308 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION C. 



been conferred, that of indicating the presence of artesian water, and 

 the possibihty of releasing it. It does not require an unreasonable 

 stretch of imagination to believe that tliis one outcome of the science 

 on which your minds are bent may l^e woith as much to the States 

 where it is available as all the gold which can be obtained in that 

 State; and while the working of the metals and minerals gives em- 

 ployment to something like 150,000 men, it Avill be admitted that this 

 means the direct support of 600,000 people, and, indirectly, -to the 

 support of at least as many more. It may be that other occupations, 

 other forms of enterprise, other methods of stimulating the out- 

 pouring of the gifts of Nature, yield more wealth, but do they give 

 regular support and occupation to a greater number of people 1 In 

 many cases a farming population may create a township and support it, 

 but a mining township creates an agrarian population, who are made 

 the richer and happier by their proximity to a township which pro- 

 duces wealth and makes a market for their prodiice. This isi of 

 greater mutual advantage than when the produce of the farm has to 

 bring in the cash to support both town and country. 



The niunber of men employed is necessaril}^ variable, nor is it at 

 all times easily ascertainable. The numbers at the end of 1907 may 

 be taken in round numbers as — New South Wales 44,000, Victoria 

 27,000, Queensland 22,000, South Australia 6,500, West Australia 

 20,000, Tasmania 7,500, and New Zealand 13,000. These sum up to 

 140,000. There is, of course, a large number of timber-getters, horse 

 or bullock drivers, carters, and others who are necessary and iind 

 I'egular employment but are not miners, and others who, having 

 farming homesteads, take an occasional spell in the gidlies but can 

 scarcely be called miners, and for these 10,000 may be allowed, 

 making as above suggested 150,000. 



To give a bare catalogue of the minerals which have been noted 

 and named in Australia would require a volume on its own account, 

 solid fhey have cliiefly been, liquid in the case of mercury^ foimd in 

 Queensland, New South Wales, and New Zealand, petroleum oil foimd 

 in New Zealand, and recently we have had evidence of something" of 

 the kind in a gaseous form, the optimistic view of Avhich is that it 

 indicates tlie presence of large accumulations of oil, or it may be the 

 exudations of gas from large and deep-seated seams of coal. In either 

 case, with cavities in the vicinity without any outlet, gas would exude, 

 and be retained until the pressure was equal to that of its soui'ce, or 

 imtil it foimd an outlet. It is, however, another indication of oiu' 

 limited knowledge of the composition or contents of the crust of tlie 

 eartli, even to the depth of a few hundred, feet, whicli those who study 

 geognosy estimate to be solid for a few hundred miles out of the fom* 

 thousand which are comprised in the radius of this little globe which 

 we inhabit. 



Table showing the production of Gold and other Metals and 

 Minerals in the States of the Australian Commonwealth and the 

 Dominion of New Zealand from their foundation to the close of the 

 year 1893; and thence to the foundation of the Commonwealth at the 

 close of the year 1900, and to the close of the year 1907, the latest 

 for which returns are now available. 



