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Mr. Warden Keddell to the Under-Secretary for Mines, Wellington. Sir, — Warden's Office, Oamaru, loth June, 1901. I have the honour to report the following particulars concerning the Livingstone division of the Naseby district, in the Otago Mining District : — There has been no great activity shown during the past year in mining generally. The public have been awaiting anxiously the fortunes of the new dredge that has been erected on the Maerewhenua Biver on the Duntroon Boad, which, after some vicissitudes, made a start in the beginning of this year. The machine was a second-hand one, and purchased from the former owners to work the Pioneer Claim here on the Maerewhenna, but after working some three or four months they found the ladder insufficiently long to bottom the claim, and the result was a failure. This was disheartening not only on account of the want of success in finding the gold, which their former prospecting efforts had shown to exist, but because their failure will discourage other owners of dredging areas to put on machinery. In fact, the Maerewhenua Claim has never been properly tested yet. This misfortune has damped the ardour of many others who were waiting the result, and mining by dredging process is at a standstill. The Premier No. 1, a claim on the Awamoko, also started a dredge, and it was confidently expected that this hitherto untried portion of the sub-district would give encouraging results —the chief drawback to its success being the opposition to its being worked on any large scale, the Awamoko and its watershed generally passing through private lands, whose riparian rights would be affected. I regret to state that this venture has not been successful, and for a time certainly the district will have to fall back upon the small individual sluicing claims, which has been hitherto the only class of mining existing. The Mountain Hut Bace, a work whose importance has been recognised by the department, having been subsidised by a supply of iron pipes, has been protected for twelve months, waiting the supply of the necessary material. A contract for this supply has been taken by a Mr. Brayshaw, a man of experience in the work, and his contract will terminate in about six months. When the whole race is completed its cost will, it is stated, amount to about £20,000, and it is believed it will give employment to about two hundred men for many years' steady work. The miners are always suffering from want of sufficient water-supply, and they are mostly idle now. There are only two races which command any extent of the field, and these are small. There are at present only about three and a half heads delivered on the west side of the river. The Mountain Hut Bace, when completed, will command the whole of the field. At present it is in the same position as it was two years ago. I have &c, Jackson Keddell, Warden. The Under-Secretary, Mines Department, Wellington.

Mr. Warden Carew to the Under-Secretary for Mines, Wellington. Sir, — Warden's Office, Dunedin, 20th April, 1901. I have the honour to forward herewith statistical returns for the Hindon portion of the Otago Mining District. The number of miners employed in the field has further decreased, and is now less than forty. Several special claims in the Barewood reef have been abandoned, and only one, that of Alexander Gibson, is being worked. Eleven men are employed at the claim and battery of five stamps. The yield of gold for the past twelve months was of the value of £885. There is nothing further to report respecting quartz-mining. The Deep Stream Amalgamated Hydraulic Sluicing Company (Limited) employ sixteen men when sufficient water in available. The yield of gold for the past year was 876 oz., and the company declared five dividends of 6d. each during that period. Prospecting licenses have been applied for on a probably payable portion of the Taieri Biver, but unfortunately the Bailway Department were advised that dredging operations might interfere with the stability of the railway-line, and consequently the applications could not be granted. A few men earn a livelihood by fossicking about the old workings. The Dunedin City Corporation have secured important water and reservoir rights at the Taieri Biver, which it is proposed to utilise for the purpose of generating electricity as motive-power for working the city tram service and for lighting purposes. I have, &c, E. H. Carew, Warden. The Under-Secretary, Mines Department, Wellington.

Mr. Warden Ennis to the Under-Secretary for Mines, Wellington. Sir,— Warden's Office, Naseby, 18th May, 1901. Since the last annual mining report was furnished to you from this office, the lamented death occurred of my predecessor, Mr. Warden Dalgleish, a gentleman widely known, and highly esteemed and respected by all who knew him. On the Ist July last I assumed charge of this district, and have now the honour to forward you a general report on mining matters, as follows : — During the past year mining operations in and about Naseby have, on the whole, given satisfactory results, quite equalling, lam informed, those of several years past. It must, however, be admitted that dredging has so far not been a success, such ventures having up to the present proved failures. The Naumai dredge, which has just commenced to work on the main Kyeburn