Page:Victoria, with a description of its principal cities, Melbourne and Geelong.djvu/170

 An immense number of witnesses were summoned, and great inconvenience was caused by the delay, besides the continued excitement which prevailed throughout the colony during the interval. We cannot, therefore, praise the policy of the measure. All, however, terminated peaceably, and during the sessions of the year 1855, several measures were introduced into the Council, tending much to allay the irritation caused by the enactments introduced, as before detailed, for the regulation of the Gold Fields. None seem to have given more general satisfaction than the reducing the digging license fee to a mere nominal sum, and introducing a general export tax on gold.

Much discussion also occurred during the year, and many Acts were amended relative to the sale and occupation of Crown Lands; for, while the difficulties attending their acquisition had the effect of accumulating in towns many who were fitted by previous experience for agricultural employments, the city population was still further augmented by the demand for artisans; and the extraordinary increase of the population by immigration, consequent on the gold discovery, created a demand for house accommodation, which raised the wages of artificers to an unprecedented height. This led many, who were but imperfectly acquainted with the kind of labour required, to betake themselves to the trades of masons, joiners, &c.

The reports circulated relative to the wages which