C—3.

66

Smith Gold-mining Company, Round Hill (J. Smith, manager).—Working up the old bed of the Ourawera Creek. Dirt principally consists of tailings from old. diggings on the hillside, with 2 ft. to 4 ft. of virgin ground on the bottom. Elevating, 30 ft., under 150 ft. head of pressure. Arthur Dandy and Party, Round Hill. —Reworking tailings from old diggings in California Gully, and working up the creek-bed. Elevating, about 25 ft. Undaunted Gold-mining Company, Orepuki (Cross and party). —The old company recently sold out to a party of working miners. The shaft and drives have collapsed, owing, probably, to the timber giving way underground, causing rents to the surface, and a soakage of water from the many races caused the sand to " run." The new owners are now sluicing the whole claim-face away. Sorrenson, Orepuki. —Ground-sluicing ; water turned over the face of the claim. R. King, Orepuki. —Sluicing up the gully under very few feet head of pressure. J. Forbes, Orepuki. —Driving and blocking out; timber carefully set right up to the face, which is near old workings. Forbes and King, Orepuki. —Driving and blocking out. An abundance of timber is used ;it is well put in, and a large stock is kept on the surface near the mine-mouth. Evans and Tilley, Orepuki. —Driving and blocking. The old entrance to the drive has been sluiced away by the adjoining claim-owners, and the owners were busy laying down a new tip and tail-boxes. Whelan and Wallace, Orepuki. —Driving. Like Evans's claim, the entrance has been sluiced away. To allow of this, no work has recently been done in the drive. G. Evans, Orepuki. —Ground-sluicing. A good area of ground has been turned over since my last visit. There are about seventy European and thirty Chinese miners at regular work throughout this district (Orepuki). Some of the miners declare that the available ground will be worked out in from three to five years. Mr. J. Corbett, lately manager of the Undaunted, has been prospecting at Pahia, with very encouraging results, in grounds said to resemble the Round Hill deposit. Goldie and Mclvor, Landslip, Waikia. —Driving and blocking out at the foot of the terrace on the river-bank. The wash, which is fairly rich, runs from 8 in. to 2 ft. in thickness, and is resting on a pipeclay false bottom. A seam of lignite, which has been worked to some extent, underlies the wash. Moonlight No. 1 Sluicing Company, Moonlight (T. Sanders). —About 2 acres have been worked. A tail-race 5 chains long by 25 ft. deep has been cut through the solid rock. The face is 150 ft. deep, and no " bottom." A new lower-level tail-race tunnel is shortly to be driven. The deposit lies in an old river-bed running parallel with the present Moonlight Creek. The water is brought in from Dead-horse Creek. The race is two miles in length, and carries about four heads. Moonlight No. 2 Sluicing Company, Moonlight (P. D. Resta, manager).—This claim extends from Dead-horse Creek up the valley. A large race on which some £5,000 has been spent is not yet completed. About 100 tons of plant will be required to work the claim. Most of the plant is on the ground, to which point it has been " packed " on horseback from Arthur's Point, a distance of about eight miles over very difficult country. Skipper's Sluicing Company, Skipper's. —A tail-race tunnel 8 ft. high by 4 ft. 6 in. wide has been driven 350 ft. through a band of very hard rock, which lies between the present bed of the Shotover River and the old river-bed formation on which the claim is situated. The face is about 150 ft. high, the upper layers are principally silt, carrying a few seams of gravel containing a little gold. The lower portion of the formation carries very large stones and rough wash with coarse gold. The face is too perpendicular ; the top should be sluiced off', and more batter given to the sides to provide for the safety of the men employed, and also to avoid the possibility of the mouth of the tunnel becoming blocked by a large fall of material. A fatal accident occurred in the tail-race tunnel on the 7th November, 1900, whereby the manager and two of the men lost their lives. (For particulars see appendix, " Accidents "). Morgan and Hughes, Shepherd's Flat. —Ground-sluicing. The face is high, and not sufficient batter kept on it for safe working. The material treated is stony, and a large amount of handlabour is required to dispose of the blocks met with. Shepherd's Flat Claim, St. Bathan's (J. Ewing).—The Vinegar Hill water is being used, and one elevator is kept working constantly. The ground treated is very stony. Vinegar Hill Claim, St. Bathan's (J. Ewing).—Not working. Nothing has been done here for some time past. Kildare Hill Deep Claim, St. Bathan's (J. Ewing).—No work has been doneVhere for some time. The sides are falling in, and there is considerable depth of water in the paddock. A fence, if carried round the perpendicular faces, might prevent persons inadvertently walking over the sides and falling into the paddock, in the event of which happening escape would be extremely improbable. Eagle and Gray, St. Bathan's. —Blowing overburden away to make room for tail-race on the lower cut. M. and E. Company, St. Bathan's. —A fairly large paddock has been taken out and benched. The upper portion is sluiced down and elevated, and the lower part of the paddock is worked by a suction pump. Good returns are being obtained on the bottom (reef). C. Nicholson, St. Bathan's. —Stripping and ground-sluicing the surface of old digging-work-ings, from which good returns are being got. Scandinavian, St. Bathan's (N. Nicholson). —-This company recently started to use their own water instead of selling it as formerly. Two elevators are kept fully employed, and a good washup is expected at the end of the season.