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value of gold from quartz crushed for the half-year ending 30th September last was £5,426 ss. 2d.; and the expenditure on the mine and battery during the same period was £5,494 3s. 5d.; of this amount there was £1,766 spent in battery-plant. Big River Company, Reefton. —This company's mine is situated in the Big River district, about sixteen miles south of Reefton. The ground has been held for several years, but until recently very little has been done beyond prospecting. About 130 tons of quartz is on the surface ready for crushing as soon as their battery is completed, which is now in course of erection. The lodes that have been cut in this company's mine are very broken and liable to run completely out; yet some of the quartz, when found, is of good quality. It is expected that the lode will be better defined as it gets deeper and assumes a more uniform character. Alpine Company, Lyell. —Since this company have commenced to work from No. 6 level they have been carrying on their operations very successfully. During the year ending the 6th of April last the quantity of stone crushed was 8,881 tons, which yielded about 8,2.220z. of gold, representing a value of about £30,318, and £17,200 paid in dividends. The quartz lode in this company's mine varies from 4ft. to 40ft. in width, which is all stoped out and sent down to the battery; and, from the amount of gold obtained, the yield has been nearly loz. per ton. In the Reefton and Lyell districts quartz-mining is looking much better than it did twelve months ago. The deep quartz lodes in the levels are getting proved that they contain equally as much, if not more, gold than lodes on the upper levels, and this is giving other companies encouragement to continue on their workings. Westporl District. —The quartz reefs at Mokihinui continue to be worked with success. The Red Queen Company has during the last year crushed 1,650 tons of stone, yielding 2,3620z. of gold, which shows the quartz in this district to be of a rich character. However, the lode is narrow, with foot- and hanging-walls very hard, so that the quartz costs more to raise per ton than in the Reefton district. At Waimangaroa the Great Republic crushed during last year 1,065 tons of quartz, which yielded 1,4320z. of gold, also giving a high yield per ton. It is only some three or four years ago since this reef was discovered. CRUSHING-MACHINERY. There is no subject connected with mining that deserves more attention than machinery for the reduction of ores, not only in this colony, but in every country where metalliferous lodes exist. The rich lodes that have been found, and for many years worked advantageously, are getting gradually poorer, and require a cheaper method to be employed than that adopted at the present time by reducing the ore with cumbersome and expensive stamping-batteries. In this colony there are many large lodes of low-grade auriferous quartz that cannot be worked profitably with the present method of reduction, and there is no instance that stands out more prominently than the mining district of Te Aroha, where a large quartz lode is known to extend between two and three miles, and in certain places giving as much as 2oz. of gold per ton ; but when the yield comes below 15dwt. per ton it is found not profitable to work. On this field there is one of the best stamping-batteries erected in the colony. No expense has been spared to make it as complete as this class of machinery can be made; yet the working expense and wear and tear are so costly that low-grade quartz cannot be worked to pay with present appliances. The prosperity and greatness of any country, and none more so than Great Britain, are due in a great measure to the mineral wealth it contains; and it may truly be said that the future greatness of New Zealand will depend in a great measure on an energetic and systematic development of her mineral resources. The rich agricultural lands are confined to valleys, plains, and low undulating country; but there is a large percentage of high mountain-land that is only suitable for pastoral purposes, unless it contains mineral wealth. Fortunately, nature has so formed this colony that the metalliferous deposits are chiefly confined to the high lands; but, unless machinery of a more improved character be introduced to reduce the various ores at a much cheaper rate, and these deposits worked remuneratively, they will fail to add to the permanent wealth of the colony. Until lately mining in this colony has been chiefly confined to gold and coal; but, recently, attention has been directed to argentiferous lodes, which exist at Karangahake and Waihi, in the Ohinemuri district, and smelting-furnaces for the reduction of this class of ore have been erected. So far these furnaces have not proved a success, owing to the class of ore not being of a suitable character for smelting at a cheap rate. The smelting-furnaces that are erected at Karangahake and the Thames are specially adapted for smelting argentiferous and auriferous ores containing a large percentage of galena and iron, as these minerals are specially required as fluxes, in conjunction with lime, to make the silica run freely; but where the ore is deficient of either galena or iron the cost of fluxes to smelt the silica is so great that it requires ore of a high grade to pay for its manipulation. Different classes of argentiferous ores require different treatment. Those containing galena and iron are specially adapted for smelting, while ores containing chlorides and chloro-bromides of silver can be manipulated far more advantageously and economically by chlorination and amalgamation. Therefore the same class of machinery that is suitable for the reduction of auriferous quartz is also suitable for the reduction of many kinds of argentiferous ores. In introducing new crushing-machinery there are three essential things to consider —viz., (1) the cost of the plant and the number of working-parts subject to wear and tear; (2) a compact and portable machine, so as to get over the difficulty of transit in a mountainous