128 GOLD OCCURRENCE IN QUEENSLAND. 
had thought, in the case of those Victorian reefs, which Mr. 
Bartley must have had in view, and from which gold was won at a 
depth of from two to three thousand feet beneath the surface. 
The gold at Eidsvold was, it was true, much of it “straight” 
gold; but, then again, a great part, as he had seen, was associated 
with arsenical pyrites and other sulphides. In referring to Mount 
Perry, more stress might have been placed on the great develop- 
ment of auriferous copper lodes which ebtained there, and which 
would yield up their gold when the conditions of the labour 
market would profitably admit of the adoption of one or other of 
the excellent processes already known for treating ores of the class 
which they contained. His experience also enabled him to state 
concerning the general nature of the Croydon stone as follows :— 
It was a very white amphorous quartz containing druses, or rather 
nests, of crystals of this mineral, and amongst these the gold was 
met with in a very finely divided state. This ore was much 
impregnated and stained with iron of a clayey nature. As might 
have been expected, when lower levels were reached it was found 
that the free gold was associated in the quartz with galena and 
iron pyrites. In conclusion, Mr. Lindon bore testimony to the 
great work which Mr. Bartley had accomplished, ever since the 
inception of the mining industry of the colony, in bringing 
together specimens showing the characteristic mineral associations 
of the different fields, and placing these at the disposal of all who 
might consult them or him for the lesson which they taught. 
Mr. D. O’Connor, who had long resided'in Ballarat, said that 
he was of opinion that the occurrence of gold in the “alluvial” 
there had little influence in affecting any impoverishment of lodes 
worked far below the level of the deepest leads. 
Mr. Pritchard had come to a similar conclusion, and remarked 
that the low average yield of Victorian reefs was in consequence 
of the fact that owing to the perfection of the mining appliances, 
by the use of which miners could make a very low percentage 
pay, much of the casings of the lodes was crushed at the same 
time as the richer mineral actually contained within their walls. 
Having been in Sandhurst and in other mining centres of Victoria 
since the very early days, he was able to instance several reefs 
in which their actual contents had proved immensely rich in gold, 
and this was especially so in those portions which, from their 
proximity to the alluvial, should, if Mr. Bartley’s generalisation 
were correct, have been greatly impoverished. But that reefs 
were actually robbed by alluvial was the popular belief amongst 
many miners. 
