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of the oft-told Cleopatra diamond dissolving. Another fool, addicted to skittle-playing, took it into his sapient noddle to employ bottles of champagne for nine-pins, and when one of them would be knocked, the fizzing and waste gave him immense satisfaction. But time brought its revenges for such wantonness, as a remarkable instance of which I saw one m a n w h o actually lighted his pipe with a £ 5 note begging about the streets in less than three years after, and I a m assured that the champagne skittler ended his days a pauper in the Melbourne Benevolent Asylum. Blackwood was the next locality from which gold-findings were announced. T h e escort on the 3rd December brought 16,333 ozs-i a n d three-fourths of a ton of gold was tendered to Mr. Commissioner Powlett, at M o u n t Alexander, but he declined receiving it until the next escort was ready. Outrages were n o w growing rife on the two great goldfields, and the Government manifested much vacillation in grappling with the evil. The following extract from a letter written by a solicitor's clerk at M o u n t Alexander, to his employer in Melbourne, was published in Melbourne on the 3rd D e c e m b e r : — " I saw yesterday a singular sight. Going along the bank of the creek I noticed a crowd of people apparently scrambling together, and when I got to them I found several hundreds tumbling about and over each other, tearing up the soil with their hands, picking up the nuggets, and placing them in their pockets for safety. U p o n enquiry I learned that a m a n was pitching his tent and saw the gold shining in the earth, and he began picking up the pieces, and others seeing what he was about rushed him as above." O n the n t h December, the M o u n t Alexander escort arrived with 23,650 ozs, and £4,385, Government money. T h e previous day the Ballarat escort fetched 222 ozs. ; as to the Mount, only one-third of the yield was reported to have been sent, and the value of gold raised daily there was estimated at from £15,000 to £ 18,000. T h e gold discoveries necessitated the appointment of a staff of Commissioners, and the following gentlemen were at various times between the 27th August and 28th November gazetted as such, viz, Messrs. F. C. Doveton, William Mair, John Fletcher, Benjamin Baxter, C. J. P. Lydiard, David Armstrong, and R. H . H o m e ; and on the 3rd October, the various Commissioners of Crown Lands were authorized to issue licenses to dig and search for gold in their respective districts generally. Further Regulations also were made, and instructions issued to meet unexpected emergencies as they might arise, of the most important of which a brief general precis is subjoined. O n the 14th October the Collector of Customs notified that as gold had been ascertained to be a natural product of the colony, the local Customs laws required on exportation that it should be entered Outwards the same as other Exports. During the same month the several Commissioners were directed to use every exertion to prevent seamen and other persons leaving hired service without their employers' permission, from obtaining gold-searching licenses; and any persons known or recognized to have been at a late date in the Public Service should not be allowed to hold a license, unless satisfactory proof was given that their leaving the Service had not only been authorized, but was unattended with embarrassment to the Government. Licenses were also not to be issued in any of the gold districts for the occupation of any ground, or disturbance of the soil in gold-searching within half a mile of every side of a homestead. T h e Commissioners of Crown Lands were instructed—ioth October—• in the event of finding any person working for gold on Crown lands without license, and ascertaining the quantity of gold (if any) so raised and sought to be removed, the unlicensed party should be required at once to pay a Royalty of ten pounds per centum upon such quantity; and in event of default the illegal occupier was to be removed, and steps were to be taken for the legal recovery of what was sought to be illegally appropriated. All trafficking in gold on the part of officers of every grade in Government employ on the goldfields was strictly prohibited. O n the 13th October an application was m a d e to Mr. Commissioner Doveton to grant a license for the erection of a printing press at Ballarat with a view to the publication of a newspaper there, and on its reference to head-quarters it was refused as " His Excellency does not feel himself justified at the present time in sanctioning any occupancy of Crown lands in the locality in question, which