er.
To-day these fields yield as uniformly as at first, and seem
inexhaustible in their fertility.

Five million pounds sterling in gold is annually produced in Victoria;
yet it is perfectly well known that the cost of its production, in labor
and money, amounts to about the same sum. The original cost of the
mines, the expense incurred for machinery, the daily wages of the
thousands of miners, and the interest upon the capital invested, are
each factors in the calculation, not forgetting that there are frequent
expensive exigencies sure to occur. For instance, we were told of an
accident which happened in a Victoria mine just previous to our visit,
resulting in the loss of the lives of eight miners. Owing to a defective
metallic rope, a "lift" containing eight men suddenly fell while
ascending a shaft, killing instantly every one of its occupants. The
court held that the company was responsible for the lives of these men,
because it permitted its agent to use a defective rope. The agent
promptly settled with the representatives of the unfortunate men at a
thousand pounds for each life, making an aggregate sum of forty-five
thousand dollars; and it cost another thousand pounds to repair the
injured machinery of the mine.

The author looked somewhat carefully into the subject of gold-mining
with the desire to arrive at a correct conclusion concerning it, and was
fortunate in meeting intelligent men who were ready to impart their
experience in this field of enterprise,--among them being some who had
been personally interested in all departments of mining for many years.
At the risk of some repetition, we would here say that gold-mining has
profited most those who have never engaged in it; that the cool-headed
traders, brokers, bankers, and agriculturalists have reaped the real
benefit growing out of the gold discoveries in Australia, not the eager,
hard-working, excited digger himself. In short, we believe that the same
amount of patient labor and steady application bestowed upon almost any
other industry would yield a better return to the toiler.

We have spoken incidentally of Sandhurst, one of the famous gold-fields
of Victoria, which was originally known by the name of Bendigo. This
place, situated a hundred miles from Ballarat, more directly inland, has
matured into an attractive and important city, well laid out into broad
streets lined with ornamental trees, and containing many fine public and
private edifices.