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L. McVicar. These prospectors went out in September last under the aegis of the Blackwater Miners' Association, which it is interesting to note also sent out the Government-subsidized prospectors of the Blackwater goldfield in 1905, the most recently discovered quartz-mining field prior to that now referred to. The prospectors found the outcrop of a quartz lode showing some gold on a ridge above the Alexander Stream, a tributary flowing from the north-east into the Big Grey River. They also found two other outcrops of lodes of apparently lower grade in the valley of the Alexander Stream about one mile to the northward and at 800 ft. lower level than the lode on the ridge. The discovery has been inspected by Mr. P. G. Morgan, Director of Geological Survey, who has furnished a report thereon. Considerable local excitement followed the report of the discovery, and a mild rush shortly ensued, much country being pegged out in prospecting-areas. The locality is bush-clad and hilly, and until development is carried out it is premature to express an opinion as to the future prospects of the field. The Waimea-Kumara and Mount Ida Government Water-races, which greatly aid alluvial gold-mining in the Kumara and Naseby districts, have, during the year ended 31st March, 1921, supplied claims employing thirty-one miners with water for sluicing, by which gold to the approximate value of £4,188 was obtained. The cash received for water sold amounted to £1,182, the expenditure on the upkeep of the races being £4,576. It is therefore doubtful if the upkeep of these races for alluvial gold-mining is now justified. The expenditure on roads and tracks by subsidies and direct grants out of the Public Works Fund vote, "Roads on goldfields," during the year amounted to £11,050. The expenditure by the Mines Department on schools of mines for the year amounted to £4,427 9s. 6d. It will thus be seen that the mining industry has, in regard to its relative position among the industries of the Dominion, received liberal State aid and encouragement. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. During the past year geological surveys have been conducted in the Whangarei, Tokomaru (north of Gisborne), Kawhia, and Tangarakau districts. The total area surveyed amounted to about 2,400 square miles. In the course of field-work, as in previous years, special attention was given to the collection of data bearing directly on the mineral and other natural resources of each district, and consequently the work had to be done with greater detail than would be required if the surveys had been of a purely geological nature. Mainly on account of the cost of printing, the only publications issued by the Geological Survey during the year were its annual report and Bulletin No. 21, entitled " The Geology of the Gisborne and Whatatutu Subdivisions." This bulletin deals fully with the geological relations of the possible petroleum-bearing rocks of the Gisborne district. A number of reports are in course of or are ready for publication, and others are under way. In addition to the ordinary bulletins prepared by members of the staff, several valuable memoirs on the fossil collections of the Survey have been written by specialists in other countries. When published they will be of assistance not only to the Geological Survey itself, but to all teachers and students of geology both in this country and elsewhere. WORKING OF THE MINER'S PHTHISIS ACT. Provision is made in this Act for a pension of £l 15s. per week being paid to a married man or a widower with children under the age of fourteen years, and £l ss. per week to a single man who is or becomes totally incapacitated for work owing to miner's phthisis contracted while working as a miner in New Zealand. In