These figures do not in all cases add up to the total value of the production given elsewhere, as the information regarding earlier years is imperfect. The total for Victoria is £297,952 less than the actual value of production, while for Queensland the amount is deficient to the extent of £3,442,948, accounted for by the fact that prior to 1878 the figures only represent the gold sent by escort. There is a deficiency of £68,611 in South Australia which cannot be traced owing to the imperfect nature of the returns available in earlier years. The figures shown for Western Australia are £427,061 less than the total value of gold produced, as prior to 1899 they only show the value of gold exported. There is also a slight deficiency of £2,869 in the total shown for Tasmania. The gross pro-duction of gold in each State during 1901 and the contents in fine gold, are given below:

The number of men engaged in mining for gold is shown in the following table, and it would appear that the average value of gold won by each miner is £188 5s. Od. per annum. It is probable that the number of goldminers in several of the States is largely overstated, otherwise the industry must be carried on at a great loss; and this will be the more apparent when it is remembered that a fairly large quantity of gold is obtained with other metals, the men employed at the working of which are not classified as gold-miners. Most likely many of the men employ themselves in mining for only a portion of their time, and devote the rest to more remunerative pursuits. But when full allowance is made on this score, it will be evident that, in some of the States at least, the search for gold is not a profitable occupation. The small return for South Australia is due to the large number of Chinese engaged in the

industry, many of them not possessing proper appliances for working the claims.

The greatest development of quartz-reefing is found in Victoria, some of the mines being of a great depth. At the end of 1901 there were eight mines in the Bendigo district over 3,000 feet deep, and fourteen over 2,500 feet deep. In the Victoria mine a depth of 3,750 feet had been reached, and in the Lazarus Mine, 3,424 feet. On other fields there were six mines over 1,500 feet deep, the deepest of which were the South Star mine in the Ballarat district, where the shaft is down 2,520 feet, and the North Long Tunnel mine in the Walhalla district where a depth of 2,516 feet has been reached.

A notice of gold-mining would be incomplete without some reference to the remarkably large finds made at various times. Information on this point is meagre and not altogether reliable, as doubtless many nuggets were unearthed of which particulars were never published. Victoria's record is the best, and includes the following nuggets:

lb. oz. dwt.

"The Welcome Stranger," found 9th February, 1869.........

190 0 0

"The Welcome," found 9th June, 1858

184 9 16

Nugget found at Canadian Gully, 31st January, 1853

134 11 0

And others of the following weights :-98 lb. 1 oz. 17 dwt., 93 lb. 1 oz. 11 dwt., 84 lb. 3 oz. 15 dwt., 69 lb. 6 oz., 52 lb. 1 oz., 30 lb. 11 oz. 8 dwt., and 30 lb. 11 oz. 2 dwt.

New South Wales can boast of having produced some splendid specimens. In 1851 a mass of gold was found on the Turon, weighing 106 lb.; another, from Burrandong, near Orange, produced when melted at the Sydney Mint 98 lb 6 oz. 6 dwt. of pure gold; and a third, the "Brennan," was sold in Sydney in 1851 for £1,156. During 1880-82 several nuggets were discovered at Temora, weighing from 59 oz. to 1,393 oz. ; and others, of 357 oz., 347 oz. (the "Jubilee"), 200 oz., 47 oz., and 32 oz. respectively, were found during the year 1887 in various parts of the State. Veins of gold of extraordinary richness have been worked in New South Wales. In January, 1873, at Beyers and Holterman's claim, at Hill End, 102 cwt. of gold was obtained from 10 tons of quartz, and a mass of ore, weighing 630 lb. and estimated to contain £2,000 worth of gold, was exhibited. The Mint returns for this mine during the year 1873 were 16,279.63 oz., valued at £63,234 12s., obtained from 415 tons of stone. From Krohman's claim, at Hill End, gold to the value of £93,616 11s. 9d. was obtained during the same year. The foregoing figures, however, are insignificant when compared with the enormous yield of the Mount Morgan Mine, in Queensland, which has paid over £5,750,000 in dividends. This mine, which may be designated one of the wonders of the world, is a huge mound of ore, highly ferruginous, the peculiar formation, in the opinion of the Government Geologist of Queensland, being due to the action of thermal springs. To the end of May, 1901, 2,330,106 oz. of gold had been won from 1,509,424 tons of ore, yielding an average of 1 oz. 10 dwt. 21 gr. per ton of ore treated.

For the ten years ended 1901, the world's production of gold is estimated to have been as follows:

Of the production of £54,421,000 in 1901, Australasia produced 29.3 per cent.

SILVER.

Silver has been discovered in all the States, either alone or in the form of sulphides, antimonial and arsenical ores, chloride, bromide,

iodide, and chloro-bromide of silver, and argentiferous lead ores, the largest deposits of the metal being found in the last-mentioned form. The leading silver mines are in New South Wales, the returns from the other States being comparatively insignificant. Up to the year 1882 the quantity of silver raised in New South Wales was very small, but in that and the following years extensive discoveries of the metal, associated principally with lead and copper ore, were made in variousparts of the State, notably at Boorook, in the New England district, and later on at Sunny Corner, near Bathurst, and at Silverton and Broken Hill on the Barrier Ranges in the Western district. The Sunny Corner Silver mines in 1886 paid handsome dividends, and produced £160,000 worth of silver, but since that period the yield has largely fallen off.

The fields of the Western district of New South Wales have proved to be of immense value. The yield of silver-lead ore in the Broken Hill and Silverton districts during 1901 was valued at £1,491,547; while the machinery employed was valued at £640,887. This is much less than the value set down some years ago, the reduction being chiefly due to the removal of machinery to Port Pirie, in South Australia, where the smelting operations of the Proprietary Company are now wholly carried

on.

The aggregate output of the mines in the Barrier country to the end of the year named was valued at £29,892,157. This rich silverfield, which was discovered in 1883 by Charles Rasp, a boundary rider on Mount Gipps Run, extends over 2,500 square miles of country, and has developed into one of the principal mining centres of the world. It is situated beyond the river Darling, and close to the boundary between New South Wales and South Australia. In the Barrier Range district the lodes occur in Silurian metamorphic micaceous schists. intruded by granite, porphyry, and diorite, and traversed by numerous quartz reefs, some of which are gold-bearing. The Broken Hill lode is the largest as yet discovered. It varies in width from 10 feet to 200 feet, and may be traced for several miles, the country having been taken up all along the line of the lode, and subdivided into numerous leases, held by mining companies and syndicates.

The Broken Hill Proprietary Company hold the premier position. They have at Port Pirie, in South Australia, a complete smelting plant on the latest and most approved principles. From the commencement of mining operations in 1885 to the end of May, 1902, the company treated 5,908,610 tons of silver and silver-lead ores, producing 114,346,940 oz. of silver and 533,284 tons of lead, valued in the London market at £24,440,000. Dividends and bonuses to the amount of £7,496,000 have been paid, besides the nominal value of shares from the several "Blocks." The sum spent in the erection and construction of plant, from the opening of the property, has been about £1,223,725. The mine wages and salary sheet for the twelve months represented a sum of £648,298, including £131,791 paid to contractors, and £22,705 for quarrying. The net profit for the year was £91,260.

The quantity and value of silver and silver-lead ore exported by New South Wales to the end of 1901 is shown in the following table :—

1900

774,203

90,243

420,909 11

17,928 6

2,513,874

2,604,117

448,501

50,484 400,156 18

1901 16,921 5 1,803,979 1,854,463 Total 10,021,330 1,612,985 3,008,723 9 428,966 12 30,728,592 32,341,577

This amount was approximately made up of 148,711,735 oz. of silver, valued at £23,391,985; and of 698,610 tons of lead, valued at £8,949,592. It will be seen that the production of silver in New South Wales rapidly increased until 1891, when it exceeded in value the largest annual production of gold, even in the palmiest days of the diggings. Since that year, however, there has been a decreased output consequent upon the lower grade of the ores now being worked, while the value has been still further reduced by the serious decline in the prices of silver and lead. The heavy fall in the price of silver has been severely felt of late years in mining circles, and in 1901 the strain was still further accentuated by a fall in the price of lead. Owing to the low price of silver many of the lower-grade mines at Broken Hill were only worked at a profit through the high value of lead contained in the ore, and the fall of over £6 per ton in the price of lead caused the closing of all the Barrier mines but three. The serious effects caused by the decline may be judged from a comparison of the employment afforded by the industry during the last three years. The number of miners engaged in silver and lead mines in 1899 was 7,893, and the average value of mineral