Arizona republican., 1892-07-17

border land of every country and men wlth no country to boast their own in snort fortune hunters the world over who could by hook or crook get passage to the new Ei Dorado hiei there with the desper- ation Of spirits bound to make or break And they didn't go in driblets, giving time for assimilation; there was a flood, n deluge, and the population jumped from 5OOOO souls to 2J0,000 in year from the time the first Australian nuggets were dis played on the Strand in London The rich digglngs of the time were located in an in. significant strip of mountainous coast at the extreme southern point of the island, about 400 miles long by 200 wide.
 The country about that time became a separate political division under the super latively loyal title of Victoria, although. of course, there is nothing in n name.
 The population of mining camp is not specially qualified to make any great sacri- flee to uphold an attribute so shadow, as mere political dignity, and a vast squatting ground of diggers was what the British queens young protcge speedily became A cotemporary historian wrote of it's peoplc From California came wild men, the waifs of societies which had submitted to or practiced lynch law The social testers of France, Italy and Germany shed exfolia- tions upon Australia. The rebellious ele- ment of Ireland was there. The disap- pointed crew who thought to frighten the British Isles from their propriety in lsls were represented in some strength"
 The convict element of Australia com pleted the vile ingredients With ship loads of such immigrants unloaded daily at the Victorian ports the colonial authori- ties-which means officials sent out by the home government-wOuldn naturally find their rule holiday outing under the best of circumstances. And circumstances could not we'll be other than tough as things were. The land was thousands of miles from the worlds storehouses, and in itself produced nothing to make life worth living, for goN alone cannot do that. Pro visions became so scant that the govern ment could barely feed the convicts of it's penal colony. Freight from the seashore 100 miles inland, rose to fl00 ton. And all classes went gold mad; servants bolted, ships crews porters, drivers and even po- licemen ran off to the diggings. The lucky ones returned to the capital town and port to display their wealth and incite the cupidity of the conservative stay at homes, and this thing going on for months pro duced a fever that upset everything and chaos was at no time far away. The best thing and about the only good thing was gold, gold in heaps at that, and this every body couldn't pick mp just to the liking. Poverty will not abolish itself even in an Fl Dorado.
 After the boom had reached a state bordering on permancnte, the colonial off. cers hit upon the clumsy idea of making the camp pay it's own way in the matter of administrative expenses through a license tax on inGiTidual miners, that is, every spade and pick, practically, must Haunt it's license stamped with the colonial seal. The tax at first was q los month and was soon doubled and every delinquent was torn from his pit and placed in chain gang to work out the fee at hard labor The lucky fellows in the digSings didn't mind such tdflcs us a pound or two at all,