a—3a.

48

an hour at a time without a stoppage to remove small stones, sticks, &c, from the mouth of the pipe. I think it a great pity that good money should be so wasted, as it appears to me to be in this case. The dredge is not near long enough to allow the strokes to get opposite the furnace. I will be much surprised if this company, pays expenses. Bushey Point Dredging Company (11th August, 1891). —This dredge was nearly completed at the time of my visit. It is fitted up much the same as the Otara in the matter of pumps, and will therefore, in my opinion, prove a certain failure. Kirkpatrick and Eddy's Sluicing Claim, Chitha River (19th August, 1891). —This claim is situated in a gorge of the Glutha, a short distance below the Island Block Claim, and on the west side of the river. The water is obtained from the east side, and conveyed by a race to a convenient spot opposite the claim, from where it is then carried in pipes down the side of the hill to certain level, and from, thence to the opposite side of the river and claim. The pipes are suspended on wire ropes, and is a neat and substantial piece of engineering. The pipes appear to be about llin. diameter, and nozzles 6in. There are two sets of tail-boxes stretching from the claim to the river—the one set appears to have about 4in. fall to the 12ft., and the other about 6in. fall to the 12ft. The average depth of stuff washed away is about 20ft., but will now average nearly 40ft. deep. I think it will take from eight to ten years to work the claim out. The quantity of water used is sixteen Government heads. There was no one on the claim at the time of my visit. The head-race at the top of the pipes was carried away, and the men were then doing repairs. Island Block, Chitha Biver (19th August, 1891). —There were at the time of my visit two open faces worked by jets in each. The one face may be called the old face, or a continuation of the original workings from near the river. This face was said to be now very much poorer than it used to be, and that the good run of gold had " cut out " near the hillside. Several paddocks more in the flat had been sluiced, in the hope of picking up the lead again, but the returns were not satisfactory. It is, however, intended to go on with the work, in the hope of getting good ground further ahead. The second face and jet is at a sharp bend in the fiat, where an open cut is being sluiced across the flat with a view to find the supposed lead. lam of opinion that the lead exists, but may be broken where the cut is being sluiced. I feel confident that good ground will be found in the straight run of the flat going upward. The wire bridge over the Clutha River is being strengthened to carry a second lot of supply pipes, with a view to push the works ahead more rapidly. The plant is the largest and best of its kind in the colonies. Roxburgh Amalgamated (31st August, 1891). —This claim is making splendid progress lately. ,The working-faces are now back some distance from the river, and the tailings are being deposited in the worked-out ground. There are now two jets working close up to separate faces, and appear to be doing a great amount of work. I rather like the general look of the bottom-wash in this mine. It looks as if it had not been disturbed much after it was finally deposited as the river-bed ages ago. The stripping is very deep, but easily run off. Hercules No. 1 Gold-mining Company (31st August, 1891). —This company has worked out the ground close to the edge of the river, and the plant is now being shifted back towards the terrace, which will enable the manager to reduce the height of his discharge-pipe and sluice into the worked-out ground. I believe the ground was very rich at the brink of the river, but am told it is not nearly so good in the terrace. There may, however, be good ground in a second lead, if there be one. It will take some time to test the large flats in some of the claims. Hercules No. 2 (31st August, 1891). —This claim is in full swing, and is using about sixteen Government sluice-heads of water. A considerable strip of ground has been sluiced along, the side of the river below Hercules No. 1, but I have not heard anything about the yield of gold. The manager expects in five months' time to be enabled to shift his plant so as to sluice into the ground now being worked out. This will be comforting to the dredgers lower down the river, who have been complaining of the extra depth of tailings now to be dredged to get to the level of the old river-bed. Long-wood Sluicing Company (15th September, 1891). —This claim is situated north of Riverton, about twelve miles on what is known as Gorge Greek, which empties into Puripurikina Creek. This company commenced in 1889 to sluice out a tail-race in a gully to the ground, where some rich finds of gold were got some years ago, and work is still being continued steadily. As the work proceeds the ground gets considerably deeper, and, at the same time, very much wider at the top. The sides make their own slope, which is probably nearly two to one of a batter; the open cut is therefore nearly 200 ft. wide at top. This width carries a large quantity of timber, which has to be removed to some little distance from the side of the cutting. It is the intention of this company to extend the tail-race a considerable distance yet. The little gold obtained from the washings is angular and sharp, and would lead one to suppose it has not travelled far. There is a six-mile race capable of carrying four heads of w y ater, and a dam capable of storing four heads for eight hours. If this company finds payable ground there is room for many more claims in the same locality; but before more claims could be opened out a plentiful supply of water would have to be brought a long way, probably from Mount Linton. Bound Hill Gold-mining Company (17th September, 1891). —From about the centre of the old mining operations at Bound Hill to the sea is about 3-J miles by following the valley of the Orawera Creek. This creek-bed and the' low-lying flats on each side, several chains in width, are filled with tailings, sand, and silt to a depth of from 12ft. to 20ft. all the way to the sea. Mr. Evans, the company's manager, after having carefully tested samples of this sand and silt taken from many places in this valley of mud, came to the conclusion it would pay to sluice on a large scale the whole of this valley of silt and tailings into the sea. He found very fine gold wherever he tried, and has estimated it to be payable provided the gold can be saved when sluiced on a large scale. Mr. Evans then secured a large claim at the old workings, and the right to construct a tailrace from the sea to the centre of mining operations. Mr. Evans then went to London and floated a, company to furnish the necessary capital to do the work under his supervision. Since his return