francs) per diem; but this was not considered by Mr. Hargraves as above the half of the probable gain to be obtained by an experienced workman, and with proper implements. This happened on the 8th May, 1851. The result of the experiment was immediately blazoned forth: three persons started for the washings, and returned in a few days with several pounds of gold. At the same time a geologist, ordered by the local government to attest the statements of Mr. Hargraves, at once stamped an official authority on the actual existence of gold mines. This news created an immense sensation, not only in Bathurst, but beyond, and in the capital of the colony. On the 19th May, there were 600 miners at the “_placers_;” an enormous immigration to a district where the population was but thinly scattered over an almost indefinite extent of land. On the 24th, some of the people wrote to their friends, that they were collecting from £3 to £4 per day. One party of four miners had in one day, obtained thirty ounces of gold, and had found a “nugget” weighing one pound. In three weeks time, one workman alone amassed £1,600 sterling. We would remark, in running hastily over the account of these early experiments, that from the first, the inhabitants of Australia foresaw the serious consequences of the revolution about to occur. The colonial journals were filled with lamentations and direful forebodings, and cursed, both in prose and in verse, the mania for gold. The solitude of the towns, at the expense of which the deserts were peopled, the abandonment of labour, the disruption of all social ties, flocks left without shepherds, and crops destroyed for lack of harvestmen: in short, every kind of misfortune from which the colonies are now suffering, were seen in perspective. The greediest seekers for gold might well take alarm; the epidemic, however, stopped not, and soon spread in all directions. The Government took the lead, by largely rewarding Mr. Hargraves, and appointing him the “explorer of the mineral districts.” A proclamation immediately appeared, claiming the precious discoveries as Crown property, and announcing a rate of license for working gold mines at 30s. per miner per month. A wild spirit of speculation soon sprang up in every direction. The municipal authorities everywhere followed the example of the Government. From the Bay of Newton to the Gulph of St. Vincent, over an extent of 2,000 miles of shore, there was no town or village without its sought-for neighbouring “placers.” In many districts, associations were immediately formed, offering premiums for the earliest discovery of gold.