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QuAETZ-MINING. Langdon's. —With the exception of the Victory Mine owned by Curtis Brothers, which is steadily worked, no further steps have been taken to develop this field. One or two claims are still under option to English capitalists, but the prospecting that is being carried on is of the most superficial kind. Petkoleum. It is worthy of mention that Messrs. Neils, Mortenson, and party reported a discovery of crude petroleum in a swamp at Kotuku, near Lake Brunner, and applied for a mineral lease, but the Midland Railway complications have so far prevented the applications being dealt with. Coal-mining and Timbee. The Greymouth-Point Elizabeth Eailway and Coal Company's bridge over the Grey Eiver is all but finished, but pending litigation has prevented this company from completing the work in connection with the opening-up of their Coal Creek Mine. The output of coal from the company's Brunner Mine for the year was 85,592 tons. Blackball Coal-miming Company. —The output of coal from this company's mine for the year was 43,000 tons. Timber. —The total quantity of timber shipped from the Greymouth port during the year was 10,199,527 superficial feet. Eeturn of cases disposed of in the Magistrate's and Warden's Courts at Greymouth for the year ending the 31st March, 1898 : Civil, 154 ; Criminal, 203 ; Warden's, 48. The revenue for the year amounted to £3,155 16s. 6d., made up as follows : Warden's department, £2,927 18s. 6d. ; Magistrate's department, £160 10s.; licensing-fees, £67 Bs. : total, £3,155 16s. 6d. Particulars of revenue collected in the Warden's Court, Greymouth, for the year ending the 31st March, 1898 :— £ s. a. Miners'rights ... ... ... ... ... ... 315 0 0 Water-races ... ... ... ... ... ... 28 2 6 Eegistrations ... ... ... ... ... ... 24 12 0 Eents ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 1,352 8 0 Feesandfines ... ... ... ... ... ... 39 15 0 Miscellaneous ... ... ... ... ... ... 1,165 9 0 Business license ... ... ... ... ... ... 1 10 0 Machine-site and quartz-crushing ... ... ... ... 120 £2,927 18 6 Ahauba Division. Blackball. —The few alluvial sluicing claims in the vicinity still continue working with satisfactory results: The Eoaring Meg sluicing claim at Upper Blackball has been recently floated as a company, and they are getting ready for sluicing on a very large scale. With a plentiful supply of water at a high pressure and 150 ft. of face with a little gold all through it the prospects of the company appear decidedly good. QUAETZ - MINING. The range near the head of the Blackball Creek is a network of quartz reefs. One immense reef runs about north and south, evident for two miles on the surface, and numerous leaders run into it at acute angles, some of them being very rich. Although nothing adequate has yet been done in the way of exploration the development so far has clearly proven that rich deposits of gold extend right along the range from the Blackball to Moonlight. Very many special claims of 100 acres have been granted to different parties, but the work of exploration has been seriously retarded owing to the expense and hardships consequent upon the non-existence of roads or tracks ; but this is now within measurable distance of being remedied, for the Grey County Council (with the assistance of Government) have undertaken the extension of horse-tracks to many parts which were previously inacessible, and within the next few months these tracks will have been completed sufficiently to admit of the conveyence of provisions and tools at reasonable cost. Most of the parties interested in the various special claims which are situated on the range are waiting the result of the operations of the Crcesus Gold-mining Company, which has in hand the development of a reef, discovered by one Neilsen, near the summit of the Blackball Peak, which is upwards of 4,000 ft. above sea-level. They are said to have proved the load to exist in a solid condition for several hundreds of feet along the surface, and have tested the lower depths by means of tunnels and a winze with even better prospects than obtain on the surface, and they have now 220 ft. of backs proved. That the best results are confidently anticipated by those connected with this property is evidenced by the shares being firmly held by those who have been associated with this enterprise from the first. The difficulties experienced in the carrying-out of an extensive work in a country like this, and the scanty means of- transporting the necessary implements and provisions, have necessarily hindered the progress of the company considerably. Their battery is now in course of erection at the foot of the hill, near the left-hand branch of the Blackball Creek, from which the motive-power is derived for the working of the mill. An aerial tramway a mile and a half in length is all but ready for service in conveying the ore from the mine to the mill. Adjoining the Crcesus Company's property is a special claim known as the Poneke, on which a tunnel is being driven to cross-cut a lode which has been traced for a considerable distance on the surface. This tunnel has already been driven for upwards of 400 ft., but will need to be carried a