wages, and a more healthy condition of the sheep.

These, together with the greater number of sheep carried per acre, are sufficient to recoup the cost of fencing in a very few years.

The cost of fencing will vary with the description of fence adopted and the quality of the timber available. The best description of fence is wire with hardwood split or sawn posts. For sheep five wires are sufficient. The cost of No. 8 wire delivered in Brisbane is, at the present time, £12 per ton. A ton of this wire measures 11,460 yards, nearly 6 miles. Smaller wire is slightly dearer, but has the advantage of greater length per ton thus No. 9 is £12 5s. per ton, of 13,600 yards (or 7 miles); and No. 10, £13 per ton, equal to 16,380 yards, or over 9 miles.

For cattle three wires-the centre one being of barbed wire -are sufficient. Barbed wire, thick set, gives 4 cwt., and longset 3 cwt. per mile.

Subdivision fences of same material need not be so high as boundary fences. With these the posts are usually a considerably longer distance apart, the wires in the interspaces being kept in place by battens, which, however, are not sunk in the ground. A fair estimate of the cost of such subdivison fences, with timber and railway carriage available, may be stated at from £16 to £21 per mile. Where the land is not open plain, cheap but efficient rustic subdivision fences may be constructed by unskilled bush labour.

The system of compulsory registration of brands of cattle and horses, introduced in 1872, is the most complete yet adopted by any other country or colony, both as a protection against theft and for the recovery of stray or stolen stock. Each brand is restricted to two letters and one numeral. The changes that can thus be rung are almost unlimited, so that each owner in the colony is allotted a distinct brand. A Brands Directory" is published annually, containing the names and addresses of all brand owners, in alphabetical and numerical order. A certain order of branding being obligatory. the present owner of the animal is easily discovered by the last brand imprinted in that order. The Brands Directory may be seen in the Queensland Court.

The severe drought through which the colony recently passed served at any rate to draw earnest attention to the importance of securing a permanent supply of water; and, as mentioned in earlier pages, efforts have been made to tap the immense natural reservoirs of fresh water, which have been shown to exist beneath the surface of our widely extending plains. The success which has attended these operations, will, no doubt, lead to trials at other places, and will tend greatly to lessen the disastrous effects which the visitations of drought have had upon the pastoral industry.

IV. The Minerals of Queensland.

FOR richness and variety of its mineral resources, Queensland stands pre-eminent, and yet, probably, not a tithe of its wealth has been discovered. Indeed, in a large measure, the great value of its mineral deposits has induced waste, which improved appliances and processes would have prevented, and which would have been brought into operation had there been greater difficulty in extracting the treasures which the earth was so willing to yield in abundance. But where the miner could make his "pile" so easily by the rude appliances available, it was useless to talk to him of scientific methods. The formation of large companies, however, gave an impetus to systematic mining, and care is now taken to realise as far as practicable, the riches found beneath the surface. In the following pages space will not permit of more than a brief reference to a subject with which a volume might be filled. An examination of the contents of the Queensland Mineral Court will, however, give an idea of the wonderful resources of the colony, and a more detailed notice than can here be given, will be found in the Special Catalogue which the Commissioners have published, descriptive of the mineral exhibits.

Coal.

The Ipswich district was the portion of the colony in which coal for commercial purposes was first raised. It is, however, found abundantly at Maryborough, Bowen, and other northern portions of the colony, as well as on the Darling Downs. Mr. Tenison Woods considers the coal resources of Queensland" equal, if not superior, to any other colony, and will raise her shores to be in the end the grand coal emporium of the Southern hemisphere." Indeed the resources of Queensland as regards coal may be said to be inexhaustible. The railways of the colony, and many of the large ocean-going and coastal steamers now obtain their supplies from the Queensland mines, and, with the increase of facilities for transit and shipment, a great future may be predicted for coal fields.

The upper strata of the coalfields in the neighbourhood of Ipswich consists of a sandstone resting on shales, intersected by thin bands of ironstone, of which some is sufficiently rich for smelting, while the decomposed shales furnish an excellent clay for pottery and brick. The coal from the lower beds furnishes an excellent coke, largely used in the foundries.

The Burrum Field, connected by rail with Maryborough, its port town, 18 miles distant, is about 100 square miles in extent, and

possesses several workable seams of coal, very free from intervening veins of shale. The coal is fully equal to that of Newcastle, New South Wales, as regards hardness, quantity of ashes and sulphur, and heating power.

The other discovered coal fields of the colony are being developed and their proximity, in most cases, to seaport towns, will enable them to contribute their quota of coal to the market. The quantity of coal raised in 1887 was 238,813 tons, of the value of £97,460.

Go d.

The year 1858 demonstrated the fact that Queensland was henceforth to be considered a gold-producing country. The first rush to the Canoona field, about 20 miles from Rockhampton, was due to exaggerated rumours of immense wealth of gold deposits, and ended most disastrously to those who were attracted by the reports. Many miners, however, remained, and discovered other goldfields in the vicinity, while Canoona is still also worked. Gold mining in Queensland made but little progress until the year 1868. Previous to that date but 119,384 ounces had been produced, in value £451,039. Since that year 5,487,758 oz., of a value of £19,173,958, have been yielded by Queensland mines. the yield of gold in Queensland was 425,923 ounces.

In 1887

Gympie, discovered in 1868 by a miner named Nash, occupies a foremost place among Queensland goldfields. Operations are here conducted on a large scale, and that a large area of goldbearing rock is still untouched in this field is shown by the fact that nines of great depth are profitably worked. The returns of gold from Gympie to the end of 1887 were 1,323,480 ounces, valued at £4,632,177.

Several minor fields are established in the vicinity of Gympie, such as Kilkivan, &c., &c., but the gold-bearing ore, although rich in go'd, being of a refractory nature, the progress of development of the fields is slow.

The other fields of Southern Queensland are Eidswold, the development of which gives promise of a brilliant future; those situate in the neighbourhood of Warwick, and in which recently the gold mining has been revived; and the Mount Perry District.

In Central Queensland the most notable goldfields are Rockhampton (in which the wonderful Mount Morgan is situated), Port Curtis, Peak Downs, and Nebo.

In the Rockhampton district are (besides Mount Morgan) Canoona, Queensland's oldest field; Rosewood, Morinish, and Crocodile Creek, from all which good stone is still raised. Inclusive of Mount Morgan, these fields in 1887 yielded 85,305 ounces, valued at £349,750.

The richness of the Mount Morgan gold mine has become almost proverbial. In this the gold is found in a very pure and exceedingly finely divided state. The erection of chlorination works at the mine will enable the company to carry on their operations with but little waste. Mr. Jack, the Government geologist, is of opinion that Mount Morgan was in former geological ages a hot spring or geyser, the water of which held gold in solution, which afterwards was precipitated and consolidated with other mineral matter thrown up by this spring into a ferruginous stone. There are, however, other theories as to its formation, upon which it is not necessary here to speculate. Gladstone is the seaport town of the Port Curtis area, comprising the Calliope, Cania, Norton, Boyne, and Kroombit field. Peak Downs and Nebo are smaller goldfields in the central districts.

The total yield in 1887 of the fields in the Port Curtis district, Cloncurry, Calliope, Clermont, Normanby, and small fields, which in the returns of the Mines department are grouped together, was 14,499 ounces, valued at £40,746.

In Northern Queensland, the most noticeable goldfields are Charters Towers, Ravenswood, Etheridge, Woolgar, Gilberton, Hodgkinson, the Palmer, and the more lately discovered Croydon. These fields excel in their richness and extent, and differ in character from those of Southern Queensland, being barren of fossils, and the rocks in the neighborhood of the veins are granitic.

Charters Towers is 85 miles from the port of Townsville, its outlet by rail. On this reef nearly 500 distinct reefs are proved auriferous. Since its discovery, 1,611,977 ounces have been raised to 31st December, 1887, of the value of £5,319,524. 1887, the yield was 151,377 ounces, value £499,544.

In

Ravenswood is also connected by rail with Townsville, and the ore is extremely rich in gold, although of a very refractory nature, which makes it difficult to treat remuneratively. The amount of gold raised in 1887 was 10,390 ounces, valued at £35,326, and making a total to end of 1887 of 327,215 ounces, value £1,112,531.

The Etheridge is another goldfield, producing ore of great richness, and less difficult to treat as that of Ravenswood. The development of the field has hitherto been greatly retarded by its distance from the coast and want of railway communication, which latter will, it is expected, before very long be rectified. The yield of the Etheridge, Woolgar, and Gilberton fields in 1887 was 21,036 ounces, valued at £63,108, and making a total to 31st December, 1887, of 341,579 ounces, of a value of £1,024,637.

Croydon, the most recently discovered goldfield, is situated about 120 miles due east of Normanton, its seaport town, and this town will ere long be connected to the field by rail. The rich finds made since its discovery in 1885 have caused it to become one of the largest and most important goldfields in Northern Queensland. The total yield to end of 1887 has been 33,932 ounces, of a value of £90,763 This field is still in its infancy, but its resources are rapidly being developed, and now support a large and increasing population.

The Hodgkinson is situated about seventy miles from Cairns. Thornborough is the head town. The output of gold to 31st December, 1887, from this field and the Mulgrave, was 218,053 ounces, valued at £803,161, of which 2,400 ounces were yielded in 1887.

The Palmer is the most extensive alluvial field in the colony, and is in course of being connected by rail with Cooktown, 120 miles distant. To the end of 1887 1,272,172 ounces. valued at £4,897,862, had been obtained from this field, the year 1887 having credit for 6,981 ounces.

Copper.

Copper occurs in its metallic state in various parts of Queens land, but is principally met with in combination with sulphur. Mount Perry is the most important source of this ore in the Burnett district, other fields being the Normanby, Woolca, Boolboonda, Edina, &c.

The mineral is also found at Port Downs, 250 miles from Rockhampton.

Cloncurry, however, possesses the most important copper deposits, rivalling in extent and richness the Lake Superior mines in North America. The ore is extremely rich, but the field is greatly handicapped by its position. The railway will, however, be shortly constructed to Normanton, about 200 miles distant, when convenience of transport and the extreme richness. of the deposits will enable them to be more remuneratively worked.

The total output of copper ore up to end of 1887 reached 55,695 tons, valued at £1,932,999.

Tin.

Tin was first found in 1872 near the boundaries of New South Wales and Queensland, the township which sprung up being named Stanthorpe. The large quantities of stream tin produced for some time after its discovery, and the trifling expense of working it, enabled many to realise fortunes.