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pany being 91 acres. The mode of working is hydraulic elevating. The claim is just now being opened out, and the prospects are reported to be good. Beaumont. . ' The Beaumont Local Co-operative Gold-mining Company had to reconstruct on account of so many mishaps with the claim and water-race, and a new company was formed to take over the claim, plant, and liabilities. The name of the company is the Champion Gold-mining Company, Limited. A new dredging company, called the Sunlight Gold-dredging Company, has recently started operations on the Clutha Biver, at Horseshoe Bend, above the Beaumont, and the returns are very satisfactory. Messrs. MacGregor, Pyrke, and Crossan hold three special dredging-claims below the Beaumont Bridge, on the Olutha Biver, and I understand dredges are to be put on these claims very shortly by an English syndicate. Further up the river, at Horseshoe Bend, Messrs. Edie and Kirkpatrick have been at work steadily throughout the year. They have a good water-supply, and a lot of work has been done by means of hydraulic elevating, but I understand the yield of gold has not been so good as in former years. Waikaia. The activity of the mining enterprise is still kept up in this locality. No less than 240 applications for claims and other rights were lodged at the Warden's Court during the year. Thirty oases were entered and seventeen heard, and the revenue collected in the Warden's Court alone amounted to £630. Some of the claims in the district are doing very well. The Argyle Hydraulic Sluicing Company, for instance, obtained 660 oz. of gold, valued at £2,600, for the year; and the yield of gold for the year for the Waikaia, Waikaka, and Nokomai districts is estimated at about 6,000 oz. The local bank at Waikaia purchased over 2,000 oz., and this does not include the Nokomai, Upper Wairkaia, or Waikaka gold which is sold elsewhere, estimated to yield about 4,000 oz. The area held under special claims and licensed holdings from the Warden's Office at Waikaia is over 1,200 acres, and in all cases but three the rents are paid up to date, which speaks well for the prosperity of the. disticfc. The Argyle Company has taken up a claim in Happy Valley, and has recently placed a firstclass hydraulic elevating plant, and from the prospects obtained the claim is said to be a rich one. The Lion Gold-mining Company are still engaged bringing a water-race to their special claim .at Nokomai Plat. The Piano Flat Gold-mining Company are busily engaged cutting a water-race from the Blue Lake to work their claim at Glenary by means of hydraulic elevating. When the race is finished, it will give a continuous supply of water all the year round. Messrs J. Holland and party intend putting a dredge on their special claim on the Waikaia Biver, above Glenary, and the Nugget Gold-mining Company are also preparing to have a dredge placed on their claim at Growler's Flat, near the same locality. The prospects are said to be good in several cases where dredging-areas are being applied for, near Waikaia and at Wendonside. The Winding Creek Gold-mining Company have completed cutting their water-race from the Great and Little Leithen Creeks at a cost of about £12,000, but on account of the race being constantly carried away by heavy slips, they are unable to obtain a regular supply of, water, and cannot work the claim to advantage ; but the general opinion is, that if the company can get the race to carry sufficient water, they are sure to get good returns, as the ground held by them under special claim is known to be very rich. Two special claims of 100 acres each have been taken up by Mr W. Hendry (as quartz-claims), situated at the back of the Titan Bocks, on the Glenary Bun, but so far no work has been carried on excepting prospecting. Waikaka. Two dredges—viz., Messrs. W. McGill and party and J. B. Perry —have been in active work for the last year, and the returns have been very good. Messrs. J. Marr and party and W. Little and party are busily engaged building dredges for their claims, and they will soon be ready to start work. Besides these, three more claims have been granted, and the dredges are ordered, or in course of erection. A very large portion of the land in this locality is known to be gold-bearing and suitable for dredging, and I shall not be surprised to see eight or ten dredges at work in the course of a year or two. Tapanui. Very little mining is now carried on in this district, and there is nothing new to report. Goeb. One dredge is now working on the Mataura Biver above Gore, a dredge is also at work on freehold land on the Waimumu, and another is in course of erection, while companies have been •formed for working a third claim there and one on Charlton Creek. These lands are at present not included in the Mining District of Otago. I have, &c, ' Bobeet S. Hawkins, Warden, The Under-Secretary, Mines Department, Wellington.