122 EEPOBT— 1891. 



exhaustion of the goldfields in a short period, and the opinions- 

 of geologists were sought for on the subject. Mr. A. E. G. 

 Selwyn, now Director of the Geological Survey of the Dominion 

 of Canada, was then Government Geologist of Victoria, and 

 between him and the eminent Sir Eoderick Murchison arose a 

 friendly controversy as to the future of quartz-mining. Both 

 virtually agreed that, while the yet untouched alluvial deposits 

 might take a long time to work out, their extent was practi- 

 cally within calculable limits, though Mr. Selwyn was strong 

 in regarding their ultimate exhaustion as a thing of the distant 

 future. 



With respect to the future of quartz gold-mining the two- 

 geologists were not so much in accord. Sir Eoderick Murchi- 

 son, reasoning from experience up to his time in Europe and 

 elsewhere, held that the permanence of auriferous lodes was 

 not to be depended upon for any considerable depth below the 

 surface ; and a Commission then inquiring into the subject cited 

 a number of cases in Victoria where at that date (1856-57) 

 quartz reefs rich at the surface had been found to become poor 

 at various shallow depths. Selwyn, though a member of the 

 Commission, maintained his own independent views, which, 

 briefly stated, were that, though possibly there might be a 

 diminution in the quantity of gold in reefs with increasing 

 depth, there was no ground for fear that such diminution would 

 be sufficient to render deep quartz-mining unprofitable, and he 

 further expressed his conviction that this branch of mining 

 would prove as permanent as tin-lode mining in CornwalL 

 He cited an instance in support of his views of the then 

 deepest quartz-mine, in which, at 400ft., the stone was as rich 

 as at the surface ; but, strangely enough, the popular impression 

 obtained that he said the reefs would not be payable below 

 400ft. Even up to the present time people quote this alleged 

 opinion of Selwyn's as evidence of the unreliability of geolo- 

 gists, and, though the story is now old, I cannot refrain from 

 taking this opportunity of contradicting so utterly untrue an 

 aspersion on the scientific acumen of my former chief. 



The sagacity of Selwyn's views has become apparent. 

 True, the annual yield of gold has steadily, and — under the 

 conditions — inevitably, declined : there is not left in Victoria 

 an untried area large enough to contain a new shallow alluvial 

 field of any importance : the yield from quartz has for many 

 years been greater than that from alluvial deposits ; but, never- 

 theless, there are long stretches of deep-lead systems and areas 

 of gravel covered by great thicknesses of basalt and sediments, 

 which, from their positions with respect to the extensions in 

 strike of known auriferous zones, are likely to prove payable 

 for many miles beyond present workings, and will take many 

 years to exhaust, though they can only be worked by means of 



