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350 GOLD ESCORT.

In the same month a public meeting of the Ballarat diggers was held, to adopt measures for securing a supply of water during the coming dry season, and a subscription of one shilling a head was commenced for the purpose of damming up the waters of the creek; the commissioner of crown lands was elected treasurer, and any surplus was to go towards an hospital for the sick diggers.

In September the gold was found in such quantities round Mount Alexander, the Mount Byng of Mitchell, as to attract large numbers from Ballarat. At Mount Alexander gold was taken up with pocket-knives from soil a few inches below the surface in such profusion, that one man filled a quart pot with small nuggets in the course of the day. A rush took place from all the other diggings to the last-found region, and in a very few days there were eight thousand at work. In November three tons of gold lay at the commissioner's tent at Forest Creek waiting for an escort, and not less than twenty-five thousand persons were working at the spot. On December 1st government issued a notice raising the licence fee