
RADIO, when the cry Of Eureka r from San
Francisco was re-echoed in the still louder cry
Of" Eureka % from Australia. We had scarcely
arrived at the conclusion that the golden visions
and sea, of ancient and modern times, were
realized in California. when-presto' the monster
island continent Of the antipodes is found to be
full Of gold
The present shipments to England from
Australia, with the figures and vouchers be-
fore us, are almost incredible, even at this
day, when the mind is prepared to believe
anything. For example, the arrival of the
regular British mail steamer with nearly
five millions of gold on board, was well
calculated to make sensation on the Lon
don Stock Exchange, as it did. The returns for
the last eleven months from the Mount Alexan
der and Ballarat diggings, it appears, amount
to nearly seventy-four tons Of gold--that is to
say, about thirty-two millions of dollars. But
the total export from the island since October
last rises to an aggregate OF nearly forty-fivc
millions, with perhaps ten millions awaiting
expectation, or in the hands of the miners or
escorts 10 the seaports. Upon these data we
may safely assume that the sum total of the
yield of the Australian gold mines, during the
last twelve months, will exceed in value the
enormous aggregate of seventy-fve millions of
dollars! In this estimate we make some allow
ance for the extension of the discoveries the in
crease of the miners and the daily augmenting
quantities of gold extracted during the last five
or six months. For the current year, from the
impulse given to emigration to Australia, we
think it within the bounds of a moderate prcdc-
ton to say that the total yield Of the
mines Of that vast country will be equal and
perhaps far beyond, the imperial sum total Of
one hundred millions Of dollars. From Califor-
MIA we may count upon fifty millions, which,
added to the estimate for Australia, will make
a solid addition to the basis of the currency Of
the world of one hundred and fifty millions Of
dollars through the course Of the current year.
Now. superficial observer would at once
conclude that this vast increase to the basis of
the universal circulation must inevitably de-
preciatc the value of gold or reduce it to the
standard of its proportion to the supply of sill
yer or that it must increase the cost ofevery-
thing Of which it is the representative Of value
in the ratio Of the supply beyond the existing
equilibrium. But this is truly superficial view
Of the subject. The grand effect Of these extra
ordinary supplies Of gold is an extraordinary i'm
pulse to every enterprise for bringing into requi-
sition the undeveloped resources of every quar-
ter of the word-ofevcr inhabited and uninha-
bited spot upon the face of the earth Nor, until
this gold has dihused itself over the globe, and
penetrated and filed up every nook and corner
where the exchanges Of commerce are based
upon gold. will its existing value be materially
diminished in the great central markets oil Lon
don. New York and San Francisco.
A vast. glorious. and unboundcd prospect
snreads itself before us. Australia is to be the
central point for the infusion of the Caucasian
elements Of enterprise, civilization, and physi-
cal and intellectual Improvement, over all
those vast archipeagocs Of islands Of the Indian