Morning journal and courier., 1884-04-14
Gold in Australia.
Ens BalIsrat MIne-The Terrible Tale of
 the Diggings.

Ehs Ballzrat MIne-The Terrible Taie cf the DigRfngs.
 From M. D. Conway's Letter.l
 Gold costs good deal. So thought to-day when was sinking into narrow grave, lit- tie more than yard square, 800 feet into the earth. For their eight hours daily toll in this Hades each miner obtains $1 75, sum whose smaIlness amazed me- The Ballarat mine is owned by 8 company which toiled for some years without much result on ground where the first discoverers had found much gold few feet deep. They sunk a shaft very , far down, they battled with flood and sand six years before they reached succsss-$5, ,00O per day Now at the end of twenty-two years, the company can count over $50, ,O00, 900 as
 it's gains. And yet the mud and grime of it's the subterranean slime and cold, the unsun ned existences passed in digging down there. combined into symbol of the quantity of dirt, darkness, drudgery and unhappiuess, through which in America as well as Ballarat, many must pass before gold can be piled up! That serpent the English sovereign must eat the dust all its days.
 So far as can learn comparatively few of the great fortunes of Australia have been built up on gold mines As we drove through BaIIarat many houses were pointed out far sunken in tue earth by reason of the exca- vations beneath them, end the wealth ezcava- ted appears to have largely rested on simi- lar insecure foundation. In old German folklore it is said that they who dig success fully for hid treasure must work in silence and fulfill certain formulas demanded by fatal guardians of such things-a single word, neglected form, being enough to bring not only failure but danger. The real conditions of wealth are not less stern than the legend sry. They. are not to be met by riding horses shod with gold, though they made one Came ron famous in 1856. Few of the diggers could have fulfilled all the dread conditions of ob- taining riches, failure in the least of which may turn fine ores to the devils dust, or to chains more galiiBg than iron. There are true legends haunting these Australian gold fields which sometimes sound as if invented by soms sage to teach the vanity of mere luck. poor wretch finds thousand pound mug get and sleeps 70 moro.
 There is in Victoria town of ruined houses -Matlock. Its life began in 1864 with rush of diggers. The last inhabitant left in 1879. In that fifteen years Matlock had found a fortune and seen it turn to dross The dig gers lost thsir wits. as at Ballarat, lit their pipes with bank notes and played at shittles with bottles of wine ''On one occasion, :" said Mir Southsrland, 1.-two lucky miners laid a wager with the largest shout The first one ordered several dozen of the most expensive Wines far more than the company could be expected to drink with the utmost diligence. But the other eclipsed this effort by ordering out the landlords whole stock of champagne, amounting to about 200 bottles It was brought and disposed of in every ob- surd way that reckless ingenuity could in- vent This sort of conduct ruined many of the diegers." Deeson, the poor man who went out one day with his childreu's cries for bread ringing in his ears and returned with the nugget ('.Welcome Stranger') that sold for $50 GOO, was a man of good personal hab- it's, but soon fell into poverty. He did not know when he had enough. He invested his fortune in machinery and lost 1t all. He toiled on through life in poverty a hundred yards from the spot where single stroke of his pick turned up a fortune.