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vested in legitimate mining enterprises for the development of our mining wealth. Mr. F. 33. Allen, assistant teacher, has also resigned, but is carrying on the school until such time as a successor to Mr. Park is appointed. The following is Mr. Park's reports on the progress made at the Thames School for the past year:— I have the honour to report that during the past year the school has been most prosperous and successful. At present the number of students is the largest since the foundation of the institution. For the three terms of the year the average attendance was 565, as against 39 for the preceding year, which is equal to an increase of 45 per cent. A pleasing feature in the attendance was the large increase of students in the mining and surveying classes. In the mining class the attendance increased from seven in the first to twenty-five in the third; and in the surveying class from eleven to twenty-six. The greater number of the students in these classes consists of the best of our practical miners, who are anxious to acquire a knowledge of the technical branches of their occupation, with the view of qualifying themselves as mine-managers. Up to the present, twenty-five of my mining students have secured first-class mine-manager's certificates from the Government by examination, and all of these have succeeded in obtaining employment as managers of mines either in New Zealand or Australia. The demand for our passed and certificated students as mine-managers, assayers, chemists, and metallurgists is as great as ever, and during the past year no less than sixteen of my late students have obtained lucrative appointments at salaries ranging from £120 to £350 a year. The school has acquired a reputation for accuracy and reliability, and in the public department the increase of work has been a severe tax on both myself and staff. During the year the number of assays and analyses for the public amounted to 1,340, as compared with 530 for 1894, showing the large increase of 810. In the performance of the actual assays I have to gratefully acknowledge the able and willing assistance of my late laboratory assistants, Mr. Max yon Bernewitz, now assayer to the Waihi-Silverton Cyanide Works, and Mr. Godfred Doveton, now assayer and chemist to the British Silver-mining Company at Puhipuhi. The experimental plant has been engaged continuously in the treatment of ore and tailings from all parts of New Zealand. During the year ending the 31st March, forty-five separate parcels of ore were treated, of an aggregate weight of 80,4571b., as against forty-seven parcels for 1894, weighing 80,8001b. Of the forty-five parcels, eight were subjected to cyanide treatment and thirty-seven to pan-amalgamation by the Washoe process. The comparative results obtained by the two processes were as follows : Cyanide process: Average actual extraction of bullion, 817 per cent.; pan-amalgamation, 845 per cent. The above results show a slightly higher extraction by the pan process, but it should be explained that the extraction by cyanide from a parcel of ore from the Eoyal Mine, Tapu, was only 31 per cent. The ore contained a large proportion of coarse gold, and was not suited for cyanide treatment, and it was only at the special request of the owners that the trial was made. Omitting the extraction obtained from that parcel, the average actual extraction from the remaining parcels amounted to 878 per cent., or 32 per cent, higher than by pan-amalgamation. The public assays and battery-returns involved the preparation and writing on my part of over five hundred separate reports ; while the correspondence relating to assays, Government and other examinations, involved the writing of over seven hundred letters. The number of students attending the different classes in each term is shown in the following tabulated statement: —

Table of Attendances for Year ending 31st March, 1896.

1895. 1896. Name of Subject. First Term. Second Term. Third Term. First Term. Registered Students. General and mining geology Mineralogy and blowpipe Land-and mine-surveying Mathematics Mining and applied mechanics ... Metallurgy of gold and silver ... Practical chemistry ... Theoretical chemistry... Practical assaying Mechanical drawing ... 8 10 11 11 7 9 11 16 19 9 9 13 19 9 14 22 31 30 42 11 9 10 26 13 25 34 34 42 7 34 34 42 7 30 30 42 9 Total Saturday science class 164 25 181 39 200 38 194 23 Total attendance at all classes 189 220 238 217 Individual registered students 50 55 54 64 Total individual students 75 94 92 87