a—3a

34

Tunnel is to be started. The depth of sinking will be about 600 ft. Prospecting is also to be carried on in both mines to prove known blocks of stone and to discover new ones. The Venus, Salisbury, Lillie, Royal Mint, Juno, and Percival Claims %re all to be prospected and connected with the Low-level Tunnel by drives, cross-cuts, or shafts. Wealth of Nations Mine. —Driving to connect with the Energetic Mine is being pushed ahead. Driving and prospecting is going on in all the levels, and large bodies of stone are showing. The winze from the lowest level is down 100 ft. on stone all the way. Surveys are being made for drives to be put in from the lowest workings in this mine to connect with and open up the Energetic, Undaunted, Beaconsfield, and Gladstone Claims at low depths. Globe Mine. —No. 6 level has been extended both east and west, to the latter on a large body of stone, which has been followed 160 ft. into the Progress ground. A winze is down from this level 106 ft. on stone all the way. Cross-cutting is going on to pick up the reef in the east end. Driving is being pushed on from No. 5 level to cut the old Union reef in the Larnach lease. Surveys are being made for a main shaft to be started in the Globe ground to wind the stone from it and the surrounding claims from a depth of 2,000 ft. Progress Mine. —Extensive driving has already been done in the various levels, and large bodies of stone proved. A cross-cut is being put in from the No. 2 level to prospect and open up the Progressive ground. Surveys are being made for a drive from the No. 4 level to open out the Rose Claim. Air-compressors are being fixed for the supply of motive-power. Battery-work has not been carried on to any great extent, as it is intended to keep the dead-work or development of the mines well ahead of the reduction-work. Plans are being prepared for a new mill to take the place of the present Globe battery. From these notes it will be seen that a new era of prosperity has dawned on quartz-mining on the West Coast. In this connection, two things appear to me to stand out clearly : First, that in the future development of the mines their prosperity must depend on capital and labour recognising that their interests are in common, and so working hand-in-hand; second, that in the present time of confidence the development and arrangements for working the mines—all the mines, and not those only which are having the benefit of capital expended at present—should be such as to be of benefit in the inevitably quieter years to come, and which in "turn will be succeeded by another period of advancement. Extended Prospecting Areas. —l am informed by the Consolidated Goldfields of New Zealand (Limited) that they have expended some £2,000 in prospecting the areas at Maruia and Jackson's. At Maruia work has been suspended for the winter months on account of the weather. At Jackson's, work is still going on, prospecting the low country. Several small reefs have been discovered, stone from one of which assayed as high as loz. to the ton. ALLUVIAL MINING. Mahakipawa. King Solomon Mine.— {lo/12/95): Work is now going on in the old Golden Gate ground, the original claim having been worked out, except a strip of 50ft. left as a barrier to dam back the water between it and the Hibernian Claim, and some 20ft. left at the lower end of the claim which could not be worked for water. From the Golden Gate shaft, a distance of 135 ft. has been driven towards the Solomon boundary. A cross-drive to east has been put in for 80ft., but has found no gold. Any gold obtained has been from the west side of the " reef," near the main drive. Timbering sufficient. Air not too strong ; but boxes are being made and will be put in in a day or two. Three shifts of two men each are working. The old claim was flooded out five months ago, and no work has been done in it since. The steam-engine at the Golden Gate shaft has been removed, and the pumping is now done by an overshot water-wheel 23ft. in diameter. The pipes are llin. and the depth of shaft 117 ft. Davis and Carr Claim. —(lo/12/95) : This claim has been bought from the company, and is now worked by two men. Sluicing is being continued, but the face is not a high one, and the old tailrace is not to be used for the boxes, so work should be quite safe. Hibernian Extended Claim. —(lo/12/95) : This claim has been drowned out for seven weeks, and were it not for the rich nature of the ground it would have been abandoned long ago. When pumped out it is worked by a party of eight tributers. Forty feet of ground remains to work at the lower end and nearly 20ft. at the upper end of the claim. Wakamaeina. Wakamarina Gorge Claim. —(ll/12/95) : The works for the drainage of this gorge, where such rich deposits of gold are expected to be found, are nearly completed. A wing-dam has been put in opposite Deep Creek, which turns the water into the cut channel some 600 ft. long. The length of the gorge is 1,000 ft., and when pumping starts it can be drained in about four days. There are two columns of llin. pipes, and the lift is only 36ft. The engine has coupled cylinders B£in. diameter, pressure 651b., and eighty-five strokes per minute. Twenty men in all are employed. Westport. Clapton's Claim, Mokihinui. —(24/1/96): This is a short drive into the terrace at Chatterbox Creek, above the rich ground worked in the early days. The face of the tunnel is in heavy drift of granite and sandstone boulders and the bottom is soft yellow sandstone. Mr. Clapton hopes to find a back lead in the flat ground, in from the face of the terrace. Fairdown Prospecting Tunnel. —l have measured the distances driven in this subsidised tunnel several times during the year. (8/11/95): The face was in bands of sand and fine gravel, not of a