C.—3.

An encouraging and pleasing feature of the past year was the large number of senior students who obtained remunerative employment in different capacities connected with mining and metallurgy ; indeed, so much was this the case, that at the end of 1894 I had not a single certificated senior student available for employment in response to battery-owners requiring competent men. As showing the confidence which the mining community reposes in our students, I have much pleasure in stating that, of the fifteen cyanide plants in operation in Hew Zealand, no less than nine are in charge of my late students, and in most of the others my students are employed as metallurgical assayers and assistants. The cyanide plant which was added to the school experimental plant in the month of May of last year has been kept going continuously since that date testing parcels of ore from different parts of New Zealand. It has proved of great service for the determination of the suitability of newly-discovered ores for treatment by this process, and the results obtained have led to the adoption of the cyanide process in several directions. The cyanide plant is adapted for the treatment of ores both by agitation and percolation, and is most complete in every detail. A few months' practical experience in the school plant, where so many different grades and classes of ore are being treated, affords a more varied and valuable experience and training for our metallurgical students than even a longer period in a larger plant where the same class of ore is continually being treated. I have to gratefully acknowledge the valuable and efficient assistance in the experimental plant during the past year of my late students H. F. Shepherd and A. T. Day, now of the Gassel cyanide plant at Waihi; Bain Hogg and J. Coutts, of the Woodstock cyanide works ; George Horn and J. E. Robinson, manager and assistant of the Jubilee cyanide works ; B. Wolff and George Steedman, of Komata and Golden Cross Mine and cyanide works ; C. H. Taylor, manager Monowai cyanide works; and F. W. Linck; also the hearty co-operation and assistance of the staff of the school, including Mr. F. B. Allen, M.A., B.Sc, assistant lecturer and instructor; Mr. E. Vercoe, battery-assistant and amalgamator; and Mr. Max yon Bernewitz, laboratory assistant. The whole of the operations in the plant are continually under my own supervision, and among those who have acquired a knowledge of all the work connected with the working of the Washoe and cyanide processes for the treatment of gold- and silver-ores during the past twelve months under my instructions are : F. B. Allen, M.A., H. F. Shepherd, J. R. Eobinson, C. H. Taylor, B. Wolff, George Steedrnan, E. Vercoe, George Horn, W. Home, Bain Hogg, J. Coutts, J. M. McLaren, F. W. Linck, and Max yon Bernewitz. For the year ending the 31st March, forty-seven parcels of ore, of an aggregate weight of 80,8001b., were treated in the experimental battery, as compared with thirteen parcels, weighing 21,6001b., for the preceding year. This shows an increase of thirty-four parcels and 59,2001b. Of the forty-seven parcels, twenty-five, equal 42,9251b., were subjected to the cyanide process; twenty, equal 37,8751b., were treated, by the Washoe amalgamation process ; while two parcels were wet-crushed and passed over amalgamated copper-plates. The comparative extractions obtained by the different processes were as follows : Cyanide process, 84 per cent.; Washoe process, 765 per cent.; copper-plates, 51 per cent. The treatment of the forty-seven separate parcels of ore necessitated as many separate " cleaning-up ", retortings or zinc oxidations, meltings, and valuations of bullion. Most of these operations were very efficiently conducted by the advanced students, while the recording, calculation of results, preparation, and writing of the reports devolved on myself, and entailed a very large amount of work in addition to my class duties and general supervision, including the recording and reporting on the public assays and analyses. The number of assays and analyses performed during the year was 530, an increase of 324 over the previous year ; and of these, 249, or 47 per cent., were performed during the months of February and March of the present year. Of the 530, no less than 500 were determinations for gold and silver, and, as the gold and silver were determined in each assay, this involved a thousand separate operations and weighings. In the performance of these I have to acknowledge the assistance of Mr. F. B. Allen, M.A., Mr. J. M. McLaren, Mr. Max yon Bernewitz, and many of the advanced students. During the year the dates of the school terms were altered by the Council to make them coincide with those of the Thames High School. There are, as in former years, three full terms of three months each, and two weeks in addition for the annual examinations, which are now held in December. The average attendance of our senior students in the mining and metallurgical branches, who obtain first-class certificates, is two full years, but many stay for a course of three or four years. When granting certificates, the greatest care is taken to insure that first-class certificatesare only granted to those who are actually entitled to them by experience, and an ability to perform all the operations which a knowledge of the subject involves; and to this fact I largely ascribe the success which has attended our late students in their different occupations. At the end of January, my assistant, Mr. Allen, was sent by the Hon. the Minister of Mines to the west coast of the South Island to give a course of instruction to a number of the minor schools of mines. He was absent during February and March and the first week in April, and his place was most ably and efficiently nlled by Mr. J. M. McLaren, medallist for 1892-93 and winner of one of the school of mines scholarships for 1894. The whole of the class-work was conducted as usual without a single hitch or interruption, and that in the busiest time of the year, with a greatly increased attendance and an unusually large number of public assays to perform. The number of students attending the different classes during the different terms is given in the following tabulated statement: —

4