ON GOLD AND SILVER. 533 



deduct tlie silver-gold, as is done on Tables I. and II., we see that the fall 

 from 1877 was a very gradual one. The vast placer deposits of California, 

 now in great part sealed by repressive legislation, will be to some extent 

 again worked, either by drift-mining or by hydraulicking with provision 

 for the retention of the debris. Table III. shows a gradual steadying of 

 the produce of Australasia, neither placer nor quartz mining varying 

 much from 1880 to 1885. 



Of the newer goldfields the first place should probably be given to 

 Venezuela, &c. The wealth of this country in gold-quartz is well 

 established ; but we may perhaps expect for a time a greater develop- 

 ment of alluvial mining. 



South Africa is generally looked upon with favour as a source from 

 whence our future supply of gold may in part be drawn. "Without 

 doubt there are here rich lodes, and it would be strange if this country 

 were destitute of rich placers ; though of this there is as yet but little 

 evidence. From these sources mines may possibly be woi^ked at a profit 

 which will give a steady yield of gold ; but there is as yet no evidence that 

 the yield will be sufficient in amount to materially influence the world's 

 production. 



As regards India the prospect is still less hopeful. That large 

 quantities of gold were raised here by the native princes in times preceding 

 the British rule is tolerably certain ; but it is probable that this large 

 production was spread over long periods of time, and certainly it was 

 raised under conditions — of forced labour, &c. — which are not now 

 applicable. 



It is unlikely that India will ever contribute to the world's stock 

 sufficient native gold to materially influence the total production. A far 

 more important point is the amount of gold hoarded in India, and the 

 probability or otherwise of that being some day set free. Most estimates 

 concerning gold are ludicrously vague, but on the question of the 

 amount hoarded vagueness is unavoidable. It is known that 1.30,000,000?. 

 of gold has been taken into India since 1835 ; ' practically none of this 

 is in circulation (silver being the standard and the coinage of India). 

 How much was hoarded in the centuries preceding 1835 no one can say. 

 If it only equals the amount hoarded since, we have 260,000,000?., or 

 nearly thirteen times the world's present annual production. The original 

 source of this gold and the ways by which it reached India would be an 

 interesting subject for inquiry. Since 1851 it is the gold of the world, 

 mainly sent through England ; but in the long past times it was probably 

 in part of native production, in part the gold of Europe, sent over 

 the old trade routes in return for the manufactured articles of India. 

 It is supposed that at least as much silver is hoarded in India as gold. 

 If so the value of silver and gold hoarded in India since 1835 nearly 

 equals in value one-third of the total amount of gold and silver coin now 

 in circulation in the world. 



Famines set free some of this gold, and we may perhaps anticipate 

 that the difi'usion of Western ideas will free more, but it is unlikely that 

 gold will come from this source in sufficient quantities to influence the 

 annual production of the world. 



British Columbia may possibly increase its yield. Other countries 



' Mr. D. M. Barbour. First Keport of the Gold and Silver Commission, 1887, 

 pp. 67-62. See also Dr. Soetbeer's Materialieii, and Memorandum by ]\Ir. K. H. 

 Inglis Palgrave, in Third Report of Royal Commission on Depression of Trade, 1886. 



