THE BALLARAT MINING REVIVAL.

Kumara Times, Issue 1128, 10 May 1880, Page 4

THE BALLARAT MINING REVIVAL.

[MELBOURNE TELEGRAPH, APRIL 28.]

The recent discoveries in the quart? resources of the Ballarat gold-field hsve given a strong filip, not only to the minings industry, but the to general prosperity of the community, for though Ballarat has always been looked upon as sound in a commercial sense, the falling-off in the gold returns for some years past naturally caused a considerable amount of comparative depression. In fact the golden key to Ballarat’s prosperity which was mislaid, not lost, a decade or so ago, when the rich alluvial leads ceased to give forth their glittering treasure, seems to have been found again in the workings of the Band and Albion Consols Company, where the discovery of a rich reef has led the way to further enterprise, and with a gratifying to result. The key of Ballarat’s prosperity was mislaid, we say, not lost, because, when the alluvial gave out, the gold did not give out; it was there, lying hidden in the quartz reefs which had fed the ancient gutters with their Midas fare ; but the energy was then wanting to give the key another turn in the lock of fortune, and so it became mislaid by more attention not being given to the development of the reefs at that particular period. Now, however, that success has attended the Band and Albion Conpany, and several others, on the same line of reef, there seems little fear that the quartz resources of the district will be thoroughly tested, and indeed, so far as the one line already referred to, is concerned, claims have been pegged out, and companies floated, too, for a distance of seven miles along its supposed course. As it runs through the heart of the city, almost every property-holder in the vicinity has become a claim-holder, and is digging a hole in his backyard, or allowing a company to do it for him. Jones’s Freehold, Smith and Robinson’s United, and Walker’s lease, jostle each othsr in repeated succession, and the blocks being generally small, one becomes almost confused in trying to remember the designation of each company. The rush for promoter’s shares has just past its climax, at least the promoting business is quieter than has been the case lately, and, like all similar mining revivals, the rush has been a warm one, without any approach to the bubble element which ruined legitimate promoting during the exciting times of 1871-2 in Sandhurst. Everyone with a L5-note to spare, from the capitalist to the shopboy, has had a more cr less severe touch of the share fever, and the promoting of new companies, caused in some cases by other good discoveries than that of the Band and Albion Company, has been assissted by the influx of a considerable amount of foreign capital. The Corner, that famous haunt of sharebrokers and stock-jobbers, now only a corner in name, which was not long since the loitering-place of a comparative handful of mining investors, is now the daily haunt of about 600 traffickers in shares, many of whom have been attracted from the various mining centres in the colonies by the news of Ballarat’s revival. The unfortunate proprietor of the hotel in front of which this crowd meets and blocks up the main entrance, has endeavored in several ways to keep his doorway clear. Persuasion by word of mouth being out of the question from the first, he began by firing crackers off amongst the crowd at intervals, which was very effective for a day or so; but the stratagem then got stale, and was no longer effective. A notification of “Wet Paint ” kept the doorway clear for a few hours, and finally a pretence of hosing the doorsteps is said to have been adopted with the ulterior object of driving away the loungers round about. All these attempts have failed, and the publican seems resigned to circumstances. So far as things have gone, the mining spurt appears to be a legitimate one, and it is worth noting that there seems to be a general desire not to overdo the business, for when calls are made in the new companies, the monthly drain of capital out of people’s pockets will be very heavy indeed.