Guiana Gold. 115 
made by the Gold Commissioner have promised yields of 
form i\ ozs. to as much as 5 ozs. to the ton. 
The effe6l of the gold industry on the population of the 
colony has already been very great socially and morally, 
and it is contemplated that it will, in time to come, work 
a still greater revolution. 
The labourers of the colony have been able to earn 
wages such as they have never before earned, and at the 
end of their 3 or 4 months sojourn in the bush, have had 
possession of larger sums of money than they ever before 
conceived in their wildest dreams. The result of this has 
been that they have been able to purchase luxuries 
and secure comforts which before were unknown to them, 
and this is the first step to the appreciation by them of the 
value of honest labour. 
The number of labourers engaged in the gold diggings 
has increased enormously within the last three years. 
In 1889 there were 4997 
„ 1890 „ „ 12,003 
„ 1891 „ „ 17,625 
while up to March 8th, 1892, there have been registered 
4,669. It may safely be conjectured that there are nearly 
6,000 men in the bush at one time, and this would give 
an annual cost in wages and food alone as something 
like $1,878,000. At this rate each man would make 
nearly 17 ozs. of gold in the year, while in Dutch Guiana 
the average made per man appears to have been in 1890 
about 15 ozs. In 1891 British Guiana employed nearly 
four times as many men as Dutch Guiana and made more 
than four times as much gold. 
One reason perhaps why the gold industry in British 
Guiana has out-distanced her neighbours is probably that 
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