366 
PROCEEDINGS OE SECTION C. 
convinced us that the slow processes of agricultural and mineral pro- 
duction were better for the individual and better for the State than 
the evil of making haste to get rich by the undue subdivision of 
land. We are slightly anticipating, however, as the first five years 
close with 1864, and we had not yet experienced the inevitable result 
of our mode of life. The year 1865 saw the novel addition to our list 
of mineral exports “ quartz specimens,” which may not have indicated 
the first discovery of auriferous quartz in Queensland, as gold had 
been discovered and worked at the several places above mentioned 
two or three years previously. The original discovery at The Springs, 
near Clermont, was in an ancient alluvium, a sort of cemented con- 
glomeration. There have also been both recent alluvium and reef gold 
worked in the neighbourhood. At Warwick also the discovery has 
not been confined to alluvial, and reefs may have been discovered 
before the means were at hand to utilise them. G-old was discovered 
at the Crocodile Creek, Rockhampton district, in 1863, and here again 
the first gold obtained was from the alluvium, but at an early period 
the Hector and other reefs were opened, and it is not improbable that 
the first “ quartz specimens” exported were from this field, as reefs 
were worked and the first crushing machinery erected here in 1S66. 
As showing that the attention of the colonists was now being 
directed to the mineral treasures of the earth, limestone appears in the 
list of productions for the first time, although that commodity had 
certainly been obtained at Ipswich in the pre-separation days, if not 
during the penal regime of its earliest days. But it had been found to 
be more practicable and economical to obtain lime by burning the 
shells which abouuded on the shores of Moreton Bay, and whence the 
whole supply for the city and embryo colony was now and for many 
years obtained. This production of lime, however, may indicate that 
the supply of shells was becoming exhausted, and that building opera- 
tions were extending and expanding. But for several years afterwards 
there is no mention of limestone, but marble appears in the following 
year, and continues fitfully and in small quantities until the present 
time. But limestone may be worked without stiut in almost any part 
of the colony — on the coast or in the interior, on the mainland or on the 
islands, and much of it of a valuable quality for ornamental purposes, 
as marble ; but polishing marble is not one of the industries promising 
immediate and handsome profits under the present unsettled and 
unsatisfactory relations of labour and capital in the colony. 
]S r o further additions accrued to our mineral productions until the 
crisis of 1866 compelled those who could get away from town to do 
what they could for a living, and in that year we find that 30 tons 
of manganese were exported; their total value, however, was only 
£300, so that thejr were scarcely like “quartz specimens.” But even 
this would be an estimated value to try the market, and it is generally 
understood that the amount realised was less than one-third of that 
amount. This metal is found plentifully at Gladstone, and very 
convenient for working and shipment, but £3 per ton is not a price 
likely to induce capitalists to mine for manganese. 
A few gold specimens were also sent away, but they are only 
valued at £48, and probably had the same origin as those sent away 
during the previous year. There was an increase of more than 50 per 
cent, on the item copper during this year above the previous or 
