AIWIVEESABT ADDRESS. 21 



that the three great geological divisiona of our Colony are replete 

 with mineral treasures that are practically inexhaustible. 



It is, perhaps, difficult to assign any strict measurement iu 

 superficial area to the actual amount of land capable of furnishing 

 present proofs of this, because, as we well know, metals are 

 local, and not universal; and if they were not, what would 

 become of our pastoral interests, which, by the blessing of 

 ProYidence, are just now in as prosperous a condition as our 

 minerals are ? 



During my last visits to different parts of the "Western District, 

 I not only saw the operations that are going on, but passed over 

 many miles of country in which the rocks that belong to a golden 

 area yet remain in their original condition, and will so remain till 

 some fortunate adventurer stumbles by accident on a tangible 

 encouragement. 



It is not necessary to make special mention of the rich shaft 

 from which was derived that crown of gold which was the sur- 

 prise of so many during the late Exhibition of the Agricultural 

 Society.* But when the excitement that is now rife shall have 

 subsided, and. we shall have less dread than some exhibit of 

 spelling speculation without the initial letter, there will be found 

 inducements to study the structure of the country more than the 

 market price of its products. 



Already miners have begun to realize one of the lessons which 

 I have endeavoured to inculcate, — that many of the theoretical 

 views relating to the nature of gold-bearing rocks are only par- 

 tially reliable. 



During my visit to what is oddly enough known as Ophir, I 

 was very much pleased with an illustration of the way in which 

 two respectable young men were acting on a principle that 

 proved they had turned their former observations to account. 

 On the ITralla River the miners made shafts through the basaltic 



* The production of nearly 8,000 ounces (in addition to the previous great 

 result) in the space of a few months is a wonderful fact, confirmatory of the 

 value of mining and crushing. 



