The Times of Tuesday gives some very interesting and important
figures as to the gold production of the world. The yield is yearly increasing, and that of 1891 was the largest ever recorded. In round numbers, the production for the last five years was :-1887, 5,097,600 oz. ; 1888, 5,251,000 oz. ; 1889, 5,641,000 oz. ; 1890, 5,586,000 oz.; and 1891, 6,033,000 oz. The chief feature of recent years has been the development of the Witwatersrand Goldfields. In 1889, it was only 34,897 oz. ; it was, in 1891, 729,213 oz. The total for the whole Transvaal, in 1892, is expected to reach 1,250,000 oz., or 21 per cent. of the world's supply. At present the nations stand :— United States, 1,586,500 oz. ; Australia, 1,469,200 oz. ; Russia, 1,019,000 oz. ; but it is expected that in 1893 the Transvaal will reach the second place. It is a curious reflection that the little State, formed by men whose only desire was to get away from civilisation, and lead a patriarchal life, untouched by outside influences, should end in being fed by the greatest gold mine the world has ever seen.
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