l more
extensively diffused than gold itself ever is, even in the regions
where it is now known to prevail: so that the wages of the nineteen
unsuccessful men are to be calculated along with those of the
successful one; and then it follows, that unless the 'findings' of the
latter at the close of the day are equal to the wages of twenty men,
there is no increase of capital to the country, no gain upon the
whole. Then the man who was lucky at one time, was unlucky at
another--like a poacher who snares three hares in a night, but does
not snare another for a week, while he has been unable to work during
the day, and, in the end, his losses have counterbalanced his gains.
Then if this phantom had proved a reality, all the mines and mills
within a wide range of the place would have been instantly abandoned,
and it must have taken a long time, indeed, to reproduce the capital
thus lost to the country. In fine, it must have become necessary to
fix a rent upon the diggings, in order to constitute a right to labour
in them; and still further, to levy a tax to provide a police, if not
a military force, to preserve order; and after these deductions are
made, together with the incomes derived from previous occupations, and
the great uncertainty connected with the vocation--to say nothing of
the labour and discomforts to be endured--we cannot think gold-digging
a profitable or desirable pursuit.

COMPETITION AND MONOPOLY.

A Memorandum just issued by that active body, the Sanitary
Association, contains the following amusing and instructive account of
the memorable competition between the great London water-companies
forty years ago, and of the close monopoly in which that reckless and
ruinous struggle ended:--

'In 1810, a water mania, like our recent railway mania, suddenly broke
out; and the principle of competition, to which the legislature had
all along looked for the protection of the public, was put upon its
trial. Two powerful companies, which had been several years occupied
in obtaining their acts and setting up their machinery, now took the
field--one, the West Middlesex, attacking the old monopolists on their
western flank; the other, the East London, invading their territory
from the opposite quarter. At the same time, a band of dashing
Manchester speculators started the Grand Junction Company with a
flaming prospectus, and boldly flung their pipes into the very thick
of the tangled net-work which now spread