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of scheelite running through the reef-formation, much of which is clean enough to be handpicked and bagged. A good supply of timber is kept about the mine for required. Tenders are being called for driving a low-level crosscut to cut the reef at depth. The new battery has been fitted up, and runs satisfactorily, whilst the Woodbury shaking-table continues to give satisfactory results. On an average eight miners and three battery hands are employed. Maritana Reef (M. C. McGill). —(12-3-1903) : The battery has been erected and trial crushings made, but owing to scarcity of water, continuous operations were impossible. (24-10-1903) : Further trial crushings with the experimental plant have been made. These prove the presence of free gold in payable quantity, whilst samples of crushed pyrites treated at the Colonial Laboratory were proved to contain gold to the extent of 4 oz. 5 dwt. per ton. Mr. McGill is satisfied that for successful working, the property requires an up-to-date plant driven by steam. A small concentrating-buddle was erected, and the concentrates were proved to be worth £17 per ton in gold and silver. Mount Hiyhlay Quartz-mine. —After a period of inactivity this mine has been placed under option to McGill and Stevenson, and it is understood that the mine will receive a further trial in the near future. Nenthorn. Samuel Stephens' Quartz Claim. —An application for a license over a special quartz claim, comprising 20 acres, in Nenthorn District, was granted to Samuel Stephens in August, 1903. Alexander Ewartfs Quartz Claim. —A license over a special quartz claim consisting of 30 acres in the Nenthern Mining District, was granted to Alexander Ewart in August, 1903. Barewood. Barewood Gold-mining Company, Barewood (W. E. Hitchcock, manager). —Operations had hitherto been carried on to the rise of the 130 ft. level, but workings are now confined to the 188 ft. level, in which nine men are engaged timbering and taking out leading stopes. The gold-bearing chute is on the hanging-wall, and runs from 10 in. in width up to 4 ft. or 5 ft. There is no work doing to theorise of this. All the stoped ground to the rise is filled in, and none is standing open except the levels and passes. Ventilation good. A rise has been put up to the intermediate level. Plans have been prepared for a new battery, and the housing and framing are being erected on the site. A new winding plant has been procured and erected on the mine. The shaft has been put in thorough working-order, and a safety-cage " Robert's Special " Bendigo, Victoria, has been installed fitted with safety-catches and Middleton detaching-hooks. The poppet-heads have been overhauled and put in a good state of repair. The company has acquired a new lease on the line of reef, and a considerable amount of surface-pros-pecting has been done. The mine is in good order. Ventilation fair. Two men are employed in the stopes, the greater number of the men being engaged on surface-works. Eighteen men are employed in and about the mine. Stewart Island. Baden-Powell Quartz-mine (Widdowson and party, A. Pascoe, secretary, Invercargill).—This party hold a special reefing-claim of 99 acres. Three men are employed, but up to the present operations have only been in the stages of development. Preservation Inlet and South-west Coast op Otago. At the New Star (formerly Morning Star) Mine, Preservation Inlet, after full six months' deadwork, the tributers recently found a small shoot of stone carrying gold, which is expected to lead to something better. Six quartz-miners are working in this mine, four alluvial miners at Coal Island, three alluvial miners at Sealers No. 2, two alluvial miners at Southport, and a caretaker at the Golden Site Quartzmine. Prospecting on the south-west coast is rendered difficult by the steep and mountainous nature of the country, which is covered with dense bush. The s.s. " Rimu " and the s.s. " Invercargill " run regularly to Preservation Inlet, being subsidised by the Mines and Postal Departments, and the Government steamer " Hinemoa " makes about three trips during the year, landing stores, &c, at each inhabited place ; but, except in the various sounds, boat-landings are few, and these become dangerous during the prevailing westerly weather. At least one member of any party of prospectors would need to have had some previous experience of boating on the south-west coast. The overland tracks from East to West Coast are : Lake Te Anau to Milford Sound ; Glenorchy to Martin's Bay ; and Lake Wanaka, through Haast Pass to Okuru ; but the latter track is not in good order. New Star Mine (tributers, Hawkins, Juncker, and party).—The old tribute having expired, a new tribute was let in January last, work being conducted in No. 1 level, which had been driven on 300 ft., and stoped on a blank face, no stone showing. At a distance of 380 ft. boulders of quartz were met with, gradually making into a chute of stone 10 in. to 12 in. in width. At 410 ft. a rise was put up 20 ft., stone continuing, and indications hopeful; walls, 5 ft. to 6 ft. apart. The lode consists of white quartz, carrying pyrites and a little galena, and the quartz gives a return of about 6 dwt. of gold per ton, each successive crushing being an improvement on the previous one. HYDRAULIC SLUICING AND ALLUVIAL MINING. Maebewhenua District. Owing no doubt to the favourable season for water, but more particularly to the supply available from the Mountain Hut Water-race, mining on the Maerewhenua Diggings is now being more vigorously prosecuted than for many years past. The claims on this field resemble each other, in that ground-sluic-ing is the universal method of work adopted, and stripping from 10 ft. to 40 ft. in thickness, composed