a—3a

20

List of Calls made, Dividends declared, &c. — continued.

I submit a short account of the work done in some of the mines in the district during the year. Mueeay Cbeek and Crushington. Wealth of Nations. —In this mine the work carried on for some time past has been principally prospecting. Owing to the quartz discovered on the 200 ft. level being too poor to tie worked profitably a winze was sunk on the reef below this level to a depth of 160 ft. on the underlay, or 120 ft. perpendicular. An opening has been made on the reef at this depth, and a few tons of quartz have been taken out and crushed, with, as yet, poor results. The winze is now being sunk to reach a depth of 150 ft. on the perpendicular. A branch winding-shaft is now being sunk, and is nearly completed, to the same depth. This shaft is about 300 ft. south from the winze, and, when connected with the winze, this, the lowest level, which is about 300 ft. below the Inangahua Eiver, will be thoroughly prospected. Keep It Dark. —Since the last report the inside shaft has been sunk 120 ft.,'■ making a total depth of 240 ft., or 720 ft. from the brace on the surface and 900 ft. from the outcrop. A drive wasput in from the bottom of this shaft a distance of 40ft., where the block of stone sunk on from No. 4 level was intersected. The drive was continued to the west, and the western reef was struck. This block proved to be 45ft. in length, and averaged sft. in width. The stone was of the same quality as on No. 4 level. A tunnel was then put in at right angles in a northerly direction, and a block of stone was met with which went 16dwt. to the ton. A winze was sunk on this stone to a depth of 37ft., when it ran out. This tunnel is now being extended in order to strike the north block, which should be got in 40ft. or 50ft. of driving. Stone is now being stoped between Nos. 5 and 4 levels. There is an immense body of stone, but unfortunately it is of poor quality. During the yeai 2,738 tons of stone were crushed, yielding 9060z. of gold, valued at £3,624. Shareholders have received £500 in dividends. The total output of the mine has been 110,644 tons of quartz, from which 59,1260z. of gold were obtained, valued at £230,130, out of which £108,083 was distributed in dividends. No. 2 South Keep It Dark. —The main reef has been stoped up 200 ft. over No. 2 level, leaving about 100 ft. to the surface. Some little time ago the stone was broken and poor, but recently a new make of stone was met with in the south end. This stone has now been driven on 60ft., and has the appearance of extending, which is encouraging, as it is unprospected ground. For the last 30ft. of driving the stone has been left strong under foot. No. 2 level was extended north 77ft., and a block of quartz was met with about 45ft. in length and about 3ft. 6in. in width. This stone is now being stoped, and between 60ft. and 70ft. in height remains before the intermediate level is reached. A winze has been sunk from No. 2 level 170 ft. from the northern boundary, and has attained a depth of 90ft., and the work of opening a new level is now proceeding, a drive being

Name of Company. Calls made. Dividends declared. Stone crushed. Yield. Value. £ s. 300 0 100 0 1,800 0 600 0 500 0 100 0 200 0 400 0 1,000 0 1,000 0 400 0 100 0 100 0 1,625 0 d. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 £ s. d. Tons. Oz. £ s. d. Al Golden Point Cumberland Durham ... Kapai Success ... St. George Prima Donna Inkerman Exchange Inangahua Low-level Tunnel Besohition Walhalla Wealth of Nations Wealth of Nations United Devonshire Globe ... Keep It Dark No. 2 South Keep It Dark ... General Gordon ... Supreme... Queen Scotia 3,000 0 0 3* 3,021 "36 2,808 144 8 11,373 19 0 3 l',088 894 3,291 0 0 "609 Tailings "2I6 130 862 9 520 6 3 3 183 6 8 7,200 0 500 0 4,200 0 0 0 0 4,536 906 2,482 18,370 0 3,624 0 9,928 0 0 0 0 8,980 2,738 4,295 500 0 316 0 50 0 700 0 0 0 0 0 Energy ... Mammon "78O 15 460 15 1,834 11 60 0 9 0 Aluvial gold £25,956 10 0 30,743 0 0 35,562| 23,390 4,329 .93,885 16,884 5 2 1 8 27,719 110,769 9 9 * In this case the tonnai ;e is only given app: •oximately.