Page:The progress of the colony of Victoria.pdf/6

. The rent, which was calculated on a poll-tax of 4,000 sheep and 600 head of cattle as a minimum number, effectually excluded all small capitalists from the occupation of the land; the upset price of one pound per acre remained the same.

However, notwithstanding these regulations and changes, the district of Port Philip continued to thrive, and in 1849 the population amounted to 60,000. They began to feel it a grievance to have their legislation carried on at Sydney, 700 miles off; especially as the government of New South Wales was not very scrupulous in appropriating the Port Philip revenues to its own purposes.

It was not long ere their desire was granted; and on the 2nd of July, 1851, Port Philip was proclaimed an independent colony, under the name of Victoria.

About a month before that date, gold was discovered in New South Wales by Mr. Hargreaves, an old Californian, who had been led to suspect its presence by the similarity of the country to California. The colonists could not have been more astonished if a magazine of gunpowder had exploded beneath them, than they were at finding that the ground they had been walking over contained such treasures. I have been told that shepherds and others had found nuggets of gold long before the public discovery, and that some canny people got rich in this way, but kept the secret to themselves.

In September, 1851, two months after the independence of the colony was proclaimed, it was disclosed to the world and to the astonished Victorians that their country was richer in gold than any other known spot of the earth. All the able-bodied men rushed off forthwith to the diggings, in the vicinity of Mount Alexander; thousands poured in from the adjacent colonies; and when the report, in a highly exaggerated form, reached Europe, ships could not be found sufficient to convey the multitudes who were anxious to share in the golden harvest. Wages, and the price of all articles of consumption, reached unprecedented rates, and the import trade more than quadrupled.

In four months after gold was discovered, it was procured at the rate of £250,000 worth monthly. Government organized a large body of mounted troopers for the protection of life and property at the gold fields, and appointed commissioners for the administration of justice. The expenses of this new department were defrayed by a monthly tax of thirty shillings on each digger. About three months after the imposition of this license, the government announced that they were about to double it; but this measure met with such decided opposition that they withdrew it immediately.

This readiness of the government to impose an exorbitant tax, and the subsequent weakness of withdrawing it as soon as opposition arose, had a bad effect on such a mixed class as the diggers. It lessened their respect for the consideration and firmness of the authorities, and gave them a great idea of their own strength.

During 1832, the excitement of the gold fever continued on the increase. Immigrants poured into Melbourne at the rate of 10,000 weekly; and much misery was caused by the crowding of such