FEDERAL SCHOOL OF MINES. 331 



In regard to our advantages, I think they would be better 

 than those possessed by most Eiiro])ean schools. 



A centrally-established Federal School would be within 

 forty-eight hours of gold, silver, copper, tin, and coal mines. 

 In each of these important mining centres operations are 

 conducted with skill and economy, and will bear favourable 

 comparison with similar operations in most parts of the 

 world. Take, as examples, the admirable system of tin-ore 

 dressing at Mount Bischoff, the system of mining large 

 bodies of ore at Broken Hill and smelting the same, or the 

 cheap methods of working coal in some of our best Newcastle 

 mines, or the profitable extraction of gold from very low- 

 grade quartz in Victoria. All these afford splendid oppor- 

 tunities for tlie acquirement of practical knowledge. 



There is no douiat that many metallurgical operations are 

 more successfully carried out in Europe, but this is lai'gely 

 owing to a ready local demand for bye products and very low 

 rate of wages, thus affording opportunities for the profitable 

 treatment of much poorer ores than can at present be done 

 in these Colonies. 



Among other important advantages that could be 

 enumerated would be the better working of our mines and 

 works by properly trained, qualified men ; consequently, 

 fewer failures. 



Not that I think that such a school would turn out perfect 

 mining engineers or metallurgists. The completion of the 

 training can only be acquired at the furnace, mill, or mine. 

 But a well-trained student will the more readily adapt 

 himself to his circumstances, and be the better engineer for 

 his studies. 



There may be many difficulties to encounter before such 

 an establishment may become an accomplished fact ; but I 

 feel confident that when its advantages are fully recognised, 

 the Australasian people, actuated by a common desire for 

 the common welfare, will prove superior to every obstacle, 

 and mining and metallurgy will develop into larger and more 

 important factors in the prosperity of these Colonies than has 

 ever yet been recorded in their history, when the Federal 

 School students have proved themselves skilled workers. 



