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No. 7. Mr. Warden Robinson to the Undee Seceetaey for Gold Fields. Sic,— Warden's Office, Naseby, 31st March, 1877, I have the honor to report upon the district under my charge, as AVarden for the past year, as follows :— 1. The year has, on the whole, been moderately favourable to the class of mining that is mostly prevalent in this district. With plenty of water the sluicer can always do well in this part of the country; and the broken seasons have, in furnishing rather more than average supplies of water, been decidedly advantageous to the miner's industry, although embarrassing and even hurtful to that of the cultivator of the soil. 2. The expectation of the Government water-race and sludge channel being opened has caused a large number of claims to be taken up in the Hogburn Valley, below Naseby. The ground thus occupied has long been known to be auriferous, but for want of "fall "it could not be worked. The knowledge of its value was a principal reason for the eagerness with which the construction of a sludge channel was advocated. Of course none of these claims can be wrought until the opening of the channel affords the long-desired means of sending away the waste water and tailings from the workings. In the mean time the claims have all required to be protected. To obviate the inconvenience to miners of the continual necessity of applying for renewal of protection, I suggested to the Government the advisability of suspending certain of the forfeiture sections of the Regulations, and on the 12th of this month a Proclamation was published suspending the operation of the Regulations in question over an area extending for fourteen chains on each side of the channel throughout its entire length. This will no doubt be felt as a relief by the holders of claims in the Hogburn Valley. 3. I am glad to be able at length to notice that the Government water-race is so far completed that there is really nothing to prevent its being used to bring in water for mining purposes except the completion of the short length of flushing race to connect with the sludge channel. This is a work which should not take long to finish, indeed it is already far advanced towards completion, and I look forward with confidence to the miners getting the means of opening out some of their claims before the winter fairly sets in. This will be a great advantage. There is a good deal of preliminary work to be done about the opening out of sluicing claims, and until it is definitely known on what conditions races will be allowed to connect with and discharge into the channel, none even of this preliminary work can be safely undertaken. But when once the miners know what they can and may do, I have no doubt they will set to work vigorously enough. 4. A. noticeable sign of the expectation of better times, after the long period of comparative depression consequent upon the waiting for the completion of the public works, is to be found in the fact that the town of Naseby itself has lately begun to show decided symptoms of improvement. The Bank of New Zealand has erected handsome new premises, a few new places of business have been opened, and several of the older-established stores and hotels are being more or less renovated. 5. The increasing confidence of business people in Naseby is not, however, to be solely attributed to the hope of benefit from the opening of the public race and channel —at length the demand for land for settlement has been recognized, and a good deal of land has been opened in various parts of the district. It is satisfactory to find that the land is being rapidly taken up by a respectable class of settlers, and there is reason to hope that, before many years are past, the country will be studded over with homesteads wherever the land is suitable for cultivation. The spread of agriculture will have a tendency greatly to assist the development of the mineral resources of the country. With farms in the neighbourhood, the necessaries of life must be cheaper than when every article of consumption has to he brought for great distances over bad roads. With cheaper living the miner will be able to profitably work much ground that will not pay at the present high cost of provisions. Moreover, as settlement extends the means of communication will be improved. Already there is serious agitation for a railway to tap the great interior country of Otago. If a railway were once made, the difficulty of obtaining timber for mining purposes would be at an end, and it is probable that deepsinking would be tried in many places where, in consequence of the enormous expense of timber, it cannot now be thought of. 0. As has been already remarked, the class of mining generally prevalent in this district is that of sluicing.. This offers in itself but little subject for remark, as when once water has been led by races to command any suitable ground, the miners may continue to work in the same vicinity and in the same manner for many years. The only item of progress to be noted is the introduction in some claims of iron piping instead of canvas hose. This is found to be a great improvement, especially when, as in one claim at St. Bathans, the American nozzle, known as the "Little Giant," is also used. 7. Quartz mining is still represented in this district by only one claim iv actual work —that of Mr. Withers, at Rough Ridge, which has been worked with varying success for a number of years. It is very remarkable that in a district so rich in gold, and the mountains of which present so many indications of reefs, so very little should as yet have been done toward the development of quartz mines. Quartz reefs have, it is true, been opened in several localities and gold found, but from some cause or other the companies have, as a rule, always come to grief. Possibly, if there were a railway to bring the necessary timber and mining plant on to the ground at a moderate expense, the testing of the quartz reefs might yet be done in a more thorough and systematic manner than heretofore. 8. An important phase of mining has latterly been developed at Fullarton's, near Hyde, where three parties of miners have taken up claims which can only be worked by means of lengthy tunnels, mostly through rock. I referred to this matter in my report of last year, and had hoped to have been able by now to chronicle a success. Unfortunately delays have occurred, partly through want of capital. One party has put in a fine tunnel to a considerable distance, but without as yet reaching the rich wash which is known to lie in the interior of the hill, having been formerly reached by sinking from the flat top. 9. The Muddy Creek Company, at St. Bathans, after carrying up their channel for a considerable

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