460 Proceedings. 



tions. Thej hai thus squandered the means at their disposal, and they 

 sought assistaace to pi-osecute their investigations. J^ow, the most super- 

 ficial acquaintance with mineralogy or chemistry, by themselves or their 

 neighbours, would have saved these men from grievous disappointment and 

 serious loss. A tyro in mineralogy could have told them that the supposed 

 quartz was carbonate of lime, and the supposed highly valuable gold nothing 

 more valuable than delusive iron pyrites. A slight knowledge of the use of 

 some of the most readily obtained chemicals would, without diiSculty, have 

 enabled them to obtain the same incormation . 



Again, how many experiments have been tried during the last twenty- 

 five years on the Phormium tenav. How many men have Avasted their time 

 and their money on a process which a very slight acquaintance with science 

 would have warned them to eschew. These are but two of the many 

 instances that are oceui^ring in which science Avould have liberally repaid 

 attentions bestowed on her. 



It may be aiSrmed, as a proposition universally true, that science is of 

 great practical value ; how peculiarly important is it that in this colony it 

 should be generally cultivated. Here we are in a land abounding in raw 

 materials of every description, of the greatest value and importance. Trea- 

 sures of all kinds are spread with an unsparing hand around us in every 

 direction, inviting us to accept the wealth, which, if properly used, they will 

 bestow. "Why do we not avail ourselves of the opportunity ? Science and 

 "he arts are required to lend their aid, and we neglect to avail o urseives of 

 their use. In a colony like this, men no doubt have serious disadvantages 

 to contend with. They cannot, as in a highly civilized community, obtain 

 that advice and assistance of which they often stand in need, and they are 

 compelled to rely on their own resources. 



Take, for an instance, what is daily advancing towards becoming one of 

 the most important and prosj)erous industries in this part of the colony — I 

 mean gold-producing. How little do we know about it ; how much have we 

 to learn ! There are peculiarities about the Thames Grold Field which render 

 experience gained elsewhere in some measure inapplicable, and it may, I am 

 certain, be safely affirmed that at least one-third to one-half in value is daily 

 lost in the inartistic and inefficient manner in which the gold is attempted to 

 be extracted from the mine, and afterwards separated from the worthless 

 material with which it is mixed. 



By what means can this loss be obviated, or, at all events, mitigated ? 

 Of the members of this Institute — and at present there are but few — there 

 are several, I feel assured, who know, at all events, some little that would 

 be useful to the gold miner ; and if all these " littles " were brought together, 

 well sifted by discussion, and that which is valuable made readily available, 



