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The coal is carried by buckets containing 8 cwt. each along an aerial tramway, three miles long, from the mine to the railway. The tramway is worked by a 20-horse-power steam-engine, and can put out 250 tons in eight hours. The cost of the tramway and outside works has been about £25,000, and it is said that 500 tons a day is the maximum to which the tramway can work. There are about eighty hands at present employed in and about the mine, which number will be nearly doubled when two shifts a day are again at work. The coal-getters receive 2s. 3d. per ton, and average about 12s. 3d. a day. The wages-men receive Bs. a day. The mine is well ventilated by means of a furnace in Blackball Creek drawing the air through the main tunnel. Two fatal accidents have occurred—one from a fall of coal caused apparently by insufficient spragging, and the other from a jig-prop breaking and striking a man on the head. A fire was discovered in Nos. 4 and 5 headings off the bottom level on the 30th November. A man named Green was found missing, and on search being made his body was recovered on the 2nd December, and the fire located. Green had been suffocated by the fumes of carbon-monoxide gas (white damp), and at considerable risk his body was found and brought out. A dam was built across the main tunnel and water brought in, which flooded the mine, and after a period of two months the fire was extinguished ; but the mine was idle until the 31st January, when work was resumed. The coal obtained is bituminous, and of good quality for steam and household purposes, but does not command as ready a sale for household use as Westport coal. The mine-owners charge at Ngahere—lss. for screened, lis. for unscreened, and Bs. for slack or unsound nuts. The company have their own steamers to carry the coal from Greymouth. The railway-haulage from Ngahere is 2s. 6d. per ton. The supply of coal seems to be promising, and as much as ten years' work is reckoned on from the coal in view. We inspected all the working-places, and are of the opinion that the inspection and management of the mine have been satisfactory. Reefton Mines. As we passed through Reefton, on our way from Westport to Greymouth, we held a sitting of the Commission at Reefton, and gathered a good deal of information as to the local coal-mines and coal-deposits, and subsequently we were induced by strong representations made to us to return from Greymouth to Reefton, and take further evidence. The main object of the gentlemen who attended and gave evidence was avowedly to help to bring about the construction of a railway from Reefton down the Inangahua Valley ; but, excellent as their purpose is, we feel it would be going outside the scope of our Commission to enter into this question. There is no doubt that a very large area of the Inangahua Valley is coal-bearing, and will be of immense value to the district, which appears to be slowly developing its great gold-bear-ing quartz reefs, and will require large supplies of coal. The County Chairman, Mr. Betts, wisely pointed out the necessity of preventing these coal-bearing areas passing out of the control of the Crown, and we strongly recommend that no land be sold until it be ascertained that it is not coalbearing. The so-called coal-mines at Reefton are little more than holes in the hillside, from which small quantities of coal are taken for local use, and there are so many of these spread over the district that naturally the nearest to the place of demand are worked. Many of the quartzmining companies have their own coal-mine or pit close to their engine-sites. It is impossible to obtain scientific w T orking on such conditions, but there does not appear to be extra hazard to life or likelihood of loss of coal at present. The Inspector appears to diligently inspect the mines and advise those who are in charge. The coal in the Inangahua district is of importance when considering that portion of our report which deals with the necessity for a systematic survey of the coal resources of the colony being undertaken. Kaitangata and Castle Hill Mine. This is an important mine, comprising an area of 1,100 acres of freehold land, employing 237 hands, and having produced in all 1,257,108 tons of coal. For the year ending December, 1900, its output was 112,455 tons. The mine forms part of the properties held by the New Zealand Coal and Oil Company (Limited), which has amalgamated the Kaitangata and Castle Hill Mines with the Orepuki and Eliotvale Mines. The capital of the company is £180,000, with £70,000 debenture capital, and the whole of the share capital is paid up. The Kaitangata Railway and Coal Company (Limited) was established as a company and registered in 1875, and lasted until 1898, when it was merged in the New Zealand Collieries, Railway, and Oil Syndicate, and this company was again changed to the present New Zealand Coal and Oil Company (Limited). The mines have been a profitable investment, yielding an average of 15 per cent, per annum. The properties held by the present company comprise 1,100 acres known as the Kaitangata Mine, which is leased from the freeholder, Mr. W. Aitcheson ; 858 acres at Castle Hill, the fee-simple of which belongs to this company ; 1,250 acres at Orepuki (Southland) leased from the Crown; and 2,800 acres at Eliotvate, the fee-simple of which belongs to the company. Two of our number (Messrs. Proud and Lomas) made a very thorough examination of this mine, spending three days and part of the night therein. They also examined the Castle Hill Mine. The condition of the workings at the time of our visit in March last was not altogether satisfactory, but so much good work has been done by the present manager, Mr. Broome, that we believe that ere long the mine will be in a proper condition. The ventilation is the chief deficiency at present, and either the connection with the Castle Hill Mine or an upcast shaft must be made. The connection was begun under the former manager, Mr. Straw, and completion was promised in April, 1900; but it was never finished, and Mr. Broome preferred to put in a shaft, but so far that has not been done. The shaft is, in our opinion, preferable, as it would give air by the shortest