C—3b

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6ft. now excavated. A drain, 5 chains or more, has been made up the gully to the pit, but it does not appear to be nearly deep enough to be any good. I think the stripping on either side of the gully will be very heavy. This pit is also being opened to supply the farmers who have purchased on Logan's Estate. 89. John Milne's Pit, Granville Road. —(2B/8/94) : A proper opening is now being made in a small gully to get out coal for sale, where for some time past the owner got from a small opening what was necessary for his own use only. The stripping just now is not more than 3ft., but, if the coal be followed into the terrace on either side of the low flat, the depth of stripping will run into from 10ft. to 18ft. The coal is said to be about Bft. thick in one place where tested. Mr. G. W. McDonald, the lessee, and another were cutting up a drain at the time of my visit, with a view of draining the seam to the floor, if possible, at the lowest place tested. The drain starts from and on the west side of the Granville Eoad. Its estimated length, when completed to the pit, is 20 chains, and the depth at the top end 12ft. The top half of the drain will be piped and filled in. The estimated cost is £35. The pit is being opened in anticipation of disposing of coal to those who purchased farms quite lately on Logan's Estate, which is on the east side of the Granville Road, through to Kelso. 90. Thomas Middlemis's Pit, Granville Boad. —(2B/8/94): This pit is situated in an out-of-the-way place, where the coal is hewn out for house use only. The pit (an open-cast) was full of water at the time of my visit. The year's supply for the house is hewn out in summer time, when there is very little water to bail out of the pit. I think the stripping is shallow, and the seam probably very thin. 91. J. Smith's Waimea Pit, Waimea. — (29/10/94): The old workings were abandoned nearly twelve months ago, and a new pit was opened, distant about half a mile south-west of the old pit The advantages of the new workings are in every way superior to the old. The seam is 10ft. thick, with stripping from 4ft. to 10ft. on the face of the terrace. It will take some years to remove the coal on the face of the terrace, where the average stripping will not exceed the figures quoted, after which time a 7ft. tunnel will probably be driven into the face of coal, leaving 3ft. of coal overhead for a roof. 'The floor of the seam appears to be very level, and a good drain has been made up to it. A dray road is now being formed to the public thoroughfare, distant nearly half a mile. Other preparations are being made for a large output of coal. 92. Maslin's Pit, Wendon. —(30/10/94): The open cut which was being made into the western seara of the two at the time of my previous visit last year caved in shortly after, and has not since been touched. Since then the output of coal has come from the floor of the tunnel in the eastern seam, which is supposed to be 22ft. thick, and, like the other, stands nearly vertical. About 12ft. of the centre of this seam by about 10ft. or 12ft. in height, is being taken out to the level of a small gully, which crosses it at right angles. Some stripping is being done on the same seam in another gully to the south, where the coal will have to be removed before the winter sets in, else it will be covered and lost with landslips. The road to the pit is at this time of the year in good order. 93. E. Vial's Pit, Waikaia.— (3l/8/94) : In the old stripped gravel-face of from 50ft. to 60ft. high a short tunnel, branching into two, has been driven about 25ft. in the coal, which dips into the terrace ; this tunnel is now abandoned. The work done is very unworkmanlike at the start, and it is perhaps well that it is not to be continued. A fresh start is being made in the face of the terrace a little further south, where there is 18ft. of coal at a lower level. In order to work to the floor of the seam here pumping has to be done, and the water lifted 13ft. at the start, with the dip of the seam to be added as the work proceeds under the terrace. To do this work a small 6ft. overshot water-wheel is being fixed at the spot to work a 4in. x 4in. vertical wooden pump, which is already fixed in position. On top of, and resting in the coal, there is 2ft. of a hard silicious band likely to make a good roof if the working-places are not made too wide. There is very little coal hewn in the winter time. 94. Mclvor's Pit, Waikaia. —(31/8/94) : Mclvor has shifted a little to the north of where he was working at the time of my previous visit, where the stripping just now is not more than 25ft. to the coal. A paddock was sluiced off at the time of my visit, exposing the top of the coal in patches only, indicating that deep trenches had been cut into the coal by the river and gravel at some remote period of time. All the stripping is passed through sluice-boxes to save the gold it contains. The thickness of coal at this spot is not yet known, but it is thought to be thin on account of the scour it has been subjected to when it was the floor of a large river. 95. Northcotes Pit, Waikaia. —(3l/8/94): The coal here—9Jft. thick—is being tunnelled out, leaving about 4ft. of coal for a roof. At 9-J-ft. from the floor there is a splendid smooth parting as far as the seam has been followed under the terrace, and likely to continue over acres of ground, but it is very clear to me that the young men working the mine know but little about underground coal-mining. I have stopped coal-hewing in one working-place in order to keep the mine open at the face of the terrace. I have pointed out where coal-hewing is not to be done near the perpendicular face. 96. /. P. Hill's Pit, Waikaia. —(3l/8/94): The pit (an open-cast) was fitted with water at the time of my visit, and two men were breaking up a fall from a 126 ft. face of gravel and clay stripping preparatory to sluicing operations. When asked why they did such heavy stripping, when the coal could be so much more easily got by tunnelling it out, they replied that, by sluicing the gravel off, they got nearly enough gold to pay for the work, and that the gold was confined to an Bft. band in the gravel. They say they use twelve heads of water when sluicing. There is 20ft. of good coal, but at a level, I think, below the river, which is close by. A 7ft. overshot waterwheel does the pumping when coal is being taken out. The coal-hewing, however, is done, I think, in the summer time, when the drainage is not heavy. 97. Sleeman's Pit, Mataura. —(25/8/94): This pit is being worked in a very systematic manner. The stripping is a clean-washed fine gravel from 15ft, to 20ft. up, and is kept at a good