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£18,590. During the last twelve yaars that the Minister of Mines has had control of this vote the expenditure has amounted to £215,516. Of this amount, £1 40,502 was in direct grants, and £75,014 by subsidies, the local bodies during the same period having contributed £49,620. From the nature of the country in which mining is generally carried on, the cost of constructing roads and tracks to enable machinery to be brought on to the ground, and give facility for the mines being opened up, is far beyond the amount that could be raised by local bodies in mining districts by the present system of rating, ■which has now reached the highest limit allowed by law. Since the Grown and Native Lands Hating Act has been dispensed with, even the present high rates are inadequate to maintain the present roads and tracks. It has, therefore, become absolutely necessary for the Mines Department to come to the assistance of the local bodies. The following are the rates levied in the pound in the different goldfields counties; Coromandcl, lid.; Thames, lid.; Ohinemuri, lid. ; Piako, id. ; Marlborough, no rate levied by the county, but there are six Road Boards in this county which levied different rates j Collingwood, Jd.; Read Boards in Collingwood County, |d.; Buller, lid. general rate and id. special rate; Inangahua, lid.; Grey, lid.; Westland, lid.; Tuapeka, |d.; Vincent, |d.; Lake, Id.; Maniototo, |d.; Southland, Jd. general rate and Jd. special rate. It will thus be seen from the foregoing that the goldfields counties in the North Island and on the west coast of the Middle Island are rated up to the fullest extent the law permits. WATER-RACES. The most essential adjunct to mining, especially in systematically working auriferous drifts, is a good supply of water; and it behoves us in granting water-rights to take care that the whole of the water comprised in these rights is properly utilised, inasmuch as the number of men who can be profitably employed on our goldfields depends in a great measure on the quantity of water that can be brought to command the ground. When one comes to see the extensive areas of auriferous drifts on the West Coast, and also on the goldfields of Otago, the impression is that were there a larger supply of water there would be a considerably increased population earning a competent livelihood. The returns furnished by the Wardens show the value of water-races on the goldfields, exclusive of those constructed by the Government, to be £821,020, while the value of tail-races, dams, and reservoirs amounts to £379,634. In addition to this the value of water-races constructed by the Government in the Middle Island is £346,687. Two of these —namely, the Waimea-Kumara and the Mount Ida Water-races —are controlled by the department. The total expenditure on these two water-races has been £241,290, and the net profit, including the duty on the gold obtained from claims worked with water from water-races controlled by the department before the gold duty was abolished, has been £79,357 9s. 6d. The Waimea-Kumara Water-race cost £171,655, and the total value of the sales of water, since its construction about sixteen years ago, has been £132,820; while the total expenditure during this period has been £80,545. This leaves a net profit, exclusive of the duty on. gold before its abolition, of £52,275. The net profit last year was £3,574. The demand for water from the Waimea portion of the race is gradually getting less, but a new branch is being constructed, and when this is completed it will enable the miners to work an extensive area of land on which auriferous drifts arc known to exist, but which could not be profitably worked without a large supply of water. The expenditure on this branch up to the 31st March last was £1,908, and another £2,400 will have to be spent before it can be brought to a profitable issue. The Kumara portion of the water-race has in the past given a large percentage on the cost of construction, but it will require extension to open up fresh ground so that the whole supply of water can be fully utilised. Although the net profits on the working have been large, the other expenditure in connection with subsidising the construction of tail-races to allow the ground to be worked has absorbed a considerable portion of the profits, and this expenditure will have to be continued in the future as the working of the claims is extended. One tail-race is now in course of construction, which has been subsidised to the extent of £1,500, and another will have to be made to allow the ground to be worked lower down the flat, which will require to be subsidised to a similar amount. The sales of water last year amounted to £5,582, while the expenditure on maintenance was £1,917, leaving a net profit on the working of £3,665.

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