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means of the minors in the Otanui district getting their supplies at a cheaper rate. Up to the present time £96 have been expended, and it will cost about £500 when completed. Road from Thames Borough Boundary to Hematite Mine. —This is a dray-road from the Thames Borough boundary to the hematite deposit, which is intended to be utilized as flux for smelting silver ore in the furnace recently erected at the Thames. The cost of the work has been £400; of this amount, £233 6s. Bd. were contributed by the Government. Road from Karangahake to Battery. —This is a dray-road to connect the mines with the crushing-battery at Waitewheta Creek. The total cost of the work was £300; of this amount £200 have been paid as subsidy. Otanui Road to Mines. —A dray-road was constructed about two years ago from the crushing-battery at Mauugawheriwheri Creek towards the Otanui mines. Further extension was required to connect the mines, and this has now been completed at a cost of £299 18s.; of this amount, £199 18s. Bd. have been paid as subsidy. Roads to Ralph and Wick's Battery, Waitekauri. —These are shown as separate works in the list of subsidized roads and tracks, but they really mean the same road. This battery was formerly on the Owheroa side of the range, and now is removed to the Welcome Claim. The road that has been constructed is to enable the quartz to be taken to the battery, and also for conveying machinery. The total cost of the work was £469 Is.; of this amount a subsidy of £246 3s. lOd. have been paid. Rocky Point to Tararu. —This is a dray-road within the Thames Borough boundary leading to Tararu. The former road was washed away in places by the action of the waves, and had to be re-formed and protected with a stone apron on the sea side. This has been completed at a cost of about £300 ; of this amount £200 was paid as subsidy. Metalling Road, Kaueranga Valley to Otanui Creek. —The object of metalling this road was to enable crushing-machinery to be brought on the ground at Otanui. A considerable portion of the work has been done, and when completed it is estimated to cost £650; of this amount £443 6s. Bd. was authorized as a subsidy, of which £267 13s. have been paid. Road, Tapu Battery to Mines. —Fresh discoveries of auriferous-quartz lodes have lately been discovered at Tapu, and a road is in course of construction to connect them with the crushing-battery. The cost of the work, when completed, is estimated at £160; of this amount £106 13s. 4d. was authorized as subsidy, of which £44 have been paid. Ohinemuri County, Auckland. Track up Tut Creek.— This is a locality where a galena lode rich in silver has been found. It lies between Karangahake and Te Aroha, which is a very broken and rugged country, and difficult of access without tracks. The estimated cost of the work is £300, of which £200 have been authorized as subsidy. The track is in course of construction, and subsidy up to the amount of £103 paid. Prospecting-track, Whangamata. —This is a track to open up the country in the vicinity of Parakawai, where auriferous-quartz reefs have recently been discovered, but which cannot be worked until a track is made, as the whole of the country is broken and densely timbered. This work is estimated to cost £200, of which £166 13s. 4d. was authorized as subsidy. Tauranga Road to Karangahake Bridge Site. —A horse-bridge has been constructed across the Ohinemuri River, near the junction of the Waitewhata Creek, to give access to the Karangahake Goldfield. A road forming an approach to this bridge from the Tauranga Road is now in course of construction. The work is estimated to cost £380; of this amount £243 6s. Bd. have been promised as subsidy. Piako County, Auckland. Road from Wairongomai to Ferguson's Battery. —Formerly this was a horse-track up the side of the Wairongomai Creek ; but, in order to enable Mr. Ferguson to get his crushing-plant on the ground, it was found necessary to widen it into a dray-road, which cost £500; of this amount £333 6s. Bd. was paid as subsidy. Tramway to Ferguson's Battery. —This tramway branches off the county tramway, which. was constructed over two years ago from the mining claims to Messrs. Firth and Clarke's battery at Wairongomai Township. Mr. Ferguson has now constructed a battery on a comparatively new principle higher up Wairongomai Creek, in close proximity to the quartz-workings; and this tramway is now almost completed so as to give the various companies holding mining claims an opportunity of sending their quartz to cither battery. Mr. Ferguson claims that his battery •will save considerably more gold than the one at Wairongomai Township, and thereby enable quartz lodes to be worked that are at present unremunerative. When this tramway was first undertaken it was estimated by Mr. Ferguson to cost £1,500; of this amount a subsidy of £1,000 was authorized; but the work has cost a great deal more than was first anticipated; and, although considerably more than £1,500 have been expended, the tramway is not yet completed. The subsidy, however, of £1,000 have been paid. Track to Claims on Buck's Reef. —-This is a horse-track to a large quartz lode, which can be traced along the Te Aroha Range for nearly three miles, and gold of a payable character has been found in portions of it. The whole of the country here is very rough and precipitous, and also densely timbered; so that unless there are tracks constructed no really legitimate

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