TRADE AND COMMERCE.
743
Number of
Declared
Years
ounces
Value
1851
145,137
£
438,777
1852
2,738,484
8,760,579 '
1853
3,150,021
11,090,643
1854
2,392,065
9,214,093
1855
2,793,065
11,070,270
1856
2,985,992
11,943,458
1857
2,762,461
10,987,591
1858
2,528,479
10,107,836
1859
2,280,950
9,122,037
1860
2,156,661
8,624,860
1861
1,967,420
7,869,758
1S62
1,658,285
6,685,192
1863
1,627,066
6,520,957
1864
1,545,450
6,206,237
1865
1,543,802
6,190,317
1866 .
1,479,195
5,909,987
1867 .
1,433,687
5,738,993
1868
1,657.498
6,629,465
The number of miners at work in the goldfields, on January 1, 1869, was 64,654, of whom 49,358 were Europeans and 15,296 Chinese. The total population of the seven gold-mining districts was 271,788 at the same date. The average number of gold miners employed in Victoria in 1868 was 63,181, being a decrease of 2,676 upon the corresponding average for 1867. The average earnings of each man in 1868 were 1047. 18s. 8c/., as compared with 87/. Is. Id. in 1867. There are 2,651 ascertained quartz reefs, and 886,228 tons of quartz were crushed in 1868. The average yield of gold in 1868 was something over half an ounce to the ton, Avhile the cost of crushing ranged from 2s. Gd. to 11. 10s. per ton. The extent of auriferous land opened up by gold miners in Victoria is 882 square miles, and the value of the machinery and mining plant employed was estimated at the end of 1868 at 2,150,432/. The total area of the land held as claims was 100,942 acres, of which nearly one-third was lying idle ; the computed value of the whole of the claims was 8,869,504/. at the end of 1868. Twelve new gold-fields were discovered, and 329 new companies, with a nominal capital of 3,719,198/., were registered during 1868. The aggregate value of the gold exported from Victoria from 1851 to the close of 1868 was 147,342,767/.
Victoria has a more extensive system of railways than any other of the Australasian colonies. The Victorian railways consist of two finished main lines, one from Melbourne to Sandhurst. 101 miles in length, and the other from Melbourne to Geelong and Ballarat, with a
