C—3

34

getting a long way out, but the flood which took place in October last carried away a large quantity of tailings, and gives a deal more room. At one place the river came back 250 ft. on the tailingsheaps, and carried them away. The channel of the river has altered considerably, and is now much nearer the terrace on the Kumara side than it has been for years past. The river-bed below the bridge is such a great width that it will take a considerable time to raise it much. The workings are getting gradually nearer the Kapitea Hill, which necessitates some of the tail-races being carried on a very low gradient, in order to be able to sluice into the present tailings channels. The miners have, however, arranged to construct a new channel, to come out in the face of the terrace lower down the river than any of the others, which will relieve the middle channel to a great extent, and make better provision for the deposit of tailings. There is no gainsaying the fact that the richest portion of the ground is getting gradually washed away. Still there is yet a large field to work, which will give employment to a mining population' for many years to come. The following statement shows the sales of water, cost of maintenance, and the approximate quantity of gold obtained by the miners using water from this supply for the year ending the 31st March last:—

The above statement shows the sales of water for last year to be £5,789 os. 9d., as against £6,645 lis. for the former year; and the expenditure on maintenance £1,782 lis., as against £1,584 10s. lid. for the year previous, showing that the value of the sales of water last year has diminished to the extent of £856 10s. 3d., while the expenditure on maintenance has increased £198 os. Id. The profits on the working last year amount to £4,006 9s. 9d., as against £5,474 3s. sd. for the year previous. The value of free water given to parties as assistance and to open up new claims was £834 3s. 4d., and tho approximate quantity of gold obtained by those who were using water from the race was 8,6480z., representing a value of £33,724 4s. Deducting the value of the sales of water from the value of the gold obtained, it leaves £27,935 3s. 3d. as the earnings of 147 miners for the year, being £190 os. Bd. a man per annum, or £3 13s. Id. per week, which is only 3d. a man per week less than the earnings for the previous year. The profits on the working last year is about 10 per cent, on the cost of construction, which now amounts to £40,425 lis. lid. The following summary shows the result of working this water-race for the last ten years. During that period the value of the sales of water amounted to £70,847 os. 3d., while the value of water for that period given towards assistance in opening-out claims, for constructing deviations, and towards the construction of No. 3 Channel, or tail-race, amounted to £11,724 ss. 4d.: making the total value of the sales of water and free water given for assistance, &c, £82,571 ss. 7d. ; while the total expenditure in connection with the maintenance has been £15,227 16s. lid.: —

Month. Sales of Water. Cash received for Sales of Expenditure Water. Outstanding Moneys at the end of each Month. Men em- <*£?$$ Value of Gold. 1892. £ s. d. 495 17 1 505 12 11 493 5 10 495 13 6 602 2 8 635 1 3 571 1 8 458 7 1 382 2 1 £ b. d. 458 16 9 529 14 7 518 19 1 500 17 1 675 10 9 505 5 0 720 17 6 297 2 6 517 2 2 £ s. d. 134 2 5 153 18 10 146 15 4 109 15 4 145 4 0 134 10 1 152 3 6 137 12 4 171 7 6 £ s. d. 98 12 4 102 3 9 95 6 0 76 5 9 84 8 11 83 17 11 59 3 9 123 11 0 61 9 3 Oz. 744 758 741 745 900 950 850 680 570 £ s. d. 2,901 12 0 2,950 4 0 2,889 18 0 2,905 10 0 3,510 0 0 3,705 0 0 3,315 0 0 2,652 0 0 2,223 0 0 April May June July August September October .. November December 149 149 146 151 156 150 157 155 156 1893. 390 19 2 450 7 6 308 10 0 212 7 6 500 8 9 315 4 2 177 13 8 160 2 11 159 5 1 107 0 8 150 14 0 139 3 5 141 128 128 580 670 460 January February March 2,262 0 0 2,613 0 0 1,794 0 0 Total 5,789 0 9 I I 5,752 5 10 1,782 11 0 147 8,648 33,724 4 0