Victoria

Victoria is still paying penance for the abuses of which she was guilty in the past. In spite, however, of the fact that English capitalists will put no money into the industry, the colony is very rich in gold wealth, and is a keen rival to Queensland. There are very few shares now represented on the English market, and there is hardly one that can be conscientiously recommended to the investor and speculator. But in spite of its past it is a gold-field that should not be neglected, for it has a long and prosperous career before it, provided it be adequately assisted with capital, and that that capital be honestly spent in mining work, and not put into the pockets of promoters. It may again attract the capitalist, but that will not be for many, many years to come. Its output for the past three years has been as follows:

1900.

1901.

January. . .

216,744

51,145

February . .

54,625

March . . .

79,214

April . . .

44,544

May ....

71,643

60,478

June ....

82,165

67,790

July ....

69,516

-

August . . .

69,197

-

September . .

70,818

-__

October . . .

67,787

-__

November . .

77,039

-

December . .

82,498

-

Total. . . .

807,407

357,796

Total in 1899 .

854,500

-__

Total in 1898 .

837,257

-

New South Wales

Very little interest is taken in England in the New South Wales mining industry, though it looks as if a revival is one of the possibilities of the future. The principal shares dealt in on the market are Aladdin's Lamp, Broken Hill Proprietary, British Broken Hill Proprietary, Australian Broken Hill Consols, Gallymont Gold-fields, Gibraltar Consols, Lloyd Copper, and Wentworth Proprietary. Of these the chief is the British Broken Hill Proprietary, which is the greatest silver-mine in the world, and which is one of the few that can work profitably even at the present low price of that metal. None of the others are promising enough to be regarded as investment concerns, and the market in them is not such as to attract the speculator. The output of the colony during the past three years has been:

1900.

1901.

January. . .

42,066

22,869

February . .

17,840

19,380

March . . .

25,377

14,824

April. . . .

38,515

27,017

May ....

17,636

17,032

June ....

14,922

24,547

July ....

53,464

-

August . . .

28,688

-

September . .

25,202

-

October . . .

33,113

-

November . .

12,579

-

December . .

36,248

-

Total. . . .

345,650

125,669

Total in 1899 .

509,241

-

Total in 1898 .

341,722

-

Tasmania

The colony of Tasmania is richer in tin and copper than in gold. At least, this has been proved to be so up to the present, though, as there are vast tracts of country still unexplored, there may be some rich discoveries of gold in the future. But the investor and speculator have need to concern themselves only with the tin and copper industry, and principally with the latter. Some three years ago the whole country was excited over the discoveries of copper in the Mount Lyell range, and a great number of companies were accordingly floated, most of them being ostensibly worthless. Some of the others are undoubtedly promising. Pre-eminent amongst them is the Mount Lyell Company, which has been a regular dividend-payer for many years past. The property it possesses is quite a huge mountain of low-grade copper, which it will take many years to work out, so that the company has a very long life before it. The shares are always an active market, and they may be dealt in both for investment and speculation. The other leading copper companies are the Mount Lyell North, the Mount Lyell South, and the Mount Lyell West, but when these companies will enter the dividend list only Providence can foresee. At the moment they are more speculative than investment shares, but I should not be surprised at seeing one of them a first-class investment in years to come. This is the North Mount Lyell, but we must await the development of the property patiently.

Other Gold-Fields

British Guiana has proved itself to be a rich gold-field, and is undoubtedly deserving of enterprise. But the climate is sadly against it, and is almost as bad as that of the West Coast of Africa. Moreover, though it possesses many economical facilities in the shape of water and timber, and even labour, there is no transport, and a vast deal of money would have to be spent in making roads and building railways before it can be exploited successfully. Cripple Creek, in Colorado, is also another very rich gold-field, and there was every likelihood before the rupture over Venezuela that a great number of Cripple Creek properties would have been floated in London. That day has, however, been postponed indefinitely, and in the meantime Americans will get hold of the best properties. South Australia, too, has long been suffering from unmerited neglect, and I cannot understand why more attention has not been paid to it by capitalists in this country. The northern territories are now being exploited - or we are told that some companies are exploiting them, when the only evidence we have is their exploitation of the pockets of shareholders - but, in my opinion, the southern territories are richer, and are more likely to reward judicious enterprise. There is any amount of copper in the colony, and, like Tasmania, it is more likely to become famous as a copper-bearing field than a gold one.