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looking wash-drift in Ford's claim, and were there plenty of water to be had, this claim ought to yield good returns. In some of the other claims there is a great depth of wash-drift, but unless it can be run away in a wholesale manner the ground is not rich enough to give decent wages by washing it. Boss United Company. —This company's operations are confined to the Elevator Claim, on Ross Flat; but the greater part of the shallow ground has been taken out, and the bottom on which the gold-bearing layers are found that have been supplying the most of the gold, are now dipping below the level that they can be sluiced into the well where the elevators are placed. There is also a great depth of tailings and stones lying on the original surface in which there is very little gold ; but the whole of this has to be taken in a face and sent through the sluices. During last year this company put through 72,283 cubic yards of material for a yield of 590J0z. of gold, representing a value of £2,303 lis. 6d., of which £1,497 19s. was paid to the tributers, leaving £805 12s. 6d. to the credit of the company. The value of the ground worked was equal to about 7'64d. per cubic yard. The yield of gold last year was nearly 1250z. less than for the previous year, and there was 3,553 cubic yards more material treated last year, which shows that the ground cannot be worked remuneratively for a great distance further into the flat. The place where the workings were first commenced was at the side of a terrace where the " Old man " came up very near the surface, and where the whole of the different gold-bearing layers joined into one; but as the ground got towards the flat they branched off in different layers, the richest following the " Old man bottom." The upper gold-bearing layer in the flat is only some 16ft. below the surface, but this was never rich enough to pay for sluicing away the large deposit of tailings and stones which are now lying on the original surface. The second bottom was a little over 100 ft. below the surface, and it is principally on this layer that the greater portion of the gold from this claim has of recent years been obtained. The tail-race which carries away the sluicing water was constructed at as deep a level as could be got from near the ocean-beach, but the ground is now dipping so much that any solid blocks of ground on this bottom cannot be worked. The company are in hopes of being able to raise sufficient capital to again commence working the deep levels in the flat, which at the place where mining operations was last carried on is about 200 ft.' under sea-level. The difficulty in working this ground is the great body of water there is to contend with, which their present pumping appliances are totally inadequate to overcome. Very rich auriferous wash-drift was obtained on the gold-bearing layer lying on the " Old man bottom " in the flat, and even in some of the claims that were worked here a considerable number of solid blocks were left which could not then be taken out owing to the method adopted in working the ground. At the time that the claims were flooded out it was always thought that sufficient capital would be got to place powerful pumping machinery on the ground, but after some time elapsed the claims were abandoned. Any scheme for working this flat must include a method of conveying the water from Jones's Creek into Donnelly's, either by fluming it over the worked ground or by taking it through a tunnel at the back of Cemetery Hill. The greater portion of the water found in the deep workings comes through the surface and from the creek referred to, and unless this is to a Large extent prevented any attempt at draining the ground with pumping machinery will be futile, and some of the very rich ground can never be worked. How far the leads of gold will go into the flat no one can say, but probably it will be found that they will follow the foot of the range to a great extent round towards Donoghue's. Rich washdrift was found in Sailor's Gully, and it was followed as far as it could be into the flat in the early days of the field, and in all likelihood a rich deposit of auriferous material will be found in the deep ground where this junctions with the other leads in the flat. Mont dOr Company. —This company are working what appears to be the same material as the " Old man" or " Maori" bottom.. Scarcely any distinction can be made between the ground being worked and the material in the bottom left behind them, and in even what the manager (Mr. C. Davie) pointed out as the " Old man bottom." There was a gold-bearing layer of material in it lying on a slightly-inclined bed. The present face of the drift-wash this company is working is about 200 ft. high in one place. The more recent drift overlies the older gravels, which belong to the Miocene or Lower Pliocene period. Some distance above this company's workings, near the top of the spur, these older gravels junction with the sandstone, and it is at this point where prospecting should be done, as it will be of great interest to know whether, at the time that these older grounds were deposited, a system of concentration by a large flow of water had at that time been effected. The whole of the boulders in this character of gravel are highly rounded, showing that they had at some period been subjected to the action of water in a flowing stream. During the time of my connection with the mining companies at Ross, in constructing some of the tunnels in the " Old man bottom," an auriferous layer of wash-drift, about Ift. in depth, was met with containing shotty pieces of gold, thus proving that gold existed in this class of material; and it matters very little whether the face which the Mont dOr Company is working is the original deposit of the " Old man bottom " or a rewash of that material in a more concentrated form, it is all of the same age. And wherever these gravels are met with on the West Coast they indicate the place where auriferous drift will be found of a payable character for working. A large quantity of gold has been obtained from the ground held by the Mont dOr Company, and it is still likely to give good returns for working during many years. Prince of Wales Elevators. —This is portion of the property belonging to the Ross United Company, who are working the ground on the same principle as they are doing on the Ross Flat. During the last year 4290z. 2dwt. gold was obtained, representing a value of £1,673 75., of which £1,343 12s. 6d. was paid to the men who are working it on tribute, and £329 14s. 6d. went to the company. In order to get drainage a tail-race was brought up from, the ocean-beach at as deep a level as possible; but the most of the ground has now been worked above that level that can be carried with sluices into the well where the bottom of the elevators to lift the tailings are placed. 18—C. 3.