384 TlMEHRI. 
on the subject which I have received from Mr. H. S. 
DURDEN, Custodian and A6ling Secretary of the State 
Mining Bureau of California. The passages referred to 
are the following : — 
" The Reports do not contain a description of a 
Stamping Mill, but except that the process is or was 
conducted in California by means of hides or blankets 
over which the resulting mud or pulp flows, the machine 
does not materially differ from those in use in Australia. 
One of the best constructed was exhibited at work by 
Queensland in the Colonial and Indian Exhibition 1886." 
" It may be safely assumed that the method adopted in 
Queensland in 1886, is an improvement on the Cali- 
fornian Milling, described in the Reports under notice.' ' 
Mr. DURDEN writes : — " In looking over the article 
on Gold Mining, I observe that it conveys the impression 
that we are behind the times in California in the matter of 
Quartz-milling etc. ; while the fa6t is the reverse. When 
a mine and mill can be profitably worked, the rock only 
yielding one dollar and a quarter per ton, as has been, 
and is being done here, it is the best possible proof of 
the nearest possible approach to perfection. If the 
Australians are ahead of us, it is a little singular that 
they should come here, to investigate our methods, pur- 
chase our machinery, and engage the services of our 
practical miners and millmen. The description given of 
an Australian mill would answer very well for a Cali- 
fornia quartz mill also, and if the statement of capacity 
had been 40 to 70 tons per diem instead of per week it 
would have been nearer the mark. In fa6t we have 
many mills that crush from 80 to 160 tons per day, and 
the Douglass Island mill which is a California concern 
