Victoria. Gold Fields

Folio (13 x 8 inches. Printed on blue paper. Modern brown leatherette, gilt. Detailed Returns (accounts) of the individual gold fields in Victoria, which had by this time been whittled down to Mount Alexander, and Ballaarat. Included are: a break down by month from November 1851 of the number of licenses to dig for gold issued, showing a rise from about 8,000 to 24,500 in June of 1852; a list of the Gold Commissioners by name, gold field, salary etc; the number of police and soldiers employed to maintain order in the fields; the cost of the gold escort; the incidental costs to the public service of the gold crisis; the amount of gold escorted to the treasuries in Melbourne and Adelaide between November 1851 and June 1852, which was valued at nearly 3,000,000 pounds; and a comprehensive list of the gold exported from the colony, on which ship and where to, most of it going to London; although amazingly no gold is recorded as having been lost in transport, there is a record of the number of assaults and robberies carried out with a direct connection to the gold crisis.…