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April and May last; while the returns received from twelve of the dredges at work in Otago show that 1,514 oz. of gold was obtained, valued at ,£5,900, during the same period. It may be interesting to state that about three-fourths of the total value of the gold-yield in the North Island for the year ended the 31st March last has resulted from the use of the cyanide process, and for the months of April and May last, 87 per cent, of the value was from this process. ALLUVIAL MINING. The Middle Island is the chief seat of this branch of the industry, although there are also evidences of auriferous drifts and sands in Stewart Island, but these up to the present time have not proved of much importance. In the North Island the gravel drifts have, so far as is known, proved barren of any precious metal; while in the Auckland quartz-mining district the free gold found in some of the creeks, being shed from the hill directly into the lower ground, differs from typical alluvial deposits. Maelbobough. The chief gold-producing localities are at Wakamarina, Mahakipawa, and the range lying to the northward of the Wairau Eiver. At each place a limited number of miners earn a livelihood by sluicing and washing the terraces. Nelson. At Collingwood the Parapara Hydraulic Sluicing Company has, under new management, secured good returns, and its prospects appear to be favourable. The Collingwood Goldfields (Limited) is actively engaged in preparatory operations, and it is anticipated that the company will be amongst the gold producers in the near future. The Anatoki and Bubu Districts, at Takaka, and the Wangapeka and Baton Eivers, in the Waimea County, still afford profitable employment for a number of parties of miners. West Coast. The great extent of country bounded on the west by the Tasman Sea, on the east by the Southern Alps, and extending from north of the Buller Eiver to Jackson's Bay, constitutes the famous West Coast Goldfields, in which are worked the beds of the principal rivers and their tributaries, as also those vast deposits of gravel-drifts found in situations varying from below sea-level to altitudes of 4,000 ft. The coast terraces to the north, and also to the south of the Buller Eiver, have yielded rich returns in the past; all the branches and tributaries of this river to the source of the Owen Eiver have also been more or less auriferous. Operations are being successfully carried on at Waimangaroa, Addison's, Charleston, near the sea-coast, and at Fern Flat, Lyell. Grey Valley. The terraces in this district still continue to afford remunerative employment to a large number of miners, and, where the water-supply is plentiful, sluicing claims are to be worked on a large scale. Kumara and Waimea. The water-supply which is provided by the Government races has been augmented by increased provision for storage, and other sources of supply are in contemplation. Although several of the older claims are worked out, the water-races are now managed so that large quantities of water are supplied, thus enabling the miners to deal profitably with the gravel-wash that previously did not prove payable. Bimu and Kanieri. A considerable number of miners are still employed in this district, both in sluicing and driving for the wash-dirt overlain by the gravel of the terraces,

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