302 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION C. 



gold in the fact of its possible early exhaustion. The coal of New 

 Zealand is also a valuable and much more permanent asset. During 

 the period 1893 to 1900 the conditions above-mentioned continued j 

 the production of gold from reef mining continued to increase, the 

 silver, copper, tin, coal, and other important treasures of the earth 

 lent their aid, and new sources of wealth were developed in the opening 

 up of the wolfram, scheelite, molybdenite, and similar deposits. The 

 production of gold was also greatly augmented by the rich reefing 

 mines of West Australia, so that iDy the end of the first period of 

 seven years the annual output had nearly doubled, the production of 

 the year 1900 reaching the very respectable total of i^24,413,257, in 

 v.liich production the parent colony kept the lead with 26'76 per cent., 

 closely followed by Western Australia, whose share was 25 '28 per cent, 

 of the whole, and far behind comes Victoria witli 13'85, and Queens- 

 land Avith 13'02, New Zealand with ll'OT, Tasmania 7'75, and South 

 Australia with the Northern Territory 2 '27 per cent, making a hard 

 struggle with copper and a few minor productions against the glitter- 

 ing gold of the Eastern and Western States, for notwithstanding the 

 apparent falling oft" in the production of the precious metal and the 

 very large increase in the production of coal, both in New South 

 Wales and New Zealand, as well as the silver of Broken Hill, and the 

 copper and tin of Queensland, gold is still the predominant factor in 

 the statistical register, for during the seven years 1894-1900 inclusive 

 the production of gold was nearly eighty millions sterling, while that 

 of the inferior metals and minerals was little more than half that 

 amount, being respectively 65 and 35 per cent, of the whole. The 

 increase in the production of gold in 1900 being nearly 115 per cent, 

 over that of 1893, the increase on other mineral production being 37 

 per cent. One important item in the increase, sudden and sur- 

 prising, was the yield of gold in West Australia, while both Victoria 

 and Queensland had a prosperous time. The total produc- 

 tion during the seven years ending with the year 1900 was about 

 fifteen millions sterling of gold, a proof that the industry of gold 

 mining in the southeni hemisphere v/as still a most important factor 

 in the prosperity of the Commonwealth and the Dominion, and it was 

 then seen that it became a powerful lever in developing the agricul- 

 tural resources of the continent, as well as those of the islands of 

 Tasmania and New Zealand. It has opened up as large a tract of 

 country in West Australia for agriculture as would constitute two 

 or three ordinary European kingdoms ; it has made oases in the desert 

 by the introduction or procuration of water; it has made possible the 

 tiiiiber trade as a valuable adjunct to the commerce of the countiy ; 

 and has enlarged the opportunity of developing the enormous re- 

 sources of silver, tin, copper, lead, and the other known metalliferous 

 deposits existing there, and has brought within the arena of industrial 

 possibility all the hidden treasures of more than a million square 

 miles of countiy, whether for pastoral, agricultm-al, mining, or other 

 occupation. And this has been largely due to the labours of the brothers 

 Gregory, Nicolay, Hardman, Woodward, and the present staff in the 

 office of the Government Geologist of that State, who have endured the 

 hardships and enjoyed the privileges of examining the countiy from a 

 geological standpoint, and have left it the richer, financially and 

 intellectually, by the result of their labours. 



