INTRODUCTION. g 



completely the public was carried away by the tales of reefs said 

 to carry anything from a few pennyweights to over two hundred 

 ounces of gold per ton, a modest estimate being one ounce of gold 

 per ton of ore ! On the strength of such reports, much expensive 

 machinery was sent out, but frequently nothing further was done, 

 some of the machinery not being even erected, while most of the 

 crushings that were made gave results so much smaller than had 

 been anticipated, that the boom was followed by an equally severe 

 " slump " from which the mines still suffer. Of the numerous com- 

 panies in existence in 1880 and 1881, only three still retain their 

 properties, but no work has been done even by them for many 

 years, the old batteries and other machinery having been in most 

 cases left whore they stood and being now completely overrun 

 by jungle. 



An attempt, however, is now being made by a local syndicate to 



revive the industry, and some of the old mines, 

 Recent attempts. 



such as " Richmond " and " Dingley Dell " are 



being reopened, in the hope that improved modern methods, such 



as the cyanide process, may render it possible to work the Wain 3d 



ores at a profit. 



Of the many reports on the Wain^d gold-fields, the majority are 

 merely short notes written by mining experts employed by the 

 various companies. In most cases, the reefs had not been proved to 

 any appreciable extent nor had any development or serious pros- 

 pecting been undertaken, consequently the experts were compelled 

 to base their conclusions on a few surface observations, and would 

 appear, in some cases, to have been led by excess of zeal into giving 

 opinions more favourable than were warranted by the facts. 



The following bibliography includes the more important papers 

 * . . and reports that have been published on the 



Bibliography. _ * L 



subject of gold-mining in Wain£d :— 

 AiNSLIE {Whitelaw). — Materia Medica of Hindoostan. Madras, 



1813. 

 B2 ( 3 ) 



