330 TlMEHRl. 
place, the greater slope which is given to the torn plate 
of perforated iron, allows the pay dirt and stones to be 
thoroughly raked up on to the plate, and gives a free 
passage to the gold through the perforations, lessening 
the risk of any of the gold being scooped up and thrown 
aside with the stones, etc., which have to be removed 
with a spade. In the second place, the torpedo is made 
much larger than usual, and entirely covered with a false 
bottom throughout, pierced with circular holes i^ inches 
in diameter, which act as riffles and detain the gold. I 
once found in one placer on a heap of tailings a small 
piece of very richly auriferous quartz, which would have 
easily passed through the plate holes, had the slope of 
the plate allowed of the efficacious raking up of the pay 
dirt on to it ; and there is no doubt a good deal of gold is 
thus actually washed, only to be thrown away through 
carelessness and defective implements. 
The gold mining industry appears to maintain its 
position, though the confidence of the investing public 
has been thoroughly shaken, owing to the many fruitless 
expeditions that have been sent out on promises of rich 
returns for the money laid out. The country, however, 
has every reason to congratulate itself that its losses 
have been so small, and that there were no very extra- 
ordinary finds of gold made, for had the colony acquired 
a sudden and wide-spread reputation for auriterous 
wealth, without being able to continue the output at 
the same figure, there would, no doubt, have been a 
large influx of miners and men of all sorts, who, as has 
happened in every country where large deposits of gold 
have been quickly found, would have started bogus 
companies, and swindled the public both here and in 
