his spectacles in order to examine them.
“Hardly an impressive find, Mr. Hargraves,” he observed with a noticeable lack of enthusiasm. “Ah, you were at the Californian gold diggings, you say?”
“That is so, sir. I spent over a year there.” Resenting the colonial secretary’s manner, Ned launched into his carefully prepared lecture but was abruptly cut short.
“I am sure you know what you are talking about, sir … whereas I do not,” Thomson assured him with a thin smile. “But to expect payment from the government on such flimsy evidence as you have produced is—well, somewhat optimistic, to say the least. If you are correct concerning the existence of a goldfield in this colony, it would undoubtedly halt the emigration to California. But, Mr. Hargraves, it would
do much else besides—none of it good or likely to benefit our pastoral society. There have been claims made before, you know, which earlier administrations deemed it wiser to suppress, for reasons that must be obvious to you.”
“California has been opened up as a direct result of the gold finds there, Mr. Thomson,” Ned argued. “The population of San Francisco quadrupled in the space of two years. Gold has brought prosperity and—”
“And lawlessness, from all accounts, sir.” The colonial secretary’s tone was discouraging. “Not to put too fine a point on it, lawlessness, in what has been until recently a penal colony, is not to be desired. We have our prosperity here, Mr. Hargraves, and a well-ordered, securely based prosperity. Frankly, I do not think that His Excellency Sir Charles Fitzroy will welcome your discovery—if that is what it is—or feel disposed to reward you for making it.”
“But, sir,” Ned began, unable to hide his chagrin, “gold, in the quantities I confidently estimate, will bring the colony more profit than wool or coal. And I’m asking only for a fair reward for the work I’ve done and the expense I’ve been put to. If His Excellency were to—”
“Put your request in writing, Mr. Hargraves,” Thomson invited. “My clerk will supply you with pen and paper, and you may leave your letter with him when it is done. I will see that His Excellency receives it without delay.”
Conscious of Thomson’s disapproval, Ned had no choice but to agree to his suggestion. Back in the anteroom once more, he spent more than an hour on the composition of his letter to Governor Fitzroy. He would, he assured the Governor, reveal the exact location of his discovery on payment of a reward that was in keeping with its value to the colony; and as an added inducement he offered his expert services in the capacity of … Dark brows knit, he sought for a title. Commissioner for gold … gold-bearing land commissioner … By heaven, Essie would be impressed if he returned to her with an official appointment! And the two boys who had assisted him—Johnny Lister and Willie Tom—they, too, were deserving of reward.
“It waxes late, sir,” the colonial secretary’s clerk reminded him reproachfully. “Have you not yet done?”
“I’ll not keep you above five minutes,” Ned answered with dignity. He wrote “Commissioner for Crown Lands “and signed his name with a flourish. Five hundred pounds, he decided, would not be too much to ask in the first instance, or perhaps … He picked up the pen again and wrote: “I leave it to the generosity of the government to make such additional reward as may be commensurate with the benefit likely to accrue to this colony as a result of my discovery.”
Leaving his epistle in the clerk’s hands, he went out into the street and, on impulse, asked a passerby to direct him to the office of Sydney’s leading newspaper, the Morning Herald.
Better, Ned Hargraves told himself, to be sure than sorry. Thomson had been the reverse of grateful, and as had happened in the past, he and Sir Charles Fitzroy might attempt to suppress the news of this momentous discovery. But were he to
“Hardly an impressive find, Mr. Hargraves,” he observed with a noticeable lack of enthusiasm. “Ah, you were at the Californian gold diggings, you say?”
“That is so, sir. I spent over a year there.” Resenting the colonial secretary’s manner, Ned launched into his carefully prepared lecture but was abruptly cut short.
“I am sure you know what you are talking about, sir … whereas I do not,” Thomson assured him with a thin smile. “But to expect payment from the government on such flimsy evidence as you have produced is—well, somewhat optimistic, to say the least. If you are correct concerning the existence of a goldfield in this colony, it would undoubtedly halt the emigration to California. But, Mr. Hargraves, it would
do much else besides—none of it good or likely to benefit our pastoral society. There have been claims made before, you know, which earlier administrations deemed it wiser to suppress, for reasons that must be obvious to you.”
“California has been opened up as a direct result of the gold finds there, Mr. Thomson,” Ned argued. “The population of San Francisco quadrupled in the space of two years. Gold has brought prosperity and—”
“And lawlessness, from all accounts, sir.” The colonial secretary’s tone was discouraging. “Not to put too fine a point on it, lawlessness, in what has been until recently a penal colony, is not to be desired. We have our prosperity here, Mr. Hargraves, and a well-ordered, securely based prosperity. Frankly, I do not think that His Excellency Sir Charles Fitzroy will welcome your discovery—if that is what it is—or feel disposed to reward you for making it.”
“But, sir,” Ned began, unable to hide his chagrin, “gold, in the quantities I confidently estimate, will bring the colony more profit than wool or coal. And I’m asking only for a fair reward for the work I’ve done and the expense I’ve been put to. If His Excellency were to—”
“Put your request in writing, Mr. Hargraves,” Thomson invited. “My clerk will supply you with pen and paper, and you may leave your letter with him when it is done. I will see that His Excellency receives it without delay.”
Conscious of Thomson’s disapproval, Ned had no choice but to agree to his suggestion. Back in the anteroom once more, he spent more than an hour on the composition of his letter to Governor Fitzroy. He would, he assured the Governor, reveal the exact location of his discovery on payment of a reward that was in keeping with its value to the colony; and as an added inducement he offered his expert services in the capacity of … Dark brows knit, he sought for a title. Commissioner for gold … gold-bearing land commissioner … By heaven, Essie would be impressed if he returned to her with an official appointment! And the two boys who had assisted him—Johnny Lister and Willie Tom—they, too, were deserving of reward.
“It waxes late, sir,” the colonial secretary’s clerk reminded him reproachfully. “Have you not yet done?”
“I’ll not keep you above five minutes,” Ned answered with dignity. He wrote “Commissioner for Crown Lands “and signed his name with a flourish. Five hundred pounds, he decided, would not be too much to ask in the first instance, or perhaps … He picked up the pen again and wrote: “I leave it to the generosity of the government to make such additional reward as may be commensurate with the benefit likely to accrue to this colony as a result of my discovery.”
Leaving his epistle in the clerk’s hands, he went out into the street and, on impulse, asked a passerby to direct him to the office of Sydney’s leading newspaper, the Morning Herald.
Better, Ned Hargraves told himself, to be sure than sorry. Thomson had been the reverse of grateful, and as had happened in the past, he and Sir Charles Fitzroy might attempt to suppress the news of this momentous discovery. But were he to
Similar Books
