130 MR. W, S. JEVONS : REMARKS, ETC. 



SO new an employment ; when improved machinery is 

 brought into use for the rapid, complete and cheap extrac- 

 tion of the gold from the quartz matrix ; when capital is 

 attracted in great sums to the pursuit ; and when the 

 search for new auriferous reefs, becoming more keen, is 

 rewarded, as I believe it will be, by abundant discoveries ? 

 Our conclusions, expressed as shortly and truthfully as 

 possible, ai'e : 



1. That no great and recurring discoveries of alluvial 

 gold are to be expected ; so that the yield of alluvial gold 

 must notably yet gradually fall off.* 



2. That the supply of gold from its quartz matrix is 

 subject to entirely different laws ; that we at present 

 know of no limit to the amount procurable with the aid of 

 capital ; and that that amount, whatever it be, will probably 

 remain constant for a long period of time ; that, in short, 

 the supply of gold from Australia will prove as inexhaust- 

 ible as the supply of tin and copper from the Cornwall 

 mines, or as the supply of almost any other metal from its 

 most common source. 



* Since this paper was written, much sensation has been produced by 

 the discovery of the Kiandra gold field in the neighbourhood of the Snowy 

 Mountains. Of course further discoveries may take place in regions pre- 

 viously unprospected and almost unexplored. Thus the northern parts of 

 the Australian Cordillera may contain rich gold deposits. But the opinions 

 expi'cssed above will ultimately/ apply to all such new regions, as they already 

 apply partially to the principal gold fields now worked for nearly ten years. 



