80 
exist. There is direct evidence in favour of their existence at Argent’s claim, 
about J mile N.E. from Well/s store. In this case the western leg has been 
worked for about al chain in length, and to a few feet from the surface, 
In August last a crushing of 13 tons yielded 23 ozs. 3 dwts. of gold,, 
and in December a crushing of 9 tons from the same leg yielded 50 ozs. 
8 dwts. of gold worth 2s. 7d. per oz. This quartz outcrops at the 
surface, within 2 chains of the main road from Elaine to Morrisons, and 
quite close to land which it is proposed should be cut up into blocks of 
100 acres or so for settlement. The finding of both the E. and W. 
legs at this claim, of course, settles the position of centre-country, and 
the site at which a shaft should be sunk. On the opposite (S.) side of the 
road, a few chains distant, is a claim successfully worked by Messrs. 
Argent and Martin for two years. Gold was left in the bottom as the 
water became too troublesome for their appliances to cope with. To the 
north of the race-course I was informed another party is at work on an 
auriferous reef. Still further north, and to the Mount Doran Ranges, 
the country is rich in gold. Indicators occur, and where these are crossed 
by quartz veins, heavy yields of coarse gold have frequently been dis¬ 
covered. Sitlington’s leaders, worked many years ago for a few feet 
from the surface, yielded gold to the value of over ^2,000 in a small 
area. I saw the class of gold got, and it ranges from i-oz. pieces down¬ 
ward. This tract of country offers great inducements to the prospector 
and to small parties of miners to work the indicators and the shallow 
auriferous reefs, while for permanent mining the centre-country about 
Elaine is especially well suited. To' allow any portion of this Ordovician 
country lying between Elaine and the cemeterv near Morrisons to be 
selected would be to inflict a severe injury to mining interests. 
Morrisons Diggings. 
These alluvial diggings were rich in former years, and they were also 
extensive, but the more accessible portion of the sub-basaltic lead was 
worked out by means of adits driven in under the basalt. For several 
years pgst Atcheson and party have been driving under the tableland to 
the west of the Moorabool River to prospect for a gutter in that direction. 
This adit is in for a distance of 2,800 feet, and with the exception of a 
few hundred feet at the mouth of the adit, has been in auriferous wash. 
Portions of this w r ash have been and are being blocked out, and vield 
v 7 ages of about 30s. per v r eek. The washdirt rests on an older con¬ 
glomerate, and is about 1 foot thick. The gold yield is a little more 
than 1 dwt. per ton, and the wash would pay handsomely if it were easier 
to pick. 
The adit has proved that a very great area of this auriferous wash 
underlies the tableland. It is a store from which miners can obtain at anv 
J 
time enough gold to purchase food and something more, and if some cheap 
method of working it could be discovered hundreds of men would find 
profitable employment. Long as this adit is, it has not cut right across 
the auriferous wash, and there is still the possibility of a deeper and 
richer run of gold-bearing gravel in a westerly direction. 
The outlet of this wide-spread alluvial wash has not yet been proved, 
but apparently it must be through the pre-emptive right of Borhoneyghurk, 
running in a south-westerly direction, and leaving the pre-emptive near 
the S.W. corner. Such a lead would run under the basalt to the west 
of Meredith, and cross the Elaine line of reefs, but no work has yet 
been done on it. At the present time the Gippsland Syndicate is driving 
an adit S.W. from Stonv Creek, wdth the object of tracing the outlet, and 
good prospects of gold have been obtained. Atcheson and party many 
