a—3.

103

head and a pressure of 431b. to the square inch, a 4in. nozzle would only discharge about 6f sluiceheads of water, which seems a very small amount to use, considering the large works being constructed to work the ground in a wholesale and systematic manner. A nozzle of even 6in. diameter would only discharge about 15J heads with the above pressure. If the full pressure, deducting for friction, could be utilised, equal, say, to 400 ft. hydraulic head, a 4in. nozzle would discharge about 13J sluice-heads, and a 6in. nozzle about 29-J- heads. The latter quantity of water would seem to be small enough to work one of these claims in a systematic manner; provided, of course, that sluice-boxes of a proper size to utilise a large supply of water were made. It said that the size of the sluices in present use by the company is only 2ft. Bin., which is not of sufficient width to allow them to use a large quantity of water. Until sluicing operations have been carried on for some time longer it will be impossible to tell what this ground will average, and, as such a high opinion of its richness has been held, the result of the washing may be disappointing; but, with a good supply of water, even if the average yield is from 2gr. to 3gr. to the cubic yard, it should be made to pay good interest on the capital invested. It may interest those who are engaged in hydraulic-sluicing operations to state that, on my recent visit to the West Coast, the manager of a hydraulic-sluicing company who is carrying on large sluicing operations informed me, on putting the question to him as to the quantity of gold in the gravel-drifts required to pay the expense of working the ground, that half a grain of gold to the cubic yard was sufficent to cover everything. It will be seen from this that a very small quantity of gold, if uniform through the drift, with plenty of water and dump for tailings, is sufficient to prove remunerative for working. Following up the side of the range from the Parapara Company's ground, Golden Gully is reached, where there is a large deposit of the old quartz-drifts, from which a considerable quantity of gold was obtained in the early days, and every creek- and river-bed going towards the Aorere Eiver contains good auriferous wash-drift. There is a very extensive area of these auriferous drifts in the Quartz Eanges, which will some day be worked, and good returns of gold will be obtained by a proper system of working. Westpoet Distbict. There are a considerable number of miners employed on the ocean-beach between Westport and the Mokihinui. Although these beaches are worked time after time, sometimes the same portion several times in one year, yet there is still a livelihood left for men at what is known as " beach-comb-ing." The yield of gold from these beaches depends on the shore currents and the weather. Sometimes portions of the beach is stripped of all the*light sand, shingle, and other material by the action of the sea, leaving a coating of black sand with which gold is intermixed in a very finely-divided state, requiring considerable experience to separate it from the iron-sand. There are very few new-comers that commence gold-workings on the beaches; the most of those who are at work are old men, assisted by their families. Between Westport and the Waimangaroa a large flat extends back from the ocean-beach to the foot of the Mount Bochfort Eange. A great portion of this is an open " pakihi," which in former years was a complete swamp, but, since the construction of the railway, channels and ditches have been constructed which have drained it to that extent that cattle can now pass over the whole of it. On the eastern side of this " pakihi" rich patches of gold-bearing sand have been got close to the foot of the Mount Eochfort Eange, and even for some distance up the sideling, the whole of the formation being a sea-washed shingle and sand, and has at one time been the shore of the ocean. There is, however, a considerable quantity of water to contend with in sinking in the flat near the foot of the range, which has deterred prospecting operations from being carried on. About eighteen months ago a prospecting association was formed in Westport by the merchants and others, and they have been constructing a cutting and tunnel through this " pakihi" with the view of draining the ground, and of cutting other leads of gold which may have been formed as the ocean receded, and to work the ground at the foot of the range referred to. The question, however, of cutting fresh leads is a problem which has yet to be determined, as it is probable that this low flat was merely a shallow bay, which has been filled up by slips and denuded material from the mountain range, and not due so much to the elevation of the land as shown at Charleston and elsewhere; at all events, be this as it may, this association is doing good work, and, although they have had men working at the tunnel for a long time, they have not yet reached the point where they expect to find gold. They have now driven nearly 1,500 ft., and are getting colours of gold in the drift. There are also a number of miners employed in working the bed of the Waimangaroa, in which some fair-sized nuggets of gold were obtained last year. During my recent visit to this place there were forty-eight men working at gold-mining in the vicinity of Waimangaroa, thirty-two men were employed at a similar occupation on the North Terrace, and forty-eight men are getting their livelihood at mining on the North Beach. Bradshaw's Terrace. This terrace is situate about four miles to the south of the Buller Eiver, and about 40 chains in a straight line back from the ocean-beach, where there is a low terrace of auriferous gravel-drifts to the eastward side of Bradshaw's Creek. This creek runs parallel with the ocean-beach, and empties into the head of the lagoon going back from near the mouth of the Buller Eiver. The creekbed for its whole length along the foot of the terrace is full of fallen timber and logs, and consequently the tailings from the four sluicing claims that are opened from the face of this terrace are going into the creek, and, owing to it being full of timber and with very little fall, the tailings cannot be carried away. There are about twenty men employed in these claims, and their sluicing operations are threatened to be stopped by the men holding the land on the seaward side of Bradshaw's Creek. During my recent visit to this locality the miners informed me that all theii* claims give payable results for working. 15—0. 3.