THE GOLD OF THE WORLD.

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 681, 23 October 1852, Page 3

THE GOLD OF THE WORLD.

(Fioin (lie " f y Incj Winning Hci.ild ") In a London journal (th^ Evening Men 7 ,) of the 21 bt jMay last, theie i-s a lemaikaWc p.ipei on the

annual increase of gold throughout the vtorld, prepared by Mr. William Bu-kmyre, of Litllo Ealing, who states that ho has been investigating the subject during- the last four years, and had consulted every accessible authority, both English and foreign. To the general reader the elaborate details of this document, which fills about two columns of small print, would seem tedious but «i condensed view of its more important results, amongst which Australia occupies a connspicuous place, w ill at the present time be found interesting and instructive.

So that the produce of gold two years after the Califovnian discovery was more than three times greater than the produce two years before that event — or, to speak more precisely, the increase within that brief period was at the rate of two hundred and nineteen per cent. Another striking fact is, that the gold produced by California in the second complete year after the discovery of her deposits, was nearly two-thirds of the quantity produced throughout the whole world, China and Japan exceptcd. Or, comparing the produce of California with that of all the world beside, it will be found that while the value of the former was. . . £12,000,000 the value of the latter was only 6,654,522 making a difference in favour of California against the rest of the world of. £5,345,478 Or, of every hundred pounds worth of gold produced in the year 1850, the ratios yielded by California and the rest of the world were respectively as follows :—: — By California £64. By all other countries 8G £100 Another feature in the comparison is this had the riches of California not been discovered, the whole quantity of gold produced in 1846 by only £807,770, or less than ]4 per cent. ; while the actual increase, consequent on that discovery, was nearly £13,000,000, or, as before stated, two hunched and nineteen per cent. The produce of gold in the year 1851, in California alone, must, it is said, have amounted in value to £] 7,309,544 ; but it is confidently expected by the Americans that the recent discoveries of very rich desposits in various districts of that .State will raise the exports for the year 1852 to upwards of £21,000,000. And this, moreover, is said to be a very moderate allowance since the exports alone in the first three months of the current year are known to have extended those of the corresponding three montl.s of last year by nearly four millions of dollars. I "As regards Australia," observes the writer, j " late news from that quarter makes it probable t that the produce there Avill at least amount to one-half of the yield of California in 1850, or £6,000,000. The exports merely from Australia up to January 15th, have amounted to 284,000 ounces equivalent to £1,000,000, a part of the yield of about four months' digging. Should other countries only yield at the same rate as in 1850 orlBsl, viz. :— £6,G54,522, this, added to the produce of California or Australia, will amount to £33.090.188. or G61,0321b5. Troy."

"Tho gold coinage last year in the Ujiiteu States exceeding by -€3,393,927 the largest coinage of the same metal ever made in the United Kingdom. And the coinage in France during the first ten months exceeded by £550,494 the memorable gold coinage in England of £9,520,758 in tho year 1821."

It is manifest from many ot the facts thus strikingly brought before us, that California and Australia are destined to plaj r a yet more conspicuous pait amongst the nations of the earth, and to work out stupendous changes in the momentary affairs of civilized world.

* Rlr. Biikmyiv obsei vps — ''The above quantities are piobnbly loss than the actual production. Tfao duties on gold in Russia on the produce of the piivate mines ate heavy, vaiying from 12 to 21 per cent. ; in Austria they amount to 10 per cent.; in Brazil to 5 per cent. In other countries, such as ihe United States, where tlifie are no duties, the gold and silver stated in the tihle are only the quantities brought to the Mints to be coned, there being no means of dcte\ mining the quantity u^'il m juwelleiy and other arts, and manufacUUI'S."

JUMtu. jyftu. California X12,000,00<: Other parts of America £IJOI/>GO 1,341,98!: Itii&iin 3,414,427 4,175,HfiC Elsewhere 1,180,705 1,1 30,072 ♦ ' ■ Total £5,840,752 £18,054,522 Quantities, lbs. troy* 125,108 399,247

The writer first gives a Comparative Table showing the annual produce in value (by approximate calculation) of fine gold and silver for 1846 and 1850, the first being two years before, the latter two years after the discovery of gold in California. In this table is given the produce of every gold and silver-yielding country in the world, with the exception of China and Japan, which produce large quantities of the precious metals, but the amount of which is quite unknown to Europeans. Of the information thus set out in detail, the following is a summary of so much of it as relates to gold. The California desposits, it will be remembered, were discovered in 18-18, midway between the periods here given. The value is that of British standard.

Great Britain. 1< ranee. If. States. 843... £2,451,999... 849... 2,177,000... 850... 1,401,000... 851... (10 months)... £ 1,234,472... £786,505 1,084,382... 1,875,158 3,407,091... 0,002,854 10,077,252... 12,919,695

The average yearly coinage of gold during the firbt thirty years of this century, is stated to have been — in Great Britain, £"1,700,000 ; Franco £1,300,000 ; United States, £5,5,000 ; total, £3,055,000. The gold coinage in these countries subsequent to the California discovery is given as under :—: —

iank of England — Increase. 1848 £12,820,108 \ , 7 404 n 2 n 1852 20,231,037 J *'> 4U V^ 3ank of France — 1848 3,534,165 1 19972 039 1852 23,500,204 J lJ » J^> UeiJ Bank of New York — 1348 1,404,125 \ 0 9<i <w«i 1852 2,029,448 J ncrease of bullion in 1852 ...£28,002,201

That specie must bo rapidly increasing is shown, by the i'dct that, notwithstanding- discounts are unusually low in the three principal cities of the world there is yet in each of those cities a remaikablo increase of bullion. Comparing tho stocks of bullion held by the undermentioned banks at the same m* nearest corresponding period in 1848 and 1852, we have the following remarkable results :—: —

brold Silver. tons. tons. Gold, Silver, 801 19 850 orl Ib. to 45 M BK> 42 727 " " "17 " 850 334 078 " " " 7 " 051 180 3,002 " " " 5 " 852 242 1,027 " " " 4 "

In other words, while the aggregate amount of bullion held by these banks in 1840 was £17,764,398, the amount held by them in 1852 was £4.5,700,089 — an increase in four years of more than one hundred and fifty seoen per cent. Mr. Birkmyre winds up his curious but very able paper by the following statement : — " The following is the estimated produce of the precious metals, in tons, in 1801, 1840, 1851 and the probable amount of 1052 :—: —