In those times every man went armed ~~ a fact in itself calculated to make them bellicose; and when one recalls the painful anxiety of the Government in those days to protect life and property at every new rush, the conclusion at which he is likely to arrive is that the orthodox digger of the olden time was a desperately bloodthirsty ruffian, of whom the whole country stood in awe. The official mind must have been unduly perturbed, or the gold digger has greatly mended his manners. I do not know whether the Inspector-General of Police in Sydney is nervously solicitous lest there should be any infraction of law and order in this part of his diocese; but if it will conduce to his tranquillity I may say that there is no indication that any high- handed outrages are to be perpetrated here. There is certainly a rapid influx of population; nearly everybody is a perfect stranger to everybody else; and the conditions of life must be very abnormal where large bodies of men are estranged from the influences of home life and settled occupation. Nevertheless, mutual respect and good-will appear to be natural, and you exchange a cheerful greeting with everyone you meet outside the limits of the town. It was to have been expected that in the circumstances of transition through which the district is now passing a considerable amount of crime would have been developed; and 1 think it matter for congratulation that the vagabondage of the colonies has not found its way here yet, or that it does not find much scope for the exercise of its proclivities. I have seen one, if not two, constables since I have been in the district; and were it not for the employment the Police Magistrate finds them I am not sure that they would not be tempted to commit suicide for lack of any readier method of acquiring notoriety. Having, as I think, done scant justice to the general character of the population in the foregoing remarks, let me say a word or two about the proceedings of a small section of the community who are thriving on the credulity of men from Sydney and elsewhere, who come up here in search of an investment for their capital. The sharpers to whom I refer are not slow at deceiving flats who have more money than brains, or in devising means to work upon their gullibility. Many of those who come up have rather feverish imaginations and sanguine temperaments, and it is by no means difficult to
"take them in."
This is a common mode of operation: Two or three unscrupulous cunning vagabonds toke up a piece of ground, and pay the requisite amount (£1 per acre, with a survey fee of £2) to the Commissioner, but they do not wait for the Commissioner to issue the lease before they begin to work upon the credulity of some unfortunate simpleton who is in search of a"good property;"
and hitherto it has not been difficult| to dispose of ground at high figures, into which a pick or shovel has never been driven and in which no honest miner would ever venture to say that payable gold was to be found. The first day that I came here I met with a gentleman who had been specially favoured with the offer of a share in one of these sham leases for the modest sum of £2000 ~~ the price being fixed so low on the ground that the claimholder urgently required to go to New Zealand. The proffered boon was not accepted, and a week had not elapsed before the same ground was offered to the same person for £15! For anything I know, the ground in question may have been infinitely superior to either Paxton's or Krohmann's; but, on the other hand, it may not. Nothing whatever had been done to test it. I do not feel at liberty to designate transactions of this sort by any very mild term, and I fancy that many of your renders will have little hesitation m stigmatising them as barefaced attempts to cheat. They may think that in so doing they are calling"a spade a spade,"
but in the estimation of the gentry to whom I refer they are egregiously mistaken."Swindle, sir!" "Why the thing's preposterous! It is simply speculation. All gold mining is speculation."
A dictum which you may observe is entitled to all the weight which it can derive from the sanction of that eminent moralist Pistol ~~"'Convey,' the wise it call. 'Steal!' foh! a fico for the phrase!"
The shameful imposition which is being practised here on a small scale has been, and for aught I know may be still being, carried out on a large scale in Sydney. You will not expect me to give you examples, for were I to go into particulars, and were you to do me the honour of publishing these lucubrations, there would at once be opened a new field for enterprise. The legal business of the supreme Court would look up from the large number of actions for libel that would be commenced, in which the proprietors and publishers of the"provisional directors,"
on the strength of reports purporting to come from mining engineers and surveyors, or on a view of specimens of gold-bearing quartz submitted for their inspection. But what if the provisional director has never been on the ground, and knows nothing beyond the fact that he is given one-tenth share of the concern for the use of his name; if the mining engineer's report is a fabrication from beginning to end; and if the specimens of quartz are stolen? It seems to be easy to impose on the good nature of prominent citizens, who have"Flying Pieman"
~~ who, will make you out a highly coloured plan, which shall prove to a demonstration that all the rich veins of Hawkins Hill converge in the claim, which you are about to float."But what about the specimens? "
Simply this: Ten cwt. of good payable stone were"annexed"
from one of the Hawkins Hill claims, not many nights ago, which may or may not do duty in the floating line of business. Let me add one or two facts and I have done. A highly intelligent and thoroughly honest mining manager told me the other day of a case in which a person innocent of the slightest knowledge of mining bought a lease which had only been improved in value by the driving down of four corner pegs in the assurance that it contains a rich vein seven feet wide. Do not the miners of Hawkins Hill mines wish they could come upon such a vein? They appear to be condemned to make their fortunes out of veins varying in width from three to eighteen inches; but the greenhorn in question, by an unexampled stroke of good luck, came into the possession of this hereto fore unheard-of belt of gold-bearing quartz, he parted with his money, and there it was thought the matter had ended. My informant had to go to Sydney not six months ago; and you may judge of his surprise when, as he walked along George-street, he saw crowds of gaping fools flattening their noses against the shop windows to get a look at some highly coloured diagrams illustrating the position and advantages of the very ground in regard to which it was thought here speculation must have ceased. It is to be hoped that shareholders will fare better than Martin Chuzzlewit with the "Eden" investment. I by no means desire to reflect upon the formation of companies or on those who promote them. There are no doubt many men engaged in the business who are both well informed and honourable; and I am aware that one gentleman ~~ whose opinion in mining matters is considered valuable, and whose influence is great ~~ a little while ago had nine companies in regard to which his interest was desired in getting them brought before the public. Out of the nine offered, he refused eight, because, from his knowledge of the district and his mining experience, he could not honestly lay them before the public. Apart from the immorality or the gambling that has prevailed, speculation of the kind to which I refer is calculated to seriously retard the progress of gold mining in the district; and it is partly for this reason that I call attention to it so prominently. It cannot be advisable that a horde of able-bodied men should be employed in this specious-traffic of lease-selling when they might be far better occupied in prospecting the country. Where companies are formed in the reckless manner I have indicated, nobody need be surprised if in six months time they should be proved to be worthless. Reasonable precautions might be taken in the first instance, and trial crushings be had before the public should be asked to subscribe. The misfortune is that companies are formed without steps being taken to ascertain whether the quartz veins run through the ground at all, and in some cases works are wildly undertaken by directors or managers of companies having u capital of a few thousand pounds, which are of scarcely less magnitude than the Mont Cenis Tunnel, and which, excepting as the result of some lucky accident, can be of no earthly use to anybody but those who draw wages out of them. However, the evils which, exist must necessarily work their own cure. Many incautious investors, who have borrowed money, and risked even reputation, to go into mining ventures, will probably be overwhelmed with disappointment and loss; but, on the other hand, if the opinion of the most experienced miners be of any value, the auriferous character of the rocks in this part of the country has now been so well ascertained that reefing will become one of the permanent industries of the country. The western slope of Hawkins Hill may be said to be a mountain permeated with gold. The deeper the workings, the richer and more numerous have the veins become. The country north and south for many miles is being prospected with an energy that shows that the Anglo-Saxon race has lost none of its robust vigour in this austral land; and should the workings prove profitable, as at present there is every reason to expect, this mountain country will soon be thickly peopled by a hardy race, which will perpetuate, under better conditions, those traits of courage, strength, and intelligence which have pre-eminently distinguished their European ancestors.