Page:History of Adelaide and vicinity.djvu/156

 I30 ADELAIDE AND VICINITY The producers Mr. J. F. Conigrave, in his "South Australia," gives the following figures: — "The ore raised between March, i860, and December, 1884, amounted to 428,333 tons gross weight, of a net value of ^1,970,533, and represented a production of copper of 41,025 tons of an estimated net value in the Colony of ^2,873, 121. The mine gave employment, when in full work, to a very large staff, there being at one time as many as 1,003 men and boys engaged in the workings." The Wallaroo Mines were completely eclipsed by discoveries made a few miles away. In May, 1861, Patrick Ryan, another shepherd employed by Mr. Hughes, found the celebrated Moonta Mines. Rival claims made to the deposits were enquired into by a Select Committee of the House of Assembly, and became the subject of litigation. The Moonta Mines were profitable from the outset, and within a few years there were 20,000 people resident on the Peninsula. As at Kapunda and Hurra, these discoveries led to the early settlement of the neighboring country by agriculturists. The Moonta Mines yielded between 1 86 1 and February, 1885, refined copper approximately valued in the Province at ^5,879,226. Centres of population sprang up, and the Government established shipping facilities at Moonta and Wallaroo. Some hundreds of claims to mineral properties were made in 186 1-2. These two last copper discoveries, like Kapunda and Burra, produced a substantial increase in .South Australian population, and for a time mining became a mania. In March, 1866, there were 163,452 persons in the Province; and in January, 1868, 176,298. The export of minerals in 1861 amounted to ^452,172; in 1866 to ^824,501 ; in 1867 to jC753A^3 '< and in 1868 to ;^624,022. The total exports of the produce of the Province in 1861 was /i, 838,639 ; in 1866, .1^2,539,723; in 1867, ^2,776,095 ; and in 1868, ^2, 603,826. The imports in 1861 amounted to ^^i, 366, 529 ; in 1866, ^2,835,142; in 1867, ^2,506,394; and in 1868, ;^2, 238,5 10, presenting a healthy balance on the right side. The revenue was affected by this expansion. In 1862, including land sales, it was .^548,709; in 1865, ^1,089,129; and in 1868, ^716,004. Thus will be seen to what importance the work of the producers had come. Because of the development of the resources of the country districts, improved means of communication were inaugurated. Hundreds of miles of excellent roads were formed, and railway and telegraphic lines were projected and established. In August, 1857, the railway to Gawler was opened; and in August, i860, the line was extended to Kapunda. Tramways were laid down at Victor Harbor and on the Peninsula. Telegraphic communication was effected with Gumeracha, Burra, Normanville, Moonta, Tanunda, Watervale, Angaston, Port Augusta, Wentworth, Lacepede Bay, and other places. Although the immediate effects of responsible government were most salutary, yet there was occasionally evident in the earlier proceedings a want of moderation. This was no more than could be expected, and, in general. South Australians proved themselves to l)e of high average jjolitical capacity. There were extremists, of course. The democratic jjarty wanted to go too far all at once, and the " conservative " party was unnecessarily