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No. II Level [ ,639 ft. below surface): —The main south-east crosscut was advanced 171 ft. to 196 ft. from No. 1 shaft. At 70 ft. an 18 in. seam of quartz was passed through, assaying 9d. per ton. From 118 ft. to 127 ft. stringers of quartz through the country gave assays oi 2s. Id. with 90 per cent, of country in the samples. At 127 ft. a pug seam dipping 60 degrees to the south-east formed the northern wall of the Martha-Empire lode system. Assays from 127 ft. to 180 ft. averaged 3s. 6d. per ton, the highest assay being 13s. 3d., taken on the eastern side of the crosscut between 136 ft. and 140 ft. From 180 it. to 184 ft. was country rock, followed by a seam of quartz 23 in. wide, averaging Bs. 3d. From 186 ft. to 196 ft. the crosscut was in country rock. Empire lode : Driving east and west of the south-east crosscut on the south side of the lode, at 186 ft. from the shaft, exposed a length of 80 ft. of lode. Assays from crosscut to 33 ft. west averaged 6s. over 43 in., and to 25 ft. east, 2s. lOd. over 37 in, Martha lode : A drive was put out 17 ft. west of south-east crosscut at a point 127 ft. from the shaft. This drive exposed the north wall of the lode. Assays averaged 4d. per ton for a width of 71 in. No. 7 rise : This rise was put up 29 ft. and holed to the corresponding winze from No. 10 level. The holing of this rise improved the working-conditions of the south-east crosscut, but it was still necessary to keep ventilating - fans in operation. The north-west crosscut was advanced 129 ft.—total, 143 ft.—from No. 1 shaft. From the shaft-chamber to 118 ft. in was country rock. At 118 ft. a lode was cut, dipping to the shaft at a high angle. The first 8 ft. was low-grade, hard quartz, the balance of 12 ft. a mixture of quartz and* country rock of no value. The face of the crosscut is in country rock. High water-temperatures were experienced in this crosscut. No. 10 Level (1,540 ft.). —Empire lode : No. 7 winze was sunk 44 ft.—total, 66 ft. Assays from 10 ft. to 55 ft. averaged 6s. 3d. over a width of 41 in. The rise from No. 11 level holed to this winze. Crosscut at 290 ft. west on Empire lode, main drive : The crosscut at 290 ft. west, which was put out to intersect the Martha lode, passed through country rock to 66 ft. north of the main drive, where the south wall of the lode was found. 81 ft. of quartz was passed through, averaging 4s. 6d. per ton. The crosscut was advanced 109 ft.— total, 150 ft.—from main west drive of the Empire lode. The face of the crosscut is in country rock. No. 5 Level (944 ft.). —Martha lode : The foot-wall drive east of the 160 ft. crosscut east advanced 41 ft., total 217 ft. Assays from 178 ft. to 190 ft. east averaged £1 3s. 6d. over a width of 109 in. From 190 ft. to the face at 217 ft. the lode is mixed with country rock and is very low grade. Diamond drilling.—No. I borehole : A vertical borehole was commenced from a chamber north of No. 1 shaft, at No. 10 level, on the 15th July, 1924, and reached a depth of 600 ft. on the 21st October, 1924. The object of this borehole was primarily to discover the nature of the country below No. 11 level. At 353 ft. broken ground was encountered, necessitating casing. At 390 ft. quartz was met, probably the same as that found in north-west crosscut No. 11 level. Assays of core (390 ft. to 409 ft.) gave a value of 2s. per ton. " Bedded " country existed practically all the depth of borehole, consisting mainly of breccia and tuff, interspersed with layers of andesite. Tuff was still in evidence at bottom of borehole. No. 2 borehole : This borehole was started from No. 10 level, southern side of shaft, on the 31st October, 1924, laid out at an angle of 70 degrees from the horizontal, for the purpose of proving if the Martha-Empire lode system existed at depth, and in that event its value, and was drilled to a total depth of 756 ft. : At several points low-grade quartz was passed through with no improvement in the country rock. Work was therefore suspended. Recently a meeting of the New Zealand shareholders was held in order to obtain an expression of opinion as to whether it was desirable to endeavour to raise further capital to develop the western, or any other portion, of this property, or to go into voluntary liquidation. It was then decided to communicate with head office in London in order to ascertain the financial position of this company and the wish of the English shareholders in this matter before taking any further action. Rising Sun Gold-mining Company, Owharoa (A. McGruer, Manager).—During the year work in this mine has been confined to stoping between Nos. 2 and 3 levels : 1,210 tons of ore treated yielded bullion valued at £5,173 13s. 4d. An effort is now being made to raise further capital in order to extend the drives on the Rising Sun and No. 3 reefs, which gave promise of increasing in width and value. Argo Concentrates (Limited), (R. T. Sando). —This company was formed for the purpose of re-treating the tailings lying in the bed and banks of the Ohinemuri River, and is experimenting with a Leach and Gordon patent separator, which is a device worked entirely by water and designed to reduce low-grade bulks and save the concentrates therefrom, but owing to the tailings on the banks containing so much vegetable matter some adjustments are now being made to this machine, and the designer is confident that he will be able to eliminate this waste matter and obtain payable concentrates. Great Northern Waihi Gold-mining Company, IVharekirauponga (J. R. Paepker).—After spending a considerable amount of money prospecting the surface portion of this claim without locating anything of a payable character, work has been suspended, and the mine and plant is being offered for sale. Glen Isla Gold-mining Syndicate, Whangamata (J. McCombie). —This claim was being worked by a small syndicate who put in a low level between 200 ft. and 300 ft., but failed to intersect the reef. It was then decided to sink a winze upon it from a surface level, but at a depth of 46 ft. the reef split up into stringers, all of low grade. This convinced the manager that the reef had been passed through unnoticed in the low level and, the funds having been exhausted, work was suspended. New Zealand Crown .Mines, Karangahake (G. N. McGruer). —The Rose low-level crosscut has been extended a total distance of 779 ft. At 672 ft. a quartz vein about 9 in. in width was intersected, assay value £2 17s. 4d. per ton. This crosscut is being continued to intersect the Crown and Welcome lodes. A considerable amount of surface prospecting has also been done without locating anything payable. Woodstock Claim, Karangahake.—This was formerly a portion of the Talisman Gold-mine and was taken up by J. B. Morris and others, who have been prospecting the surface, but so far the results have proved disappointing. Imperial Syndicate, Karangahake.—This claim was recently taken up by a local syndicate with the object of testing a reef said to have been intersected in an old crosscut in the early days of this goldfield and to have carried payable assay values, but owing to a dispute between the owners nothing further was done to test the extent of these values. Talisman Claim, Karangahake.—A portion of this claim was let on tribute at and above No. 8 level to Rackham and party, who crushed 39 tons of ore for a return of bullion valued at £173 3s. 9d. Ohinemuri Gold and Silver Mines, Maratoto (J. W. O'Sullivon). —The drive on the Camoola lode has been extended a total distance of 1,290 ft. south of the low-level crosscut, the object being to reach the section immediately under the chute of ore opened up at No. 2 level 200 ft. up. In order to accelerate progress the drive is being carried along on the hanging-wall of the lode just in contact with the ore-body, and in consequence very little quartz has been exposed. Several short runs of valuable ore have been exposed—one at 550 ft. showing a width of 25 ft., 14 ft. of which, lam informed, averaged £5 10s. per ton. At 650 ft. a crosscut exposed a body of ore about 70 ft. in width of low grade. The work so far done on the Camoola at this level shows it to be wider than in the upper workings, and the values are much better than those found in the same section overhead. The Camoola reef is the largest outside of Waihi, and has been exposed in the various workings for a length of over 1,700 ft. The management seem confident that payable ore will be obtained when the south drive reaches the point underneath where satisfactory assay values were met with in the level above. Majestic Gold-mining Company (H. Langdon, Manager).—During the year work in this mine has been confined to the erection of power plant, driving south on the Maratoto lode from Adam's level, and crosscutting from Mcßrinn's reef. At different points bands of sulphide ore have been met with in the drive on the Maratoto lode, and give promise that payable ore will be found when the point is reached where values were met with in the level above.