QUARTZOPOLIS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 205, 4 January 1872, Page 6

QUARTZOPOLIS.

The following description of the state of affairs 'in Sandhurst was written by a gentleman formerly a resident ou the Blue Spur and well known in the Tuapeka district :—

The Sandhurst erin .fever has run its course and died out. A few weeks ago more than a thousand telegraphic messagespassed daily between Melbourne and Sandhurst: ' Special trains had to be put on between the two place' 3,' and sharebrokers were making froi'i" 1 ..30 to L4O per day each, but tliat in all over now. Shares have fallen* greatly in dividend payingcompanies, audin prospectivelygobd companies heavy falls have taken place.; while in speculative companies thousands- of shares' are being forfeited for nonpayment of caftls. All the available country within seven or eight miles of Sandhurst'is' either

leased or under application. A' man does not require much capital to become a mining- .speculator in Victoria. Most registered companies issue from twenty to forty-five thousand shares, and I often see shares quoted in the brokers' lists as low as 2d. a share. A broker will buy, arid get transf erred- to an investor, 7s. 6d. worth of shares for a commission of three-

pence, so that- one, 'may own 'a goodly bundle of scrip without parting with much ca&h

T could relate many strange things that occurred during the mmmg 1 frenzy. One party marked 'out a 'piece 'of • graimd, which was alrea ly applied for^urider thfe' leading regulations, and registered a compahy calle.d. the. "South Golden. Fleece Company." The shares sold readily, and had a marketable value of twelve thousand, pounds when the 1 cohipany'ii t£tle"was not' worth twelve pence. ■ ■ Another company, ' the' "''Richard" Heales," was great 'un< paper:- for a long'

time and- shares changed handsjin large parcels, at, L 3 5«- a share,-. : cash. ' The ,'groimdheld'by the Richard Heales wasnext r t<> a company who were actually.- getting payable gold,' and aa thera ' happened to 'be a piece of tmdecupied grbund near, the working manager nfthe kieh^rd Heales rec^mmeoded the: registered *n>an^ef to take it- up on behalf of rhe »>mpany. • The registered manager at once took ' np the

« ground, and then couvenpd-an.»ixtrftord-inary meeting of shareholdera in the Richard Healea Cora|>any for the purpose <\f increasing the' capital ctf the ' company by the issue of more shades, to enable f tb,e Company to purchase' adjacent ground. When the meeting wa3 held k transpired that the manage^; Mr. ; Hugh MoColl^ had. \ taksu jip the '^iK>Toijpi*d ground bcfr>re

mentioned oh his own account, and £Een convened the m'eetinglfor' the-ptrcpose of v selling t|jß ij>ie<}e-of grjouhd to ith.e.Bichara' Heales Company for the ; modest sum pf L12,00Q. , Of course a row. ensued and the manager's, game would take. ' I see 1 in th'd' morning papers that share's m the' Woh-ard' Heales Company Jiave fallen io 1 17s. 3A" a sharfe. The calls now made -in ihe- Sandhurst -'Distnct^eiceed the dividends by several thousand pounds weekly. " ' * —"' The. same., writer Bays three' richest and best Quartz 'Companies in Victoria are the North Cross -Reef at Pleasant Greek, the New North Clime's near Ballarat, an 4 the Long Tunnel in Gippa Land, The first mentioned company payfe about £10,000 monthly in dividends.