COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL. 



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Company, whose mine was first discovered in September, 1883, by Mr. Charles Rasp, a 

 boundary-rider on the Mount Gipps Run. Its plant is the most complete of its kind, 

 and the operations are on a gigantic scale, which may be computed from the fact that 

 during the year 1890 it raised 7,921,345 ounces of silver, valued at .1,959,608. During 

 the same period the claims known as Block 14 and the 

 Central Companies' Mines raised respectively 693,563 and 

 692,985 ounces. Up to the end of November, 1890, the 

 Company had paid dividends to the total value of 

 ,2,744,000. A population of some seven thousand per- 



THE HOMES OF NEWCASTLE MINERS. 



sons quickly settled about this 

 particular mine, and the shares 

 which reached as high as .397, 

 stood in 1888 at ,240, represent- 

 ing a capital value of ,3,840,000 

 for this Company alone. The 

 dividend for 1890 amounted to 



,592,000. The total population of the Barrier District reached 16,000 persons in 1887, 

 and already demands have been heard for the formation of a separate colony, or for 

 annexation to South Australia. Large silver deposits have also been obtained at Lewis 

 Ponds, Tuena and Mount Costigan ; and the Sunny Corner Company paid handsomely in 

 1886, in which year ,160,000 worth of silver was obtained. In the Tumut and Manaro 

 Districts, and at White Rock, near Fairfield in New England, valuable discoveries have 

 also been made. The total value exported from New South Wales up to the end of 1890 

 reached ,6,930,951, the highest yield for any one year being in 1890, reaching ,2,762,554. 

 In 1890 the total number of miners engaged in New South Wales silver workings 

 was 5,806 persons. The Victorian silver-mines at St. Arnaud and Bethanga have not been 

 busy of late years, but the recorded output for the colony up to the end of 1888 reached 



