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Eecently, owing to the construction of a dray-road up the valley and works constructed by the Mammoth Sluicing Company, a great many men have come into the district, and during my recent visit there were about ninety-seven Europeans and forty-one Chinese following the occupation of miners on the Matakitaki and Glenroy Eivers. Mammoth Sluicing Company. —This company has a special claim of 100 acres, and have gone to considerable expense in constructing a water-race and putting a hydraulic plant on the ground. The works have only been undertaken about twelve months ago, and at the time of my visit the water was brought in from one of the creeks on the line of the race, which will give a supply of water in ordinarily wet weather to properly test the value of the ground. The manager, Mr. Bene Proust, surveyed a line of race to the Matakitaki Eiver, and let the first contract of the work in October last year; but after the line had been laid out it was found to encroach on some land belonging to Mr. Hunter. The land is still in its original state, no clearing or anything done to it; still Mr. Hunter fixed the price for which he would allow the water-race to be constructed through it at such a figure as seemed to the company out of all proportion to the damage done to the land, and, moreover, the company felt doubly aggrieved at Mr. Hunter's action in trying to impose heavy dues in this manner, they being the means of bringing a large population into the place, which Mr. Hunter was supplying with meat off the station. There has now been seven miles of the water-race constructed, the open conduit being 6ft. wide by 2ft. 6in. deep, having a fall for the greatest portion of the distance of Bft. to the mile or 1 in 660. In this distance there are 52 chains of fluming, the flume being sft. 10in. wide and 2ft. 9in. deep. At every piece of fluming there is a check-gate, by-wash, and overflow, to carry away any surplus water which may come into the race during wet weather. The race taps a good-sized creek which, during wet weather, gives a fair supply of water; and it is the intention of the company, if moderately wet weather continues, to test the value of the ground by sluicing in the ordinary manner. There are still about four miles of the race to construct, but an arrangement will have to be made with Mr. Hunter before proceeding further with the work, or else the land will have to be taken under the provisions of " The Public Works Act, 1894." This company has had to combat with many difficulties. A large quantity of sawn timber was required for the construction of the work, and to get this by hand-sawyers meant paying from 16s. to £1 per 100 ft. superficial at the pits; so in order to get timber at a reasonable rate the company purchased a portable engine and erected a saw-mill on the grounds. To get this engine up on the claim was a work of considerable magnitude. It had to be taken across the Matakitaki Eiver twice, the Glenroy once, and a large cutting had to be made down a steep sideling from the Horse Terrace to get it on the flat before crossing the Matakitaki Eiver a second time. The manager, however, informed me that, even with all the expense of getting the engine on the ground, it has paid for itself by the reduced rate at which the timber was supplied. The water is brought from the water-race to the claim in wrought-iron pipes, which at the present time are only 15in. in diameter; but it is intended, as soon as the road which is now in course of construction from Glenroy to the second crossing of the Matakitaki Eiver is completed, to replace these pipes with others of larger diameter. The manager states that when the plant is complete the main line of pipes will be of No. 12 8.W.G., made of steel and riveted, having angle-iron flanges, with two branch mains of 15in. in diameter, and, from the end of these, pipes of llin. in diameter will be taken to supply water to the nozzles. The 18in. main, however, has not the same capacity as two mains of 15in. diameter; it would require at least the principal main to be 21in. in diameter to meet this. The sluice-boxes are 4ft. wide and 2ft. deep, fitted with angle ripples for the head boxes, and for the lower run wooden blocks are used for a false bottom. Cocoanut-matting is laid under the iron ripples, and every precaution made to save the gold when a sufficient run of sluices can be put on. The water is used in the face from two Giant nozzles with 10in. water-way and fitted with jets from 3-Jin. to sin. in diameter. At the time of my visit to this work, on the Ist June last, a commencement had been made to open a cutting back from the face of the terrace from the river where the ground is about 70ft. in depth. About 1,000 cubic yards had been sluiced away, but the run of sluices at that time was too short to be capable of saving a fair percentage of the gold, and this cannot be remedied until the cutting is carried some distance into the terrace. There is a good deal of large stones in the washdrift, and, from what the manager informed me, the gold is pretty well distributed through the gravel. Judging, however, from the character of the gold he was getting, it did not come from any run or lead, but appears to be generally distributed through the drift material, as it is of a fine flaky nature, and has been rolled and broken up by the action of stones and boulders being carried down by a stream. The whole of the work is well executed, and from the appearance of the face that was being opened there is little doubt but that the venture will prove a payable one for working, and induce others to work ground in this locality in a similar manner. The greatest difficulty the company will have is the getting clear of the tailings and large stones, as they will undoubtedly very soon raise the river-bed at the point where sluicing operations have commenced. White s Claim. —On the opposite side of the river, and about 20 chains further down the stream than the place where the Mammoth Company has commenced operations, Mr. White has a sluicing claim in similar wash-drift, although not so many large stones as there were in the cutting being opened out by the company. On making inquiries as to the paying nature of his claim, he assured me that it gave him very fair returns, and he was fully satisfied with his property. The character of the gold in the wash-drift is the same on both sides of the river, and Mr. White states that there is very little difference in the yield of gold whether he is sluicing the top drift or the bottom. He believes that there is a very large area and depth of auriferous drifts in this neighbourhood which will give employment to a considerable number of men, and will induce men with capital to go hand in hand with the individual miner to bring water on to the ground.