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drainage tunnel for nearly a mile in length to test the ground, he having been seven years in completing the tunnel, and now he is likely to be well rewarded for his outlay. Not only has Mr. Boys got on to rich gold-bearing wash-drift, but other claims adjoining him have found the same lead going through their ground. About 40 acres of this ground were applied for as a freehold by Mr. Dwyer, but arrangements have been completed for resuming possession of this ground in order to throw it open for mining. Kanieei and Bimu. The Kanieri Diggings are getting pretty well worked out near the township, still there is a considerable population engaged in mining in the district, scattered about in the different gullies. Workings are carried on at the Kanieri Forks, Gentle Annie, and other places near the branches; while at Woodstock, Back Creek, Bimu, and Seddon's Terrace there is a large population employed, some working from shafts and adit-levels, and others, who have small supplies of water, carrying on hydraulic-sluicing operations. There is a great depth of alluvial-drifts in the vinicity of Back Creek and Seddon's Terrace, with different bands or layers containing gold, but all these layers are lying on a false bottom. In no place has the main bottom in this locality been reached. How far back these gold-bearing layers will be found has not yet been determined; but the best of the ground, that is, the richest of the layers or auriferous bands, does not extend for a long distance back from the face of the terrace fronting the Hokitika Biver. Boss. This is a place where it is known that a rich lead of gold exists in the flat; but, being below water-level, it requires very powerful machinery to drain the ground, which has been lying for many years without anything being done to work it. The best gold-bearing layer on this flat is about 240 ft. under sea-level, and is a fluvatile deposit, with gravels and stones highly rounded, and of the same soft brown formation as the " Old-man " bottom, of which the lead on Boss Flat is only a concentration. This lead has been partially worked to near the foot of German Gully; but there is a probability that a rich gold-bearing layer will be found further on towards Donohue's, near the foot of Sailor's and Swiper's Gullies. No workings can be carried on here unless provision is made to prevent the water from Jones's Creek getting down into the lower workings, and the quantity of water in that creek in time of floods is more than any ordinary pumping machinery could cope with. It is ground which cannot be worked unless by a company with a large capital, as a considerable expenditure will have to be made to cut off all the water to prevent it reaching the flat, and a very large pumping plant will also be required to not only drain the water which is now accumulated in the old workings, but also to cope with the permanent inflow through the different layers of gravel. From what is known of this flat, there is a considerable quantity of gold in the drifts; but a large sum of money will be required before the flat can be successfully worked. The quantity of gold produced on the West Coast last year, exclusive of that obtained in the Collingwood District, was 85,0150z. representing a value of £339,731. The total quantity produced to the 31st March last, was 5,517,0800z., having a value of £21,921,556. Otago. This is a field which has produced a large quantity of gold, and the workings in the early days, being in shallow grounds with remarkably rich deposits of auriferous gravels, were the means of bringing New Zealand prominently before the world as a gold-producing country, and of causing a rapid influx of population. Many of those who were first attracted to our shores have invested their earnings on the goldfields in the purchase of homesteads, and have tended greatly in the permanent settlement of the lands of the colony.