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and the left-hand branch of Slaty Creek (Big Biver), are of great thickness, and formed of exceedingly coarse material. They extend over a very considerable area, and constitute strata reaching in places from 1,500 ft. to 2,000 ft. in thickness. From Slaty they stretch across the waterdivide into the head-waters of the Punakakaki Biver. In Black-sand Creek the concentrates from these breccia-conglomerates yield gold, and the bed and banks of the stream have been worked for about one mile. The gold thus obtained does not appear to have paid wages to the men engaged in the work, and at the present time no one is working in Black-sand Creek. In Slaty Creek proper, a considerable amount of gold-washing in the recent alluvial of the creek-bed has been done. The source of the gold in this is either gneissic-granite or the breccia-conglomerates at the base of the coal-bearing series. Between the gorge of Slaty Creek and three miles farther up Big Biver, a number of small creeks rise on the eastern slopes of the conglomerate range, and in one or two gullies patches of rich gold-bearing alluvial wash were found. Mr. Johnstone, of Slaty Creek, obtained gold to a considerable amount from one of the smaller gullies indicated. It is doubtful how far these breccia-conglomerates extend up the Little Grey Valley, as beyond Bough Biver the recent and Pleistocene deposits derived from the higher and central parts of the Paparoa Mountains overlie and obscure them should they be present. On the coast-line south of the Buller Biver they are met with at Charleston and Brighton, and at the first mentioned place are seen exposed along the shore-cliff in Constance Bay. Here the material of which they are composed is largely of local origin. At Brighton they form a remarkable pyramidal rock at the mouth of the Fox Biver, but do not appear to be developed further inland, where the base of the coal-bearing series rests against the granites forming the lower slopes of the Paparoa Bange. In the Buller Valley, between the Ohika-iti (Little Ohika) and Grainger's Point, near Coal Creek, they have a great development, and form lofty ranges of mountains on each side of the valley. They extend for six or seven miles up the Blackwater, and also a considerable distance back on the northern side of the gorge. In Hawk's Crag they form a high vertical cliff, along the face of which the Westport-Beefton coach road has been cut. In this part they do not appear to be generally gold-bearing, though what little gold has been obtained from the Blackwater appears to have been derived from them. Thin seams of bituminous coal appear in these rocks near Hawk's Crag. On the west side of the Inangahua Valley a patch of such conglomerate appears at the source of Fletcher's Creek. On the east side of the Inangahua Valley these conglomerates and breccia-conglomerates are found nearly continuous from the Buller Biver to the Inangahua Biver, opposite the junction of Bainy Creek. In Boatman's Creek, at Capleston, well-rounded rather coarse quartz gravels represent these beds, and of the same character, like deposits extend along the front range to the north branch of the Inangahua Biver. At Painkiller, and in the upper part of Murray Creek, and thence covering the older rocks, and forming the higher part of the range between the north and south branches of the Inangahua, these beds extend back eastwards to the foot of the granite mountains. In the upper part of Boatman's Creek there is a remarkable development of these rocks, mainly consisting of granite, though other rocks also are present. Here the material seems to be of glacier origin, a large proportion of the granite masses exceeding 6ft. in diameter, and many reaching to 10ft. and 12ft. through. The general bulk of the deposit at this place is completely angular, and, though transported for some distance, not in the least water-worn. In the upper part of Murray Creek, and in Lankey's Gully, these beds are auriferous, so much so that, with the application of skill and proper appliances, they should be made to pay for working. Some attempts to work these cements, where they are known to be gold-bearing, have, it is true, been discontinued, mainly owing to the great hardness of the material to be dealt with ; and, in the case of the Lankey's Gully cement claim, on account of the gold being, for the most part confined to the first foot of cement resting on the underlying rock. In the Upper Buller Valley, there is a great development of gravels in connection with the lower division of the Cretaceo-tertiary series. These gravels are found in the valley of the Mangles, up which they extend to the Blue Duck Creek, to which point very coarse gold is got in the alluvial deposits of the river-bed, and in those of Blue Duck Creek itself. Beyond this point, i.e., higher up the Mangles Valley, the gold is much finer in grain, and it is also much less in quantity. In the Matakitaki Valley, there can be little doubt that the bulk of the gold found in the bed of the river, and along its banks has been derived from the denudation of the gravel cements occurring towards the base of the Cretaceo-tertiary series, or resting directly on the gneissic granites. In the Glenroy and in the Upper Maruia, between Thompson's and Station Creek, there is a great development of these beds. They are known to be auriferous in Station Creek; on the Bapahanoch Stream, and along the Glenroy Biver. There is a probability of these beds being largely worked at no distant date. X. Trias sic. (a.) Beds in the Upper Teremakau Valley, resembling the jasperoid and diabasic beds of the Sehvyn Gorge, Canterbury. —These beds lie outside the district mapped to illustrate this report, and they have already been sufficiently noticed in a previous report.* XII. Carboniferous. (a.) Maitai Series. — Westland Formation of Haast. —ln the southern part of the district this formation is found in Mount Greenland, between the Mikonui and Totara Bivers, and in Constitution Hill, between the Totara and Hokitika Bivers. A small area of the same rocks also is said to occur in the Kanieri watershed. They form also a broad belt of country, and all the higher mountains along the main water-parting, between the east and west coasts of the island; and in the report immediately above referred to they have been described with sufficient detail as far as the source

* Goldfields and Mining Reports, 1893, p. 171.