The fields were left unsown, flocks of
sheep were deserted by their shepherds. With one stockholder who has
twenty thousand sheep, there remained only two men. Masters were seen
driving their own drays; and ladies of respectability and ample means
were obliged to cook the family dinner. Servants and apprentices were
off in a body; and even the very "devils" bolted from the newspaper
offices; in short, the yellow fever seized on all classes of society. In
twenty-four hours prices of provisions doubled at Bathurst and the
neighbouring places. In all our steamers and trading vessels the rate of
passage was raised, in consequence of the necessary increase in the
wages of seamen. All the trades held their meetings, at which a new
tariff of charges was agreed upon; and even the publicans raised at
least twenty-five per cent. the prices of their wines, beer, and
spirits.
Van Diemen's Land and New Zealand poured upon our shores shiploads of
adventurers, attracted by the golden news; and South Australia is now
almost drained of its labouring population, one of the consequences of
which is that the shares in the famous Burra Burra copper mines there
have fallen from L230 to L45, a fall which has entailed ruin on
hundreds.
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