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Cromwell Argus, Volume IV, Issue 166, 14 January 1873, Page 6

Anthony Troll ope, writing under the signature of " Antipodean," in the London Telegraph, has the following:—"ln Melbourne there is a verandah ; in Sandhurst there is a verandah ; in Ballarat there is a verandah. The verandah is a kind of open exchange, some place on the street pavement apparently selected by chance, on which the dealers in goltl-mining shares do congregate. What they do there, or how they carry on their business on that spot, 1 am unable to explain. Bu tto the stranger, as he passes by, they do not look lovely, lie learns to walk on the other side of the road, for he hears strange talcs, which make him feel that the innocence of the dove would not befriend him at all, were he to trade in those parts. I think there is a racing phrase as to ' getting a tip.' The happy man who gets a tip learns something special as to the competence or incompetence of a horse. There are a great many tips in gold mines which fall into the fortunate hands of those who attend most closely, and perhaps with most unscrupulous fidelity, to the business of the verandahs. A certain claim is going to give gold. The man who has the tip sells out at a low price— sells out a certain small number of shares probably to a friend who holds a tip with him. The price is quoted iu the share list, and the unfortunate non-tipped sell out also, taking the figures from the share-list as their guide, and the fortunate tipp-.rl one buys up all. Or the claim is not yung to give gold, and the reverse happens. Or a claim is salted—gold surreptitiously intioduced is then taken out and made the base of fictitious prosperity. The tipped ones sell and the untipped buy. lb is easily seen that the game is verv pretty, but slightly dangerous. It has certainly become very popular.'''