The appearance of the two chief towns of the island has been greatly improved by the erection of new buildings, but this has been more particularly noticeable in Launceston, where large and handsome places of business and private residences have gone up on all sides.
The article, reviewing the year past, proceeds to the source of much of the wealth of Launceston in those times.
In gold mining Beaconsfield, Waterhouse, the Denison, Mathinna, and Mangana have all disappointed the glowing hopes entertained last year, but in some signs of revival are apparent. At Beaconsfield the Tasmania Company stands pre-eminent, like the Mount Bishoff Company amongst tin mines. In thirteen months the Tasmania has paid £20 a share in fifteen dividends, making a total of £60,000.
At the Denison the Enterprise reef has looked up wonderfully; at the Springs a new reef is promising great things; at Mathinna two new reefs are being developed;
and the alluvial goldfields of Lisle, near Mount Arthur, which only broke out in the early part of the year in the solitary bush, and in a few months had attracted over 2000 people to the ground, still gives steady employment to about 1500 men, and it is estimated over 20,000 ounces of gold have been raised from it.
In February and March new alluvial goldfields were discovered on the West Coast, on tributaries of the Pieman River, and though the want of tracks into the locality and
the consequent difficulties of access and of obtaining supplies, have deterred many from going to them, there are nearly 200 men doing well there, and several hundred ounces of gold have already been raised.
In October last great indignation was excited amongst the mining community over a false rush, got up at the Dorset River by the statement of a resident in the vicinity that he had found payable gold, and the perpetrator of this base swindle was compelled to hide himself till the disappointed miners had left the locality.
There are now about 2000 men engaged in gold mining pursuits throughout the colony, but it is impossible to state the exact amount of gold raised, as a great portion of the alluvial is sent out of the colony by private hands to Melbourne for the sake of the higher price there obtainable.
The Customs returns show the quantity exported for 1879 to be valued at £141,258, but the quantity actually raised is far
larger. The statistics for 1878 show the amount of quartz crushed to be 15,805 tons, yielding 13,787oz gold, value £54,250, average yield per ton 17dwts 12grs. From alluvial, 11,462oz, value for £45,750, were obtained, making the total yield of gold for last year 25,249oz, value £100,000. In tin mining, though the rise in the price during the last few months of the year has caused a greatly increased activity on the alluvial mines, by enabling ground formerly unremunerative to be profitably worked, yet it is evident the cream is all skinned off our alluvial deposits, and as no new discoveries have been made to take their place, the yield must dwindle, away gradually as these districts are worked out. [...]
NOTES: "the Springs" I take it refers to Nine Mile Springs later renamed Lefroy which was a productive mining town for some years. It is 13 km or 9 miles east of George Town.
dwt = penny weight. A pennyweight (dwt) is a unit of mass equal to 24 grains, 1⁄20 of a troy ounce, 1⁄240 of a troy pound, approximately 0.054857 avoirdupois ounce and exactly 1.55517384 grams. It is abbreviated dwt, d standing for denarius – (an ancient Roman coin), and later used as the symbol of an old British penny (see £sd). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennyweight
Everybody of my age learned about cwt at primary school, the old hundred weight measure in the British Imperial system. There are 20 hundredweight in a ton, producing a "short US ton" of 2,000 pounds and a "long British ton" of 2,240 pounds.
LAUNCESTON EXAMINER. (1880, January 1). Launceston Examiner (Tas. : 1842 - 1899), p. 2. Retrieved November 8, 2022, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article38253801