C.—2

GOLD AND SILVER MINING. The following statement shows the quantity and value of bullion-production, the dividends paid by registered companies, and the number of productive claims and gold-dredges during .1934 and 1933 —•

GOLDFIELDS REVENUE AND GOLD DUTY. The amount of goldfields revenue received and credited to the accounts of local bodies during the year ended 31st March, 1935, was £24,438 17s. 2d., an increase of £5,058 15s. over the previous year. During the same period the total of the three duties on exported gold amounted to £112,755 17s. 5d., of which £7,057 14s. Id. was credited to the accounts of local bodies under, section 12 of the Gold Duty Act, 1908. The special export duty of 12s. 6d. per ounce amounted to £102,616 16s. 7d., which sum was paid into the Consolidated Fund. MINING! PRIVILEGES. That interest is being maintained in the mining industry is shown by the fact that during the year ended 31st March, 1935, 3,051 licenses for mining privileges were granted under the provisions of the Mining Act, 1926, as compared with 3,093 for the previous year. Out of this number 437 were licenses for claims authorizing the holders to mine for gold. For the same period 79 mining privileges including 9 licenses for claims, were struck off the registers under the provisions of section 188 of the Act. PROSPECTING FOR OIL. During the year the Moturoa Oil Fields, Ltd., was the only company actively engaged in boring for oil, No. 4 well being extended from 2,085 ft. to 2,186 ft. A production of 155,698 gallons was obtained from Moturoa Nos. 2 and 4 wells at New Plymouth. The Dominion's total production of crude petroleum oil to 31st December, 1934, is estimated at 2,223,162 gallons. COAL-MINING. From the coal-mines operating in the Dominion 2,060,315 tons of coal was produced during the year 1934, representing an increase of 239,057 tons as compared with the figure for the previous year. The annual production of coal since 1930 has been as follows : — Tons. Tons. 1930 .. .. .. 2,542,092 1933 .. .. .. 1,821,258 1931 .. .. .. 2,157,756 1934 .. .. .. 2,060,315 1932 .. .. .. 1,842,022 The industry recovered 13-1 per cent, in its output in 1934, as compared with the following figures for several of the principal coal-producing countries of the world for the same period : — Per Cent. Per Cent. Great Britain . . . . . . 6-7 United States .. . . 8-5 Germany . . . . .. 10-8 Canada . . . . . . 15*9 France . . . . . . 1-7 New South Wales . . . . 10-6

5

Dividends Number of ProducProduction of Bullion. paid by Registered tive Claims and Class of Gold-mining. Companies. Dredges. i 1934. j 1933. 1934. 1933. 1934. 1933. Oz. £ Oz. £ £ £ Quartz .. .. 475,230 699,273 534,821 721,692 155,099 163,870 73 51 Alluvial.. .. 43,541 306,248 35,381 217,854 11,222 19,648 4,357 2.410 Dredging .. 24,092 190,319 22,045 160,033 41,406 25,819 12 7 Totals .. 542,863 1,195,840 592,247 1,099,579 207,727 209,337 4,442 2,468