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17

D.—lA

In his evidence before the Bast and West Coast Eailway Commission in 1883, Mr. Gordon, Inspecting Engineer for Mines, estimated that the hydraulic workings at Kumara would last twenty or thirty years. Mr. Thomas Bailie, of Westport, before the same Commission, said, "I do not think Addison's Mat will be any worse than now for the next thirty or forty years." In 1882 the Public Works Department investigated this question as regards the Boss and Ahaura districts, with the following results : The ground near Eoss was expected to last twenty-five years; 150 acres on Callaghan's Creek was estimated to give employment to seventy men for thirteen years ; and 500 acres on the Ahaura to seventy-five men for thirty-five years. In the two latter cases only about half the auriferous ground was taken as workable. This indicates one of the great difficulties in predicting the future of hydraulic gold-mining on the West Coast. There are large areas of auriferous ground all over the country which will not pay to work now, but which will become payable as greater facilities are provided for working them. Although at present on the decline, it is quite possible that the yield of alluvial gold on the West Coast will bo as great in twenty-five years as it is now. So far as quartz-reefing is concerned, there is little doubt as to the permanency of the industry, and the general impression is that it is only in its infancy. As a rule, the West Coast reefs are not particularly rich, but there are many of them, and they contain large quantities of stone which will pay for working with improved appliances and better means of communication. Auriferous quartz, of different degrees of richness, has been found at various places in the slate formation all along the ranges from the Little Grey to Mokihinui. Eeferring to the quartz reefs near Eeefton, Mr. Patrick Brennan, in his evidence before the Eailway Commission of 1880, said, "There are seventeen miles of country, as the reefs run, which have been proved to be payably auriferous." In a paper recently sent to the Colonial Exhibition in London Mr. Gordon says, " The quartz reefs have been traced, containing payable gold, through a belt of country extending from the Big Eiver to the Mokihinui Eiver, a distance of about fifty-five miles." The mineral map hereto attached shows the position of these and other known quartz reefs on the West Coast. It will be seen that there is a remarkable regularity in the belt of quartzbearing country above referred to. The paying reefs at Eeefton, Boatman's, Lyell, and Mokihinui are all on this line. For the reasons already given this belt of country has never been thoroughly prospected. It is known to contain a large number of quartz reefs more or less auriferous, particularly on the section between Boatman's and the Lyell—a very rough piece of country, exceedingly difficult to prospect. The Owen Eeefs are on another belt of slate —the one that flanks the main range. Quartz reefs have been found in it at Wangapeka, the Tiraumea Eiver, Lake Brunner, the Taipo Eiver, and the head-waters of the Arahura, the latter being in close proximity to the reefs at the head of the Wilberforce, on the Canterbury side. Quartz reefs have also been found near Eoss and Lake Kanieri, and on the south-eastern flanks of the Paparoa Mountains. In fact, all the schist and clay-slate rocks on the West Coast give everywhere indications oE quartz reefs. To what extent these reefs are auriferous, and whether it will pay to work them, are questions that the future only can solve. For the present it is fair to assume that quartz-mining has every prospect of becoming a permanent industry on the West Coast. Coal. So far as its prospects are concerned, coal-mining on the West Coast bears the same relation to gold-digging that the timber industry bears to agriculture —there is no uncertainty about it. Extent of Coal-mining. —There is no industry within the area accommodated by the proposed railways which has made such satisfactory progress during recent years as coal-mining. The increase in the population of the West Coast since the former census is due entirely to the development of the mines at Westport and Greymouth. The growth and magnitude of the industry are shown by the following tables : —

Output of Coals.

Number of Men Employed.

3-D. lα,

1879. 1880. 1881. 1882. 1883. 1384. 1885. Grey mouth Westport Eeefton Mokihinui Tons. 52,679 3,860 2,232 Tons. 46,835 4,772 3,101 500 Tons. 50,719 24,198 2,002 Tons. 63,053 48,544 2,827 Tons. 86,074 38,297 3,533 Tons. 97,357 80,196 1,331 Tons. 140,182 78,009 2,151 275 Totals 58,771 55,208 76,919 114,424 127,904 178,884 220,617

1879. 1880. 1881. 1882. 1883. 1884. 1885. rreymouth Vestport ieefton [okihiuui 89 29 14 106 39 15 5 110 76 12 146 153 16 223 170 22 215 225 9 335 273 11 31 Totals 132 165 198 315 415 449 650

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