adopted also in New South Wales, especially in those districts where the rainfall is sufficient to give heavy crops of lucerne and maize as green fodder.
The first discoveries of gold in Australia were made by Hargreaves in New South Wales. But Victoria, Queensland, and Western Australia, each in their turn, have left her behind in the development of gold mining, and the golden fleece is still the colony's best friend. Of late, however, many Southern miners have found their way into New South Wales fields. In 1898 the total yield of gold was 341,700 ounces, valued at £1,250,000. The August gold returns for 1899 show that the output of New South Wales for the month amounted to 46,300 ounces, being an increase of 30,700 ounces as compared with August 1898. The output during the preceding eight months amounted to 295,700 ounces, being an increase of 98,200 ounces as compared with the corresponding period of last year. The silver output was worth about £1,800,000. The famous Broken Hill silver mines contribute the bulk of this, but, though territorially they belong to New South Wales, the whole of their business is done with Adelaide and Melbourne. About 7000 square miles of New South Wales give indications of copper, the biggest yield being from the Great Cobar Mine, viz., 2650 tons, valued at over £100,000. The copper output for the colony showed an increase in 1896 of about £60,000 worth as compared with the previous year, and still more recently great progress has accompanied the rise in the price of the metal. The great coal mines of Australia are those of the Newcastle, Wollongong, and Bulli coastal districts, within easy reach of Sydney. They supply not only the whole of Australia, but, to some extent, California and Eastern Asia. During the year 1 896 the coal output was 3,909,517 tons, valued at £1,125,280. An important
