35

H.—9

Waimea. —The old digging townships of Stafford and Goldsborough and the mining claimsscattered around them show no very great change from year to year. In my last report Imentioned the grant of a special claim of fifty acres upon Kelly's Terrace. The progress of these things, is necessarily slow, especially when ample capital is not forthcoming to enable work to .be pushed on with vigour. But this undertaking is not abandoned : a company has been formed, a right has been obtained to a head-race six miles long and carrying twenty heads of water, a dam site has been obtained, and the drainage tunnel is now in course of construction. The success of this enterprise would have a very beneficial effect upon that part of the district,. The main road between Stafford and Goldsborough has during the past year been deviated at Tunnel Terrace for about a mile and a quarter. The old road, which used to be a great source of trouble to the miners by rCaBOn of the necessity they were under of fluming their tail-races and tramways over it, has now been given up to them, and is fast becoming covered with tailings; whilst the new one takja a more elevated course, well out of the way of the tail-races. Hokitika. —The Humphrey's Gully Company, with its large water-race, occupies the largest share of public attention in gold-mining matters in this part of the district. This undertaking has been delayed by difficulties of various kinds, the principal of which appears to have been caused by the " pug," as it is familiarly called in these parts, which was met with in driving the tunnel destined to carry the large quantity of water which the company hope to bring in. For a long time this "pug" seemed to present an insuperable obstacle to the- work, thus causing an interval during which calls had to be paid without any apparent progress being made towards any satisfactory result. But at last, owing partly to. the adoption of a mechanical device suggested by Mr. Blair,, and partly perhaps to the progressive drainage of the ground through the open drive, the difficulty Was overcome, and the work is now progressing satisfactorily. This company holds a right from the Warden's Court to a part of the head-race; whilst the other, which goes through the Harbour Board reserve, is granted by that body. The same is the case with another large water-right held by Mr. John Maher, and the matter is further 1 complicated by the circumstance that one of these parties has the superior right to that portion of his race which is within and the other to that which is without the Harbour Beserve. How far this complication, together with the perhaps rather dangerous closeness to each other of these large races, may hereafter cause difficulties will be seen when Mr. Maher has succeeded in forming a company and proceeds to construct his,,race. In the meantime attention may be confined to the company's race, which is of a truly remarkable size and capacity. The timber-work that carries the race for about three-quarters of a mile across the'valley must strike every one as a very fine and substantial structure,, and almost suggestive of a railway viaduct rather than an aqueduct. Some doubts have been expressed whether this company will be able to obtain an adequate supply of water at the level at which ..they propose- to tap the tributaries and sources in the Arahura Watershed. The directors, however, express themselves as perfectly satisfied with the reports they have obtained as the result of repeated inspections by skilled persons, and they do not entertain a doubt of having an abundant supply of water in the driest weather. If these expectations are fulfilled I should suppose that the success of this great Undertaking is assured, and its success must be attended with very beneficial results to the district \>y reason of the large amount of auriferous ground ready to be sluiced. Kanieri. —The Bimu diggings are very quiet at present, the majority of the claims paying moderate wages, and nothing new having been lately-discovered. This field cannot be considered a lasting one, unless a new lead or an extension of the old one can be traced. Thereare some parties prospecting in the neigbourhood, but hitherto without any decided results. There is nothing else in this part of the district requiring particular attention, unless it be the discovery of coal, in the neighbourhood of the Kanieri Biver. A lease has been applied for to the Land Board, but sufficient is not yet known of the extent and dip of the seam to justify any very sanguine expectations. _ Totara. —A great impetus has been imparted by recent mining speculation to business enterprise in the little town of Ross. New and substantial houses and business places have been erected, and high expectations are indulged with regard to the future of the place. But the actual success of thie important mining works undertaken remains still a matter of expectation, and all that is possible,-is to show how much good work has been done to warrant the reasonableness of the expectations formed. The Ross United Gold-Mining Company, which replaces the Ross Gold-Mining Company, with a capital enlarged from £30,000 to £150,000, have purchased the special claims of two other large companies, and now hold an area of over two hundred acres of land. Their main shaft on the Ross Flat is sunk to a depth of considerably over 300 ft., and they hope soon to reach the bottom known as the Cassius level, where a very rich layer of gold was formerly met with. This company's plant seems now to be in excellent working order: the pumps are proving equal to all requirements, and the hydraulic winding machinery is also in position and ready for use when the shaft is bottomed. The drainage tunnel has been extended to the old turbine claim on Jones's Fat, and drains the ground in that direction to a much greater depth than was the case with the old workings. At that place the company are erecting elevator machinery, consisting of a turbine capable of being driven up to sixty horse-power, geared to drive the elevator belt with sixty buckets of a capacity of seven cubic feet each, capable of lifting 180 tons of debris per hour. The mode of working Will be to sluice the dirt into a pit, from which the elevators will scoop out the gravel and sediment, the water used for sluicing being carried away through the drainage tunnel. The gold will be saved before it reaches the pit where the elevators work by means of ordinary sluice-boxes. The gravel raised by the elevators will be discharged on a grating, all the stones rolling into trucks, and the fine gravel falling into boxes where it will be sluiced, thus saving all gold that may have escaped the first boxes. This company have also constructed a drainage tail-race from the ocean beach at Donoghue's to the south-west of that portion of the claim known as Hansberry's Lease, 35 chains in length, and another section of 15 chains will bring it to Clear Creek, where it is intended to erect a second set of elevators. It is supposed that this company, when in full working order, will give employment to from two hundred to three hundred miners, a consideration wiric h. makes its success a matter of legitimate desire.