440 INFLUENCE OF EECENT GOLD DTSCOVEEIES ON PEICES. 



increased until in the latter year it was rather over than under 

 £11,000,000. From 1810 to 1830 the total produce of the precious 

 metals would seem to have fallen off somewhat, but from the latter date 

 up to the time of the discovery of the gold in California (owing 

 mainly to the increased yield of the Kussian mines and washings) it 

 again advanced, and at the epoch of the gold discoveries on the 

 Sacramento was about £12,000,000 sterling per annum. In 1850, 

 the second year after the discovery of gold in California, the total 

 produce of the precious metals was, as computed by McCulloch, 

 £27,000,000; in 1851, Australia began to add her treasures to the 

 mass, and in 1853 the combined yield from the new and the old mines 

 was estimated at the enormous sum of £47,000,000. I believe we 

 would be safe in assuming the total produce of the year which has 

 just closed at upwards of £50,000,000 sterling.* 



In order to estimate even in a rude way the probable effects of 

 this unprecedented and sudden influx of the precious metals, we should 

 know the whole amount of bullion previously used as currency, and 

 the portion of the annual yield required to supply the wear and 

 tear of coin and bullion, due allowance being made under this latter 

 head for the additional amount of bullion which the reduction of its 

 value would cause to be used in various branches of manufactures and 

 the arts. The surplus portion of the annual yield, which would be 

 forced, as it were, upon the currency of the world, over and above its 

 legitimate wants, would afford an exponent or measure of the de- 

 preciation of the whole mass, so far, at least, as that depreciation 

 may not have been counterbalanced by the operation of other causes. 



The value of the metallic currency of the world at the epoch of the 

 gold discoveries has been very variously estimated. McCulloch 

 (after a careful comparison of the calculations of Jacob, Humboldt and 

 others,) puts it down at £380,000,000. 



The same author estimates the wear and tear and loss of the pre- 

 cious metal at 1^ per cent, of the whole mass, or about £5,700,000 

 per annum. 



The probable annual addition to the currency, required by the ra- 

 pidly increasing population in the gold countries and elsewhere, he 



* The produce of California has been estimated officially at $GO,000.000 or upwards of 

 £12,000,000 sterling. The quantity exported from Melbourne alone during the year must 

 have been at least £12,000,000 sterling. From Sydney up to the 10th December it was close 

 on £10,000,000. Taking into consideration the quantity retained in the country and the quan- 

 tity sent home by private persons and of which no account was taken, we think the total 

 yield of Australia during the past year cannot have fallen short of £20,000,000. The Aus- 

 tralian newspapers received since the above note was penned confirm my conjecture as to 

 the last year's yield of gold in that Colony. 



