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Mata District. The land taken up in this district for mining purposes has been surrendered or abandoned, but in the early part of the year a little prospecting was done on the Mata and Lister's claims. Tapu District. Sheridan Mine. —Operations in this mine were of a limited nature. The company's financial arrangements did not admit of their carrying on development work in the mine. 285 tons 18 cwt. 224 lb. of quartz was crushed for a yield of 195 oz. 17 dwt. of gold, of the value of £312 ss. 2d. Several other claims were worked in the district—viz., the City of Santa Rosa, Comet, Shannon, Golden Point, Little Jessie —the returns from them being as follows: City of Santa Rosa —13 tons 2 cwt. crushed, for a yield of 8 oz. 14 dwt. of gold, valued at £25 13s. 4d.; Comet— 5 tons crushed, for a yield of 1 oz. 15 dwt. of gold, valued at £5 3s. 3d.; Shannon—2lb. crushed, for a yield of 10 dwt. of gold, valued at £1 9s. 6d.; Golden Point—lo tons crushed, for a yield of 8 dwt. of gold, valued at £1 3s. 7d.; Little Jessie—22 tons crushed, for a yield of 4 oz. 11 dwt. of gold, valued at £13 Bs. sd. Mahara Royal (Area, 173 acres 3 roods 36 perches; owner, Mahara Royal, Limited; minemanager, George S. Clarke). —This mine is opened up by adits, of which there are four—viz., the Royal No. 1, 560 ft.; Royal No. 2, 400 ft.; Fluke, 260 ft.; and the Shannon, 225 ft., in length. The greatest depth of workings is 280 ft. below the surface. Two reefs have been cut, the Royal at two different levels having a width of 5 ft., and showing gold through the stone. The Shannon was cut after having driven the 225 ft., and has also a width of 5 ft., but no gold has as yet been seen. The development work for the year chiefly consisted of driving and extending the cross-cuts referred to ; also driving and stoping on the Royal reef. The milling machinery, which is driven by two Pelton wheels, consists of a 20-stamp battery of a weight of 8501b. a head, and eighteen berdans. There was 2,488 tons of quartz crushed, which yielded 1,556 oz. 9 dwt. of gold, extracted by amalgamation, valued at £4,236 15s. 9d. Thirty-three wages-men were employed. Waiomo District. Monowai Mine (Area, 89 acres; owners, Monowai Gold-mines, Limited; mine-manager, George H. White). —This mine has been continuously worked during the year, and a considerable amount of work has been done in the construction of ground-tramways and water-races, and in the additions and alterations to battery and cyanide plant. Experiments with the ore have been made by the amalgamation, concentration, and cyanide processes, and it has been decided to adopt the latter method as the most efficient means of treatment. In the Monowai section the reef at No. 3b level is a very large body of quartz, and has been driven on the foot-wall side of the reef for a distance of 680 ft. Cross-cuts have been put through the reef in several places in this drive, and it was found to be from 25 ft. to 30 ft. in thickness. In the Gem section the Crown and Gem reefs have been opened up to a considerable extent, but the quartz crushed from here was of a low grade, and not payable. This section has been connected with the battery by a horse and incline tramway three-quarters of a mile in length. 963 tons of ore has been treated, for 126 oz. 4 dwt. of gold, valued at £347 Is. Forty men have been employed. Broken Hill Mine. —A considerable amount of work has been done to open up the reef, which is of fair size. The ore gives fair prospects. Prospecting has also been carried on in the Comstock, Paroquet, and other claims, but there is no record of any returns or quartz treated. Puru District. Puru Consolidated Mine (Area, 392 acres; owner, Puru Consolidated Mining Company). Extensive operations were carried on in opening the mine at No. 1 and 2 levels on the main reef and also on the Rimu reef. In addition to a large amount of driving, stoping was also carried on, the reefs varying from 1 ft. to 2 ft. in width. There was a parcel of 944 tons of quartz and 201b. of picked stone crushed, for a yield of 163 oz. ldwt., valued at £489 3s. Seven men were employed. The results from the crushing not proving satisfactory, work in the mine has for some time past been suspended. Other prospecting works throughout the Puru district were carried on by small parties, but no discoveries are reported. Tararu District. Tararu Greek Mine (Area, 160 acres; owner, Tararu Creek Gold-mining Company, Limited; mine-manager, D. E. Thornton). —This mine is worked from an adit-level, the length of which is 3,000 ft., the greatest depth of workings below the surface being 612 ft. There are four levels opened—viz., No. 1, 325 ft.; No. 2, 460 ft.; No. 3, 510 ft.; and No. 4, 612 ft. During the past twelve months only one reef has been worked —viz., the Dunedin reef. The character of quartz is free-milling, the country usually being blue sandstone. The development work for the year consisted of driving and rising. One air-compressor, 16-horse power, is used for driving two rockdrills ; value of plant, £750. The milling machinery consists of thirty stamps, each 1,000 lb. weight; two Blake-Marsden stone-breakers; six berdans; six cyanide-vats, 60 tons capacity. The motive-power is water and steam combined. Value of plant, £7,500. The total quantity of quartz crushed was 8,479 tons, for a yield of 3,637 oz. 14 dwt. of gold, of the value of £8,985 15s. 10d. The average number of men employed during the year was seventy. On the 25th March last year the old mill was burned down, and a new plant has since been erected on the same site, lighted by electricity, and all the latest appliances for the successful treatment of ore. City of Auckland Mine. —There has been little work done on this property during the year, but the Tararu Creek Company now hold an option over the mine.