also extremely likely that definite channels of concentra tion exist somewhere as yet undiscovered.

CONCLUSION.

In concluding this part of my report, I realise more than ever that the intermittent and half-hearted way in which so many of these properties have been worked has been very disadvantageous to the interests of the field. A little money has been raised, and when it has been spent, and the gold-shoot worked out or faulted, operations have been suspended, and the reputation of the field suffers in consequence. The sooner it is recognised that it is neither a poor man's nor a poor company's field, the better. The rewards will only fall to the lot of those who persevere in serious work. The New Golden Gate has been one prize; the other deep mine (The Tasmanian Consols) may be another. The undeveloped properties of the Jubilee and City of Hobart invite an outlay sufficient to really prove their value; and the owners should meet with no insuperable difficulty in procuring the necessary capital.

The Gladstone and Eldorado hills have really only been scratched. The Miner's Dream and Telegraph hill is almost virgin ground, and no one can say what it might develop into in depth. In fact, the part of the field covered by this report could be described in a sentence" prospected but not developed." But there is no valid reason why work should not be resumed. Ordinary mining risks must, of course, be faced. Gold may not be met with at any given point, but that it exists, and in quantity too, in the reef-channels below this field, does not admit of any doubt whatever.

Part III. of my report on Mathinna will be prepared after a future visit.

I have the honour to be,

W. H. WALLACE, Esq.,

Sır.

Your obedient Servant,

W. H. TWELVETREES,
Government Geologist.

Secretary for Mines, Hobart.

が

REPORT ON COX'S BIGHT TINFIELD.

[With One Map.]

SIR,

Government Geologist's Office,

Launceston, 5th December, 1906.

I HAVE the honour to report that, as instructed by you, I proceeded to Cox's Bight on the 31st August, and returned to Hobart on the 18th of the next month. I was accompanied by Mr. M. J. Griffin, Inspector of Mines for the Northern and Southern Division.

The country bordering on the Bight is little known, and the land outside the mountain ranges, which hem in the little strip of flat country on the sea-shore, is practically terra incognita.

The Bight is a broad bay on the south coast of Tasmania, 6 miles across, divided into two smaller bays by a small promontory (Point Eric), which rises to a conical summit, 160 feet above the surface of the water. The horn of the west bay is formed by the precipitous bluff range, known locally as Cox's Bluff (charted as New Harbour Bluff); that of the eastern bay is the hill range which terminates in what the fishermen call Red Point. The distance from South-West Cape is about 12 miles; and from Recherche, by water, 36 miles.

Between Catamaran, at Recherche, and the Bight the country is wholly uninhabited by man. In 1901 and 1902 Mr. T. B. Moore, under instructions from the Surveyor-General, cut and marked a track from Hastings to Cox's Bight, passing the western head of Port Davey, and his reports on same are published in the SurveyorGeneral's Annual Reports for 1900-1901 and 1901-1902. With reference to the Cox's Bight section of his track (between the mouth of the Old River and Point Eric), he says: Primary and eruptive rocks occupy the whole of this line of country. Silurian slates and schists, highly mineralised, occur in places along Bathurst Harbour, which are well worthy the attention of prospectors. At Cox's Bight a granite boss, about 1 mile in diameter, rises -through the Silurian strata at the southern end of the

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Bathurst Range. The creeks on the east and west side of of. this intrusive mass have been worked in a very primitive way for alluvial tin. If a good supply of water were stored, and the old workings sluiced in a systematic way. I estimate that a far greater quantity of ore would be won than that previously obtained."

Mr. Moore's observations on the mineral characteristics of the country between Hastings and Fort Davey are the only ones that have been published. It is known that as far as the New River, or the south end of the Arthur Range, the prevalent geological formations are PermoCarboniferous sandstones and shales, and the eruptive traprock (diabase) of Mesozoic age. The western mineral country appears to come in at the New River, for Mr. Moore mentions limestone in that basin containing traces of copper pyrites, tetrahedrite, carbonate of copper, and galena. Thence westwards the country consists of slates, schists, and quartzites, which have been unprospected for mineral, but in which discoveries will very likely be made when the area is made accessible by the construction and maintenance of tracks. The mountain ranges preserve the usual north and south or north-west and south-east trend, terminating seawards, as a rule, in bold, lofty bluffs; and a track overland from Recherche, if anywhere near the sea, would have to reckon with these promontories. In March this year Messrs. Tyler and Harper were commissioned to go overland from Recherche to the Bight to find a route for a track. The way they went was as follows: Cockle Creek, 2 miles past Recherche; across to South Cape, on to the beach; across Coal Mine Hill, past the old Government Huts; across South Cape Creek (by wading), up Fluted Cape (1600 feet); thence to Granite Bay and Shoemaker Point; thence to Surprise River (crossed at mouth by wading), and along beach to Tom Pretty's Point; from thence to the New River (crossed by raft); and thence to Deadman's Bay, and up the great High Bluff (3500 feet); west of this to the Louisa Plains and bay, separated from Cox's Bight by the dividing range of quartzite and schist. What time was occupied in cutting their way through to the Bight does not appear from the published account, but the return journey was made in five days, with one day's interruption by accidents and weather. They think that, with a boat at New River, a track could be made taking only three days to walk. It would seem certain, however, that a four-day track is possible.