ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS. 93 
duction of gold in the Colony of New South Wales during the 
year 1892 was not marked by any increase as compared with the 
figures for 1891, being 147,263 cunces of the value of £534,352, 
as against 153,336 ounces of the value of £558,306 ; but the out- 
put has been fairly well maintained. The weight of gold received 
at the Sydney Branch of the Royal Mint in the year 1892 was 
785,208 ounces, the value of which was determined at £2,780,829. 
To this large sum Queensland contributed £2,015,549 and New 
Zealand £223,937. Of the total weight ninety per cent. was in 
the form of bullion, six and one-third per cent consisted of retorted 
gold, and three and two-thirds of alluvial. It may be of interest 
to compare these proportions with those of the year 1873, when 
the bullion was only twenty-seven per cent. while that of retorted 
gold was twenty-nine per cent., and of alluvial no less than forty- 
four per cent. The weight of alluvial coined in 1873 was 189,758 
ounces, and in 1892 only 28,711 ounces. During the last twenty 
years the percentage of alluvial gold has also steadily diminished, 
and this must be attributed to the rich alluvial fields having 
gradually been worked out to a great extent, but principally to 
the advancement in the methods of treating quartz and other ores 
which science has since introduced. 
The annual report of the Under Secretary for Mines furnishes 
much valuable information which the time at my disposal for this 
address will only allow me to refer to very briefly. The number 
of applications to lease Crown lands for mining purposes during 
1892, including applications for special gold leases was one thousand 
and sixty-eight, being one thousand one hundred and forty-two 
less than the number in 1891. The total value of the metals and 
minerals won during the year 1892 was £5,305,815, being a 
decrease of £1,348,195 on the value won during the year 1891. 
The value of the gold won, however, is the greatest on record, viz. 
£569,178. This value represents the gold received by the mint 
and that exported. The decrease in the value of the metals and 
minerals for 1892 occurs mainly in silver and silver-lead ores, 
which together amount to £1,141,753, and this I censider is 
