Notes on the Gold-field of Ballarat. 417 



aD inexhaustible gold-field, and if so, Ballarat has a future. 

 It is well known that there is deep ground in some parts of 

 this plain, as it has been prospected by boring, but time will 

 be required to develop it. One noticeable feature in all 

 the Ballarat leads has been their richness. The gold is 

 there, if they can only get at it, and so rich as to repay in 

 many instances almost any expense. 



" Every man, on payment of one pound per annum, has a 

 right to mine for gold on crown lands, and in a proclaimed 

 gold-field can build himself a house on crown land, enclose 

 a quarter of an acre, and no one disturbs him. But it can 

 only be his so long as he possesses it. If he leaves it, 

 another man can take it up, and the crown only recognises 

 the possessor. To get possession of it he applies to the 

 mining surveyor, who gives him a written notice to post on 

 it for seven days, stating who has applied for it, If any one 

 opposes it, it is done by lodging objections with the surveyor, 

 who then hands the case over to the warden to adjudicate 

 upon. All applications for mining are made in the same 

 way. If dissatisfied with the decision of the warden, the 

 case can be carried to the Court of Mines, then to the 

 Supreme Court, and lastly, to the Judicial Committee of 

 the Privy Council at home. The warden and surveyors are 

 appointed by Government. The warden is warden of crown 

 lands and of the gold-field, and settles all minor disputes 

 about mining, and arbitrarily all crown lands settlement 

 cases which are not connected with gold, issues licenses 

 to saw-mills and splitters, &c. The surveyors make surveys 

 of all land applied for mining purposes, and of workings 

 below ground, keep a registry of all transfers of land, and 

 mortgages of mining property in crown lands. For instance, 

 if a man makes over his house, on crown land, as security 

 for a debt, instead of a regular lawyer's document, you get a 

 mortgage ticket from the surveyor, pay him half-a-crown, 

 and it is done. They also make regular returns to Govern- 

 ment of the amount of quartz crushed and its yield, number 

 of miners and engines at work, &c. Besides these func- 

 tionaries, there is a Mining Board, consisting of one repre- 



VOL. III. 3 H 



