stope to the reduction works, and thus an immense saving will be
effected in the costs incidental to mining. From the neighbourhood of
the place at which it has been won, the ore will be drawn in trucks,
attached to the endless wire rope, first along the drive on the
horizontal, and then up an incline increasing in sharpness till the
shaft is reached, where the direction of motion becomes vertical. Near
the surface, again, there is an incline, gradually leading to the
level of the ground, or rather of the elevated tramway from which the
stuff is to be tipped into the mill, or, if it be mullock, on to the
waste heap. The return of each truck is effected along the reverse
side of the endless wire-rope cable.

Ventilation is an incidental work of much importance which it becomes
more practicable to carry out in a satisfactory manner when an endless
system of truck conveyance has been provided, reaching from the
ore-face to the mill, and thence back again. The reason is mainly that
the same routes which have been prepared for this traffic are
available for the supply of air and for the return current which must
carry off the accumulated bad gases from the underground workings.
Fans, operated by the cable at various places along the line of
communication, keep up a brisk exchange of air, and the coming and
going of the trucks themselves help to maintain a good, healthy
atmosphere, even in the most remote parts of the mine. In very deep
mines, where the heat becomes unbearable after a few minutes unless a
strong wind be kept going underground, the forward and backward
courses for traffic and ventilation together are specially
advantageous.

Prices during the twentieth century will depend more definitely upon
the cost of gold-mining than they have ever done at any former time in
the world's history. In spite of all the opposition which fanaticism
and ignorance could offer to the natural trend of events in the
commercial and financial life of the world, the gold standard now
rests on an impregnable base; and every year witnesses some new
triumph for those who accept it as the foundation of the civilised
monetary system. This being the case, it is obvious that the
conditions affecting the production of gold must possess a very
peculiar interest even for those who have never lived within hundreds
of miles of any gold mine. To all intents and purposes the habit of
every man is to measure daily and even hourly the value of his e