1869.] OEOLOOY AND MIINERALOGY. 239 



the question whether it is an upthrow or downthrow, or throw to 

 the north or south, or two or more of these movements combined, 

 settled generally without difficulty ; but if no monthly plan of 

 workings is kept on record, all is confusion. With the single ex- 

 ception of a plan and section, made some years ago by Mr. Bell, 

 of the works on a few areas, together with a lithographed plan of 

 the whole district, showing the position of the several properties, I 

 was unable to obtain any plan of surface workings, much less any 

 plan of underground workings, and the agents of the different 

 companies uniformly informed me that none, to their knowledge, 

 were in existence. 



" The absorption of all returns to pay large dividends is, as a 

 rule, as fatal an error in gold mining as in most other enterprises. 

 When the different mines were yielding very handsome returns, 

 it was most unwise to suppose that such unlooked-for prosperity 

 would continue for any length of time. Nevertheless, it appears 

 that nearly all profits were at once divided amongst the share- 

 holders, and no reserve fund permitted to accumulate. Hence, 

 when the returns grew less, the necessary means to provide 

 machinery for deeper workings were not forthcoming, and, as a 

 consequence, most of the establishments were closed. 



" The narrowness of the properties is a great objection to per ■ 

 manent operations. Several companies at Waverley have only 

 450 feet on the leads. If, owing to the absence of appropriate 

 pumping and hoisting machinery, the works are stopped at a depth 

 of 300 feet, it is very easy to calculate the duration of a com- 

 pany with such a small quantity of available lead. The absence of 

 any regulations defining the space which difi"erent companies shall 

 leave between the workings on the same or adjacent lead, is likely 

 to become a fruitful source of trouble. In one instance, at 

 Waverley, the agents of two companies decided not to touch the 

 quartz within four feet of their boundary on either side with a 

 view to prevent, by means of an eight foot dividing wall, the 

 water from one mine draining into the other. This agreement, 

 I was informed, was faithfully kept on one side and as grossly 

 abused on the other, the whole of the four feet of quartz being 

 removed. The consequence is that the works on one mine being 

 stopped, the proprietors of the other have been vainly endeavoring 

 to drain both, on account of leakage through the dividing wall, 

 which unfortunately has hitherto defied all their attempts to 



