MINING AND GEOLOGY IN AU(>TRALASIA. 305 



Comniouwealtlj of the advantage of tlie production for which the 

 Chinaman proved so eminently fitted, but which will reappear when 

 the European constitution becomes acclimatised to the atmospheric 

 conditions and the teri-estrial environment, and we trust that the time 

 is not far distant when '" the peninsula of Ainhem Land will become 

 one of the great mining centres of Australia." 



It is pleasing to notice in recent reports that another territory 

 claims a place in the statistical tables of the production of gold, for 

 Papua or New Guinea figures in them for £39,710. This beginning 

 from a country, the shai'e of which allotted to Great Britain, with the 

 islands on its coast, is of greater area than Great Britain itself, is but 

 a premonition of the possibilities which are indicated by the general 

 conformation of the surface, in which mountains arise rivalling the 

 Kockies, which have yielded so much wealth in America, and on which, 

 owing to their elevation, no difficulty will be experienced by the 

 delicate European constitution. 



The advantage of gold mining in tiie development of other 

 metalliferous mining has been shown, and now we may illustrate its 

 advantage in tlie encouragement of agriculture. The opening of the 

 country, as in West Australia, lias been mentioned, the case of 

 Victoria whose agricultural industry has lieen founded and l)uilt up 

 on the production of her gold mines is a point in that direction, and 

 a case in Queensland, which is now attracting attention, shows a 

 novel but quite practicable combination; the Mount Morgan Com- 

 ]iany, at their Many Peaks mine, with the concurrence and assistance 

 of the Government, pi-opose to have the land for ten miles along their 

 railway reserved from selection by the general pxd^lic in order that 

 their workmen at the mine may secure agricultuial Iiomesteads in 

 pioxiniity to their work at the mine. The transit to and fro is don© 

 in the manner proposed at Bundamba now, and it was done luider- 

 ground thi-ee-quarters of a century ago — by horse traction where the 

 workings were far from the shaft. 



And this fonn of settlement need not be confined to the strictly 

 agricultural farming (in the narrow sense of the word), but will more 

 tlioroughly serve its purpose by cattle i-aising, dairy fai'ming, and fruit 

 growing, whicli do not so constantly requii'e the presence of the "' head 

 of the house " during the whole of tlie day or even tlie major ])ai-t of it. 



The visitors from the Dominion of New Zealand v.ill know liow 

 largely the twenty millions of easily-gotten alluvial gold assisted in 

 developing the agricultural indiistries along the seaboard of the 

 Dominion, and liow the population was increased, its wealth 

 augmented, and conmierce with other lands developed by the gather- 

 ing in of this golden harvest. 



It has been seen that mining for gold assists in the developnient 

 of other metalliferous mining, also in that of agriculture and pastoral 

 occupation, as well as in the more primitive operations of gathering 

 the liarvest already waiting on the land. But there is another class of 

 mining and another form of enterprise to be considered, as well as the 

 commerce engendered thereby. It is only necessary to refer to the 

 great service that a good supply of coal does to the neighbourhood 

 in which it is found, and the prominent position of the production of 

 coal in New South Wales in 1907 proves that the demand exists for 



