THE VICTORIAN GOLDFIELDS.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 823, 10 June 1871, Page 3

THE VICTORIAN GOLDFIELDS.

The mining work of last year in Victoria showed a decline on that of the previous year, which is said to have teen due partly to the difficulties occasioned by floods and rough weather, and partly to the diminished yield from sevetal of the deeper alluvial mines. The total yield, however, was 1,222,7980z5., which is a decrease of 118,0400z5. from the previous year. Although all the gold raised is not worth £4 per ounce, we may eay that the annual production is in round numbers worth about four millions -sterling. In order to ascertain how far this industry is really productive, it is necessary to consider how much capital there is invested, how taany persons there are employed. The total number of miners is given as €0,305, a diminution of more than 7000 •on that of the previous year. Whether the missing miners have migrated to other colonies, or have gone into other pursuits, of course is not shown by this Teturn. It is to be noticed, however, that the falling off is almost exclusively from the ranks of alluvial miners, who now number 43,879 as against 16,486 quartz miners. But, though the alluvial miners are the more numerous, their work brings the least returns, as their "net earnings per man per annum are £6l; while the returns from quartz mines average £133 ; but then we have to deduct from the latter the interest on ■capital, of which there is not very much invested in alluvial work. The wages paid for labour are said to range from £2 to £5 10s per week for pitmen, and for miners from £1 16s to £3 per week. But the lowest of these wages is more than the average earnings of the alluvial miner, who does not make 24a a week. The estimated value of the machinery ■and mining plant employed on the goldfields is £2,128,896, an advance on the previous year of over £20,000. In addition to this, capital has been sunk on water races, the total length of which is nearly 2000 miles, and the cost of which has exceeded £280,000. Besides this about £40,000 has to be paid to the Government for right to occupy the land. The gross receipts therefore ought to be sufficient to pay an interest on » fixed ■capital of two millions and a half, besides interest on the working capital of the various companies, to pay the State landlord £40,000, and to pay wages to 60,000 men. But to give that number •of men only a pound a week would require more than three millions sterling. To give them twenty-five shillings a week would absorb nearly the whole of the proceeds, and leave little or nothing as interest on the capital employed. Looked at therefore in the gross, goldmining can hardly be considered as adding to the wealth of the community. There is a great product undoubt- *%> but it seems to cost fully twenty shillings to make a pound. That there are many highly-remuner-ative mines there is no doubt, but that only makes the proof the stronger that pmch labour and capital are wasted, whether the sixty thousand perpersons engaged in gold mining could joe more profitably employed in j other pursuits it is difficult to say ; [ an « of course their being employed as they are finds work for others who I f*} u P on them, such as the producers i W food and machinery. If the mining I *» a whole results in a loss, some Member* °f the community must bear that loss, and there must be an annual warn on the other profit-making operations of the people, to pay for the i oß * on unprofitable mining specula- ; Uon s. A high money value, however,

i i set upon the various claims. The mining surveyors and registrars put this value at over seven millions and a half, which is a reduction of nearly a million on tho previous year. How this value is estimated we have no means of knowing; but if the property is worth the prieejput upon It, it ought to be able to pay an interest on the purchase money, after paying all charges for labour. But this, it would seem, it is not shown to be capable of doing, and therefore the estimate wonld appear to be somewhat imaginary. The golden area occupied is less than a thousand square miles altogether. A great deal of this seems to have been taken up on speculation, a"hd much of it has been since abandoned. Tu a prefatory note, the Minister states that he hopes the new regulations will prove beneficial, and intimates that he shall administer them rigorously in the case of speculative monopolists, and tenderly where capital is ventured. The law, therefore, would seem to leave a large discretionary power in the hands of the Minister. This is a dangerous state of things, but it is one that is getting popular in these colonies. Where tho object aimed at is to encourage certain parties, and to baulk certain other parties, it is impossible to make a law which will meet all cases, so it is purposely left elastic, which is equivalent to saying within certain limits, a large lawmaking power is vested in the Minister. In the hands of a perfectly wise and incorruptible man, despotism is a safe arrangement; but where a Minister is obstinate, prejudiced, passionate, weak, or corrupt, very disastrous consequences may ensue. The average yield per ton from quartz varied last year from about six dwts and a half at Ballarat to about twenty-five and a half dwts in TJipps Land. The information obtained by the Department for the >ear covered the treatment of about seven and a half million tons of quartz, and the average yield from the whole of this was at the rate of 11 dwts 4-57 grains. The consumption of timber in the mines is a matter of considerable importance, and last year the cost of getting it was very nearly £450,000. As the idea of planting trees is quite alien to Australian notions, the accessible forests are being rapidly cleared, and every year the cost of timber will be a heavier tax on the mining companies. The time does not seem to be far distant when coal will have to be used for fuel on the Victorian goldfields, and a fresh market will then be opened up for the coal of New South Wales. "S. M. Herald," May G.