MR. WESTGARTH'S ADDRESS TO THE CHAMBER OF COMMONS AT MELBOURNE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume II, Issue 69, 1 May 1852, Page 6

MR. WESTGARTH'S ADDRESS TO THE CHAMBER OF COMMONS AT MELBOURNE.

We offer no apology for printing the following aumirahle paper in full. Although treating of the condition of the condition of a neighbouring colony, the subjects with which it deals cannot fail to be of common interest to all colonists. Especially it is valuable for the views which it contains upon the economical and social phenomena likely to result from the Australian gold discoveries. Mr. Westganh is one of the most respected, and we need not say most able, of the representative member, in the Legislative Council of Victoria.

I have the honour to address you on the occasion of this the first anniversary meeting of the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce. The present time has been fertile in calling into existence these institutions in this part of the world. The Sydney Chamber of Commerce was organised about the same time as our own, and in Adelaide, Hobart Town, and Launceston, similar associations have also been recently established.

Such an association forms a means of ascertaining and defining mercantile usage both local and general, whereby mercantile practice may be rendered more uniform, and mercantile differences determined by equitable arbitration. It is useful as a medium to express an opinion as to what are proper and customary mercantile charges, and accordingly a scale of such charges has already been issued by authority of this body. It is useful also to watch over the commercial and trading relations of the community among whom it is situated, and more especially as regards the policy that may be pursued by the authorities with reference to the commercial questions of the day. With relation to this part of our duties, as you are aware, the attention.of the Chamber has of late been called to the consideration of a new and more appropriate tariff for this colony, a subject which has been intimated to be under the present consideration of the Government.

In delivering to you this anniversary address, I trust it may prove only the first of an annual series, embodying a periodical view of the commercial and general progress of this colony. Such documents, written not only on the spot, but embodied in the day and. hour, as it were, on which the circumstances they describe took place, may form for after years a lively, interesting, and authentic memorial, useful alike to illustrate the history and legislation of our colony. Among the events of our official year just concluded, are comprised several circumstances of the deepest importance to this colony ; for example, the separation and independence of Victoria, lately a division of New South Wales ; and the discovery of gold in this and the adjacent colony.

The new colony of Victoria, which dates her separate official existence from the Ist July last, has commenced her independence under circumstances highly auspicious. The prosperity or capabilities of a colony may, ceteris paribus, be tolerably well estimated by the proportion of its export produce to its population. The importance of exports consists in this, that they are the independent and permanent means m a colony, of purchasing the imports. I need scarcely say that, for the economy and efficiency of labour for the despatch of general business, for the comfort and embellishment of social life, it is widely different for us that innumerable articles of human wants are, during our present early history, rather the finished workmanship of Manchester, Birmingham, or Sheffield, than the ruder attempts, however laudable in themselves, which under other and less fortunate circumstances it might have been necessary for us to make for our own well being. By means of our exports, therefore, we are enabled to introduce from other countries, a quantity and description of articles that could not have been produced in equal measure and efficiency amongst ourselves by the extent of labour required for these exports, and that most likely, in many instances could not have been produced at all.

I his is a consideration which forms to some extent, a key, to resolve the oft propounded question as to the prosperity, the progress and the social comfort of modern, as compared with more early colonial experiences. When we compare with the present day, the rudeness and discomfort of American colonization two centuries back, we must bear in mind that we compare a time when the fabrics of Manchester and Glascow, and the hardware, machinery and innumerable inventions and appliances of Birmingham and Sheffield were, as regards cheapness and efficient construction and application, altogether behind the exhibition of the present day When to this we add the facility, rapidity, and safety of navigation, and the ample market of our parent state and other parts of the world lor our produce, together with the progress of taste and refinement that lias accompanied our iiidustriaUlevelopements, we may percieve that our colonial career is now placed under widely different am far more inspiring circumstances than those that attended the efforts of our ancestral fellow colonists, whose rude farine- existence has long proverbially associated the idea

of inelegance and discomfort with colonial life The history of Victoria is well calculated u> institute an opposite and more cheerful proverb Even prior to the discovery of her gold fields her export produce was proportionately larger than that which any other of our colonies has exhibited. For the year 1850 for example when the value of colonial produce exported" was £1,002,000, and the average popnij&ion about 70,000 souls, we have an export at the rate of nearly £15, per head, which for every person in the colony, gives a power for the introduction of all kinds of necessaries that-must effectually promote at once the business of the colony, and the resources and enjoyments of its society.

Since 1850 the Gold produce, which ben-ins to affect our olricial figures on the export ltsts towards the end of the following year has largely increased this amount, threatening us in fact, with a plethora of wealth, which, in the' unsettlement of our regular industry, caused by the attractions of the diggings, may leave us for a time perhaps, losers in a social point of view, by our present grand developement. The Commercial Returns for the year 1851 in connection with a comparison for previous years, are set forth in the following abstracts: Table exhibiting the progress of the Colony of Victoria, from 1844 to 1851, inclusive.

Table exhibiting the quantity of the principal articles of export from the Colony of Victoria, for the years 1844 to 1851 inclusive.

Ihe apparent hilling off in the quantity of wool for 1851, as compared with the previous year, is occasioned by the lateness of the shipping of the wool this season, as compared with previous years, so that the usual proportion of the last clip has not been exported prior to January last. The official year terminates in the midst of the wool shipping season, an arrangement inconvenient as regards the export produce, in not exhibiting so exactly as might otherwise be done in this particular, the annual progress of the colony.

The Gold Fields.—Let us now turn our attention for a space to the great commercial topic of the day. The discovery of gold in this and the adjacent colony, occurring as it has done within the hist ten or eleven months, and passing with all its rapid effects like an incredible dream before our eyes, you are till familiar with. The observation of Mr. Hargreaves, afcolonistof New South Wales, who had recently '^turned from California, that the aspect of the vicinity of Bathurst resembled the gold regions of California commanded instantaneous attention. The soil on trial yielded the expected treasure, and a general excitement for some time reigned throughout the colony. This has since subsided, or more properly, perhaps, it has been transferred to the richer gold fields of this colony. " Prospect," a term which this new order of things has conveniently introduced into our language, was vigorously carried on throughout Victoria, stimulated by the offer of a reward to the successful discoverer, subscribed for to the extent of two hundred guineas, at a public meeting held in Melbourne. Rumours of successful discovery floated down at intervals from many a hill and dale and winding creek of the interior, and small quantities of gold were frequently exhibited, which, considering the now ascertained wide discovery of that metal, were in many instances no doubt actually collected by industrious prospectors at the localities they indicated. In August a number of persons had established "diggings" on Anderson's creek, 16 miles to the eastward of Melbourne, and many of the townspeople gratified their curiosity by visiting the newly found" Victoria Gold Fields." The month of September found t' c eyes of the colonists directed to the west, where the locality of Ballarnt was then beginning to acquire its California rtiputation. In this month the Government weekly escort was established from this place to transport to Melbourne and Geeloug the earnings of the colonists ; and shortly before, a license, free of charge, of 30s. per month, as in New South Wales, was imposed 'upon all intending diggers for the privilege of searching for and gathering the gold. In October, 7000 persons were congregated at Ballarat, upon an area of less than a square mile. The diggings presented a scene impressing the mind with a sense of a vast and incessant labour. At first the process was simply the removal and washing of the surface gravel, which yield occasionally considerable fragments of gold, but afforded on the average rather indifferent remuneration. The subjacent "pipeclay" or soft shale of a light bluish grey lute, was soon after regularly dug up and washed along with the gravel, and was found to yield move abundantly. The perforations of some diggers extended to a depth of 20 or 30 feet, and the labour was frequently protracted and severe in breaking through a coarse gravel, filled with large nodules or boulders of quartz, and cemented by an infiltiation of ironstone. In this celebrated "blue clay" the gold was sometimes found in irregular veins, consisting of a succession of specks or fragments so large as to be distinctly visible to the workmen when laid open by the pick. Success was very unequal, and very far from general, at Ballarat, and '• prospecting" went on incessantly, in the hope of more propitious diggings. The superior richness of the Mount Alexander district became known during October. Balbtrat was then the great metropolis at the foot of twe "Golden Point;" 3000 busy hands rocked the cradles that formed a continuous line for half a mile on either side of the small , running creek; 3000 nice were either digging or dragging down to the water the auriferous so\&-; while another thousand cooked the food for their comrades, or guarded their respective "property in the upper region of the ten Is. Necessity and convenience gave names to streets which, winding among numerous cam as edifices, bore all the impress of traffic, but which occasioned some confusion by the fanciful variety of their appellations. At night the numerous fires gave an animated aspect to the scene, and permitted a boundless range to the imagination.

The celebrity of Mount Alexander has since far exceeded that of Ballarat, and latterly the continuous prospecting litis led to the discovery of gold throughout an extonsHe area of the surrounding country. Fifty thousand persons are estimated to be now engaged at the digflings, nearly nil of whom are at or around the Mount. The .scarcity of water, usual at this

season of the year, greatly limits, for the present, the yield of gold from so great a multitude, many haying to cart the soil a distance of five or ten miles ere they cau meet with water for the purpose of washing. The rains may be expected in June, and the capabilities of the soil will then be better tested. It must be borne in mind, however, that even yet, and probably for some time to come, the apparatus for extracting the gold is of the rudest and most inefficient construction.

Those considerations, in connexion with the immense export of our gold produce now taking place, must impress us strongly with the preeminently auriferous richness of our soil. If ue compare the results of mining and washing gold in some of the old established seats of the precious metal, the results in Victoria are altogether astonishing. In Brazil, for example, the solid rock is crushed by machinery, for the purpose of extracting, by careful scientific treatment, a proportion of half an ounce of gold to one ton of stone. In the Russian dominions, the auriferous sand of the mines of Yegoro Konknuiski produce one pound troy to every 140 tons of material, those of Troulubinsk to every 190 tons, and the mines of Marynisk only the same to 216 tons of refuse. Our* Victoria diggers, who grumble at an ounce or two to a cart load, who are grievously disappointed if half a cubic foot of each is washed in a tin dish without yielding a shilling's worth of gold, may, however, find consolation in reflecting that they are engaged upon a gold field that is probably the richest hitherto known in the world.

Around Mount Alexander the diggings present much the same geological features as those presented at Ballarat. In most places where gold has been found, throughout the world, it is met with, either imbeded in, or associated with the older rocks. The quartz, one of these ancient formations of our earth, appears to be the prevailing matrix in this colony. The precious metal, in a variety of forms and dimensions, is found either in or near the masses of quartz rock that frequently obtrude upon the surface, or it is mixed with and subjacent to quartz in another form, namely, that of the gravel into which, by water wearing and other accidents of time, the masses of the rock have been reduced.

As compared with most gold, in the native state, that from Ballarat and Mount Alexander is remarkably pure and dense. In general, it appears to be even purer than standard gold. Standard gold is gold artificially blended with certain other metals to render it harder for purposes of coinage, and made, in technical phraseology, "22 carats fine ;" 24 carats being by custom and for convenience in comparison, taken as the representation of pure gold. The greatest density of gold is 19*3 to water as 1. The usual density of native gold varies from about 13 to I7iji. That of the Victoria gold is generally towards the higher of these numbers.

Some differences had arisen as to the party entitled to claim the merit of this grand discovery. Mr. Hargreaves, to whom 1 have already alluded, and the Rev. W. B. Clarke, have both asserted their claims. The latter stands forth as a man of science, who, during the last ten years, h;is repeatedly intimated to the world the auriferous character of this country. But as regards practical effect, there will ever be a wide difference between the mere scientific intimation of the existence of gold, and the announcement of an available gold field. The intrinsic merits of individuals are another consideration. The government, recognizing such a. distinction, have presented Mr. Hargreaves with a pecuniary reward, and his name is undoubtedly to be associated with the discovery of commercial gold fields in these colonies, and with the important consequences that must, result from this circumstance to the destines of Australia.

At the present moment, among the gold-pro-ducing countries, California stands pre-eminent. It was anticipated that the produce of the past year would not fail .short of fi teen millions sterling in value, and that of the present year may be taken at somewhat more. The annual produce of the Ihissian mines is estimated at four millions. Prior to the discovery of California, Russia stood most conspicuous in the production of gold. But already Victoria appears to be producing a larger quantity than the average of the Russian dominions. The interest naturally excited by this one new and leviathan produce will excuse some detail of particulars regarding it in this place. The entire quantity exported from Victoria

up to the present date, the Ist April, is 563,471 ounces. The following tabular illustrations exhibit, — 1. The monthly quantity expovted. 2. The places from which exported. 3. And the places to which exported :

1. The quantity 2. Quantity 3. Quantity of of gold exported of gold export- gold exported from Victoria dv- ed from Vie- from Victoria to ring eacb montb, toria to Ist in- Ist instant, disfrom the com- stant distin- tinguishing the mencement of theguishing the place to which discovery of the port of ship- exported, gold fields till Ist ment. inst.

The following particulars of gold on official and private account, brought per Escort to Melbourne and Geelong, from 30th September last, when the Escort system commenced to the end of February, have been obligingly furnished to me by the Colonial Treasurer. The month of March has been filled in from other sources the official account not being yet completed for that term. It will be perceived that the amount brought down by Escort amounts only to about one-half of the quantity exported.

The following are the amounts of fees re ceived for Licenses and Escort, to Feb. 29. FEES FOR LICENSES.

The eft\ cts produced by the gold discoveries upon our .social and commercial relations, form a subject of constant and rather anxious discussion amoiiiiSt us. (Concluded in our next.)

Year. Imports. Exports. Votal Trade External. Population. 844 845 846 847 848 .849 850 851 151,000 248,000 316,000 438,000 374,000 480,000 745,000 1,056,000 257,000 464,000 425,000 669,000 675,000 755,000 1,042,000 1,423,000 408,000 712,000 741,000 1,107,000 1,049,000 1,235,000 l,7S7,O0O 2,497,000 24,000 28,000 34,000 42,000 50,000 60,000 70,000 82,000

l<3 CO 1-1 M Tf< CO CO tOJ CC CM CM CO CO CO CM CM CM "#< i—l "—I «T ffi ,j? Id" 13 CO * •* CO_ r-t co" o >-o co L-S !>■ CM CI t^. ts. CO CM 30 O O <M -<ft -^ CM io" tC -*T ,-T "S Ci o CO CI CO I lO CO O (M vo O CO t^ CO o N H JO o *-4 V5 uS CO t-T U3 CO CO co I •# CO ,-t «o CO h q a * <a . CO CO r-< CO .CD co" *tT i-T tjT CO CM . . © 1>co I J>. 1>_ LT> ■—I CO LO CO CO 00 © »0 IQ co -*r CO co o o" CM cT CO CO O lO N N CM CM O r-H t-H C5 —. ,-1 I-T r-T CO O lO °i. CO o CD 10 00 r—( CM co o .b. co —< CO CM t^ T-, ■* >o CO CO CO CO CO .-T cm tJh oo_ o CO GO CM *o >o Oi CI CO' i—i C-) CM ■■^i. "^ ■* °i csf *s? o" : •tfl CM co *"^ CO & O O «3 CO M g fc fc g £ «■ . » a _ «" T3 CJ O 'S rrf CD 4_> CD £3 X ,—t W O co H 0

Month. Ozs. Gold. Port. Ozs. Gold. [Exported to Ozs. Gold. Aug., 1851. September, .| October, . November, . Dec, 1852 . January, February, March, . . 18 nil 1,548 3,441 140,128 160,472 152,092 105,772 Melbne. Geelong Portland P. Fairy 482,874 77,027 l,S80j 1,690 London Hamburg Sydney H B Town Adelaide 420,95 3,41 122,58 1,48 6,03 Total Total . . [563,47l| Total 1563,471, '563,47

Mount Alexander. Total in Ballarat. Ounces. September 30 . . October 2 . . 8 . . 15 . . " 22 . . 29 . . November 5 . 12 . . 15 . . 26 . . December 3 . . 10 . . 17 . . 24 . . 31 . . 121 247 2,298 1,830 2,708 2,337 I 4,719 3,480 2.737 1,745 j 2,886 2,906 | 1,302 I 779 216 ... I 228 965 6,443 10,58S 13.783 23,653 " 18,192 10,077 10.59S 121 247 2,298 1,830 2,708 2,565 5,6S4 3.4S0 9,180 12,333 16,669 26,556 19,494 10,856 10,814 1 30,311 94,524 124,835 January 6 . 12 . . 19 . . 26 . . February 3 . . 10 . . 17 . . 24 . .; 27 . • 117 193 59 14 5 SO 13 123 10,957 14.398 12.000 16,071 11.872 11,035 12,2S7 46 21,784 11,074 14,591 ,2,059 16.0S5 11.S77 11,115 12,300 169 21,784 To 31st Dec. . ■ To 31st March 604 30.311 1,370 ] 10,450 91>, 5 24 60,824 111,054 124,835 62,194 Total . . 32,285- ! 265.S0S 29S,0:13

j'fo 31st Dec. J To 29th Feb. he b. Ballarnt . . . • Mount Alexander Anderson's Creek Murray District . Total . . £ s. d.j £. s. d. . 7.41-7 14 0| 855 10 0 .! 17,979 5 Oj 29,283 0 0 27 10 Oj 27 10 Oj . 25, J.S1 19 0|30,13S 10 0 ESi 5C0RT ri.i:s. Ballarnt . . . . Mount Alexander Total . . To 31st Dte. To :'9th Feb. £ s. d. £■ s. (1. 827 10 0 13 7 0 2.777 7 Oj 3.144 15 0 . 3,631 17 0! 3,1-53 2 0