TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 189 



out from San Francisco in the year 1854. A large portion of the passenger traflSc 

 is carried on by steamers from the Isthmus. The total number of passengers who 

 crossed the Isthmus of Panama in 1853 was 32,111, and 30,108 in 1854; while 

 this year, owing to the railroad being completed, 40,000 are expected. According 

 to the returns for the present year (1855), each steamer to California takes about 

 506 passengers, and each steamer returning brings on an average 372. The total 

 increase to the population of California by land and by sea in 1854 was estimated 

 at 50,000. While the average passage by sailing-vessels round Cape Horn from New 

 York to San Francisco is 108 days, by way of Panama the passage is made in less 

 than half that time. Previous to the immigration of the last few years, the popula- 

 tion of Oregon did not exceed 1000 inhabitants, exclusive of the Hudson's Bay 

 Company's employees ; at present it may be estimated at least at 20,000. Some 

 twenty or more saw-mills and several flour-mills are now actively employed in pre- 

 paring timber and meal for home use and exportation. The trade with San 

 Francisco keeps twenty vessels of about 4000 tons fully occupied, and there is a 

 semi-monthly line of mail steamers running. There are now twenty-nine river 

 steamers plying to and from San Francisco and the upper towns of the State. At 

 the period of the discovery of gold in California, there were in the United States 

 coin and specie to the value of ^20,000,000 ; in 1854, the amount of specie in the 

 banks and in circulation amounted to nearly ^50,000,000, notwithstanding a heavy 

 drain of specie to Europe, amounting in the last four years to upwards of £27,500,000. 

 Messrs. Hussey, Bond, and Hale, a leading mercantile firm at San Francisco, made 

 some elaborate calculations of the gold produce of California up to 1853, which 

 resulted in a total of 57,700,000 dollars. 



The result of the various estimates gives fully .^70,000,000 sterling as the total 

 yield of gold from California to June 1855. 



Crossing the Pacific, let us next observe what gold has done for Australia. The 

 population of Port Phillip in 1846 was but 32,879 souls, of whom 20,184 were 

 males and 12,695 females. There were about 5300 houses in the district. The 

 value of the imports in 1847 was .^437,696, of the exports .^668,511, of which 

 iC565,805 was for wool, and the remainder for horses, horned cattle, tallow, and beef 

 and pork. The revenue then was but ^138,219, and the expenditure limited to 

 ig63,882. The years 1851 and 1853 may be taken as fair averages of the effect of 

 the gold discoveries on the pastoral interests of these colonies, and the imports of 

 wool into the United Kingdom in those years from Australia were respectively as 

 follows:— 41,810,117 lbs. in 1851, and 47,075,363 in 1853. 



The imports and exports of Melbourne are ouly exceeded in value by the two 

 great ports of England — Liverpool and London ; and, excepting these ports and 

 ; Bristol, its custom duties are superior to any other British port. The whole 

 ■tonnage inwards and outwards in the Thames, in 1850, was 3,289,000 tons, in the 

 Mersey, 3,536,337; into Port PhiUip, in 1853, it amounted to 1,204,971 tons, 

 j These facts strikingly demonstrate the commercial importance and natural capa- 

 rbilities of the Bay of Port Phillip, as well as that of the colony of Victoria. To 

 T summarize the progress of the colony, we may state that the value of the imports into 

 Port Phillip has risen from ^744,925 in 1850, to igl7,720,307 in 1854; that of 

 the exports from ^110,000 in 1850 to 11,775,204 in 1854; the population from 

 75,000 to about 280,000; and the revenue from .^261,321 to .^3,015,683 in the 

 same period. The estin.ited population at the various gold fields of Victoria on the 

 19th August, 1854, was given at 1 1 1,735, of whom 77,500 were men, 16,555 women, 

 and 17,630 children. About one-third of the population are therefore employed in 

 the search for gold. The gold produce of Victoria in 1855 being, in round numbers, 

 two millions and three quarters of ounces, would give to each of these 77,500 men 

 at the diggings about j;il3 per annum as their average earning, an amount which 

 could never serve for ordinary living, exclusive of the women and children to be sup- 

 ported. Of course many obtained large sums, but the average was of consequence 

 less. Let us now examine what has been the result of the gold raining operations 

 in the colony. In calculating the value of Australian gold I have estimated all as 

 worth £4: per ounce for simplicity of calculation, but the New South Wales gold 

 dust will not fetch this price. The following gives the value of the produce of the gold 

 fields of Victoria, up to June 1855, showing the ascertained quantity, and estimating 



