Observations on some of the Recent Tin-ore Discoveries in New England, New South Wales

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Abstract
The discovery of tin-ore (cassiterite) in the province of New England, New South Wales, was brought under the Society's notice by a letter from Mr. G. Milner Stephen, F.G.S., of Sydney, read at the December meeting, 1871; and finding from the discussion thereon, that the subject is not without interest to the Society, I beg to offer the following further observations made during a recent visit to that stanniferous country. The district to which these remarks refer forms, as as it were, a hilly high plateau of the Australian Alps, of which Mount Ben Lomond represents here the highest point, with an elevation of nearly 4000 ft. above the sea-level. According to my observation, the predominant rocks are granite and basalt, enclosing subordinate areas composed of metamorphic slate and sandstone, which latter show in places intrusions of greenstone of very limited extent. The basalt has mostly broken through the highest crests and points of the ranges and spread in extensive streams, the surface of which is now more or less decomposed, over the country at the foot. Thus we see fine valleys, with fertile basaltic soils several feet in depth, bounded by well-wooded granite ranges, not perhaps exceeding 300 ft. in height, a beautiful park-like country, well watered by extensive creeks and small rivers, and with a climate similar to that of Central Europe; for the summer temperature rarely exceeds 80° F. in the shade, whilst during the winter months, June and July, there is frequently snow and ice. Perhaps

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