nty-five per cent. the prices of their wines, beer, and
spirits.

Van Diemen's Land and New Zealand poured upon our shores shiploads of
adventurers, attracted by the golden news; and South Australia is now
almost drained of its labouring population, one of the consequences of
which is that the shares in the famous Burra Burra copper mines there
have fallen from L230 to L45, a fall which has entailed ruin on
hundreds.

In walking along the streets of Sydney or Melbourne you hear nothing
talked about but gold; you see nothing exhibited in shop windows but
specimens of gold, or some article of equipment for the gold-digger. In
every society gold is the interminable topic of conversation; and
throughout the colonies the only newspapers now read are those which
contain intelligence from our golden fields.

Soon after the discovery the Government of New South Wales, seeing that
it could not prevent the community from digging for gold on Crown lands,
quietly made virtue of necessity, and merely sought to legalize and
regulate the diggings by the following announcement, published in the
"Official Gazette":

THE GOLD MINES

Colonial Secretary's Office, Sydney, _23rd May, 1851._

Licenses to Dig and Search for Gold.

With reference to the Proclamation issued on the 22nd May instant,
declaring the rights of the Crown in respect to Gold found in its
natural place of deposit within the territory of New South Wales, His
Excellency the Governor, with the advice of the Executive Council, has
been pleased to establish the following Provisional Regulations, under
which Licenses may be obtained, to search for, and remove the same:

1. From and after the first day of June next, no person will be
permitted to dig, search for, or remove gold on or from any land,
whether public or private, without first taking out and paying for a
License in the form annexed.

2. For the present, and pending further proof of the extent of the
Gold-field, the License fee has been fixed at L1 10_s._ per month, to be
paid in advance; but it is to be understood that the rate is subject to
future adjustment, as circumstances may render expedient.

3. The Licenses can be obtained on the spot, from the Commissioner who
has been appointed by His Excellency the Governor, to carry these
regulations into effect, and who is authorized to receive the fee
payable thereon.

4. No person will be eligible to obtain a License, or the renewal of a
License, unle