The production of these gold regions in Australia does not appear to have exceeded £1,500,000 sterling in 1851, from all the “placers” then worked; but we know that the working in the province of Sydney did not begin until the middle of May; and in Victoria, not until the end of September. In January, 1852, they reckoned 10,000 miners in the Sydney gold districts, the produce of which oscillated between 12,000 and 15,000 ounces per week. For eight month’s work this would give about [122]31,000,000 francs at the Colonial price, and [123]35,000,000 at the English price of gold; but the population will certainly have increased in 1852, and it will be a moderate calculation to estimate the produce of this province at [124]40,000,000 to 50,000,000 francs during this year.
In the province of Victoria, 30,000 miners were at work at the “placers,” at the end of December; and the number was daily increasing. They probably would have received, by the spring of this year, a reinforcement of 10,000. Mineral working is a lottery, in which very few gain the great prizes. A letter from Sydney, dated 4th February, thus sums up the result of the work, and of its uncertainty and irregularity. “They calculate, that out of every ten speculators who hire workmen for the gold-washings, only one repays his expenses, and of those who work on their own account, the proportion who are successful is about one in five.” It is not to be expected, then, that the quantity of gold collected by so many miners should equal the brilliant, the extraordinary, profits made by many of the first adventurers. It is a liberal calculation to suppose that the 40,000 miners of the province of Victoria might obtain on an average 10s. or 12s. each for their daily work. At 200 days’ work this could give about [125]3,000 francs each, or about 120,000,000 francs per annum. Thus, these two provinces would yield a produce in 1852, of [126]40,000,000 for Sydney, and [127]120,000,000 for Victoria, together about [128]160,000,000 francs.
In following the scale of progress of California, these results might be doubled the third year: but it should be remarked, that up to March last, notwithstanding the immense increase of the workings carried on for nearly a year in Sydney, and for six months in Australia-Felix, the colony had not shipped, of all the gold it had collected, above £819,000 sterling (20,537,000 francs) to England.
Uniting the products of the three great gold regions, we find that Siberia, California, and Australia, are expected to supply in 1852, about [129]600,000,000 francs: a mass of gold equal to about 175 tons in weight. It should be borne in mind, that China and Japan have also their mines of gold and silver in full work; the produce of which does not appear, however, to leave those countries. The Chain of the Himalaya possibly contains mineral wealth equal to that of the Cordilleras, the dorsal division of South America, from Chili to Oregon. It is also said, that the inhabitants of Thibet have begun to work their golden alluvial deposits. All the mines in the world, therefore, are not yet fully worked; and there will, probably, be an ample supply for some generations to come. The gold supplied by America, independently of California, can hardly be estimated at above [130]8,000 kilogrammes per annum. Hungary is the only country in Europe, excepting Russia, which is producing about [131]2,000 kilogrammes of gold. The quantity from Africa is very small; and [132]3,000 or 4,000 kilogrammes is the whole of the known produce of the washings in the Straits of Sunda, and in the peninsula of Malacca. From all which sources united, an approximative value may be fixed at from [133]40,000,000 to 50,000,000 francs. To sum up the whole, then, it would appear that the gold production of 1852 may be estimated at—
| For California | 300,000,000 | francs = | £12,000,000 |
| ” Australia | 160,000,000 | ” | 6,400,000 |
| ” Oural and Altai | 90,000,000 | ” | 3,600,000 |
| ” rest of the world | 50,000,000 | ” | 2,000,000 |
| Making a total of | 600,000,000 | francs = | £24,000,000 |
It has been already stated, that California produced [134]750,000,000 francs during the four years 1848 to 1851. Russia, during the same period, at the rate of [135]100,000,000 fr., will have produced [136]400,000,000, and the other gold districts [137]200,000,000. Thus, in the five years ending with 1852, the total production including Australia, will probably amount to nearly [138]two milliards of francs: a result unexampled in history; gold has never previously flowed from such numerous channels, and from such abundant sources.
VI.
What will be the effects produced by this expansion of gold on those countries where the discoveries and working have occurred, and on the great centres of wealth and industry, where competition is in active operation, and where the gold may, when in the shape of coin, fix a new value on commodities? First, as regards the gold-producing countries themselves. It is clear that the attraction to the “diggings” must retard, if not put a temporary stop, to really productive labour, that of the cultivation of the land: but this demoralizing influence may not be of long duration. The “placers” will become exhausted, the gold of alluvial deposit, that which the rains and other causes have spread over the surface of the soil, has hitherto been the chief feeder of the supply. The thousands of miners working at the various sources, and turning over and over again every part of the surface, will soon have picked out every particle of the metal. The remainder of the gold must then be sought for in the quartz; whence it can be obtained only by the aid of scientific processes, and effectually extracted only by the application of capital: which is hardly likely to be supplied to an adequate extent, excepting by companies, in the same way as has been the case in the working of silver mines. Then individual enterprize will be again directed to the cultivation of the soil. Out of the crowds of emigrants in Australia and California, now attracted to the “diggings,” the number required for agricultural purposes will no longer be deficient. Amongst the adventurers who are expatriating themselves to seek fortunes in new countries, there will be numbers of poor families who will consider themselves adequately repaid by being able to obtain in a distant land, a fair remuneration for their services, and the ownership of land, with the means of a comfortable livelihood.