president's address. 569 



miles : this being so, it will be interesting to know that they 

 contain, after deducting one half of the total contents of 

 of the seams for waste, etc., about 14,370,000,000 tons of coal, 

 which, at the present annual rate of production of about 2,'500,000 

 tons, would last for over 5,000 years. This estimate does not 

 include the other good seams within the same area which are not 

 at present worked. And when we consider that in the remaining 

 area of the Coal Measures coal seams are known to occur, but 

 have not yet been proved, we may rest assured of the stability 

 of this great source of national wealth. 



Gold. 



Though coal has now taken, and is destined to hold, the 

 foremost place of importance in the mineral productions of New 

 South Wales, yet it is to the indigenous gold that the colony is 

 indebted for the real commencement of its' present tide of pros- 

 perity. The sudden increase in population consequent upon the 

 earlier gold discoveries, gave a great impetus to the growth of 

 the industries of the colony, and led to the developement of other 

 great mineral resources. 



During the last three or four years the value of the produc- 

 tion of gold has even fallen below that of tin, but this is due to 

 the heavy yield from the easily worked shallow stanniferous 

 deposits which must soon diminish. There is little doubt but 

 that gold will recover and maintain the second place in the 

 scale of the value of our mineral products. From a careful 

 consideration of the auriferous localities and what they have 

 yielded, I do not think that the yield is ever likely again to fall 

 much, if at all, below its present limits ; for there are now no 

 exceptionally rich alluvial deposits being worked, and the yield 

 from quartz mining is steadily increasing and will probably 

 continue to do so. So that without reckoning upon fresh alluvial 

 discoveries, which from time to time are sure to be made in the 

 large scope of country that has yet to be prospected, we may 

 regard the present rate of production as permanent. 



The occurrence of gold was recorded by Mr. Surveyor 

 McBrian in 1823, by Count Strzelecki in 1839, and by the Rev. 



