The Evening Star SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 1876.

Evening Star, Issue 4063, 4 March 1876, Page 2

The Evening Star SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 1876.

Some three months since the proprietors of the ‘ Melbourne Argus ’ took some pains to investigate the causes of the decline of the;

gold-mining/interest in Victoria,. and some of the results ■ are stated. in: air article headed “Gold-mining in Victoria,’’ reprinted' in our supplement. It is, confessedly a difficult subject to grapple with, and in the end must resolve itself into a question of profit and loss. Gold minuigjias hitherto been prosecuted in far too much of a gambling spirit. The possibility bf dropping upon a large nugget has had charms for many, equal to the phantom of making a fortune by backing some’' favorite horse' or turning up a lucky card at rouge et iioir. It is impossible to divest any’humau pursuit of every element of risk. Even the most prudently conducted business cimnot "be said to be free froin all chance of failure. ’Pis hot in mortals to command success. All that can be done is to take every care that knowledge can devise to secure it, and where gold mining has been prosecuted in this spirit it has seldom altogether failed; Unfortunately, careful, business-like manage* ment in gold mining has been the' exception in Victoria as elsewhere. The chief drawback to its successful prosecution has been speculation “Under the yerandah,” or at “the Corner,” Among those assemblages of dealers in scrip, honorable principle was banished. If a man with a few thousands to spare for investment expected , to be met with by brokers in a fair and honest spirit, he very soon found himself deceived, and either paid the penalty of being duped, or, after a few weeks’ practice, became versed in all the mysteries of duping others. He acquired a knowledge, of the names of all the enterprises on the stock and share, list, with the fancy values attached to each. ’ He was acquainted with every report’ set in circulation for the purpose of of “bulling” or’“bearing” the market, and most probably for personal profit or ifr fancied self-defence, allowed many statements to pass uncontradicted which he knew to be false. Nor were lihese tactica con-

fined to hi okCrs : they were aided in their professional avocations by diggers, who often If ft *their claims to do a little in the way of speculation in “mines,” real or nominal.' it is plain that such a system cannot live on itself. Even at a gaming table, if the players sit long enovlgh, the money employed irl passing from hand to hand uppish of necessity disappear .in . expanses, and the game must die a 'natural - death. The gamesters cannot live upon each other for ever. In like manner the stakes required renewing “Under the Verandah” or “at the Corner,” and those who supplied them ; were hard-working, industrious men engaged in business ’ who had* saved something above their earnings, and wished to invest it so as ' to bring iii ah. extra return as interest,' Little did it matter to the dealers in phantom mines who* provided-the capital-AH. -they cared about was their brokerage or selling shares of fictitious value, and thus they despoiled their customers in the most disinterested/ and honorable manner. : Had * there been ,a preponderance of successftdt ventures most "probably this system would have continued to this day; but when month [after month passed. without any return,for capital advanced,' and when -scheme after scheme was. proved to have been originated. for no other purpoa&.than to rob the trusting, ithe game was played out; “the Corner ”and “ the Verandah ” were forsaken, and even legitimate naming has become neglected. Yet there ikevcry reason to believe that there is more gold left-in some of the rich old goldfields than has yet been obtained; Recent experiments have proved- the fallacy , of the theories that used to be - accepted as settled that leade of 'gold' became poorer in proportion to their depth from the earth’s surface. The surface diggings, which were so rich, appear to have been the aggregate deposits from rocks that have become decomposed by atmospheric action and by exposure to the weather/ Those portions of the Ore thus affected have left the gold to settle down into the bed in which it has " been original rock perhaps not being richer, if so rich as that which lies below. The ‘Argus’ concludes, with much apparent reason, that gold-i mining will yet prove a source of wealth, when ip is prosecuted as. a business pursuit,-and divested of its gambling element. The experience bt Viotoriaiis pretty much that of all gold-producing countries. Otago is suffering from a like cause. Honest men do not like to be made the victims ;of unprincipled swindlers,' and' after having been bitten once or twice direct theifc attention to Other pursuits. For the present languishing condition of gold-mining, the mminjg districts inust blame themselves; they have deceived those whb, would have helped them, and the retribution, is just; the misfortune is they do not Suffer alone.