67

o.—3a

Same manner as before, the manager, Mr. D. Eobertson, keeping the place in good order, and exercising care in keeping things safe. I understand this ground is not particularly rich, but that it rather more than pays expenses. Roxburgh Amalgamated Mining and Sluicing Company (Limited), Roxburgh,. —(lß/1/99) : Since my last inspection of the company's claim a considerable amount of work has been done. The old road from the town to the cemetery has been enclosed, and a new road made in a northerly direction on the east side of the claim, joining the old road nearly a mile above the bridge crossing the Teviot Stream. A layer of sand, from 25 ft. to 30 ft. thick, overlies the wash, and a considerable area of this has been, and is being, stripped by ground-sluicing. The pipe-line has also been diverted from the penstock to fit in with the altered conditions of the work, and workshops, &c, removed further back. Three paddocks are open, two of which were at work— hydraulic sluicing and elevating—at my visit. Mr. Waigth, the manager, informs me that, near the manager's house, the wash is improving very materially, and the richer wash appears to carry back into the unworked ground. Twenty-two men are employed. Very fair dividends on the paid-up capital were paid during last year. The total area of the claim is 98 acres, of which rather more than one-fourth has been worked. A plan of the claim is kept by the working manager. This is ruled into squares representing a chain each, and the face of the worked ground is marked on the plan from time to time. A similar arrangement exists at Blue Spur and at the Empire Dredging Claim at Waipori. I think, if working plans of all mining and dredging claims were kept in similar manner, it would be found a decided advantage all round, especially if made on a scale which would admit of the varying conditions of the claims being shown. Bald Hill,— (l 7/1/99) : The several sluicing claims here are in full work; the water-supply has, so far, been very good, and, from what I could learn, the yield of gold has been satisfactory. Beyond the advances of the working-faces in an ordinary way, there is little to note since my last report, and there does not appear to be anything calling for special comment. Matahanui (Tinker's). —(14/1/99): On the whole, the season has so far been a good one, and the water-supply has kept up well. The fears that it might soon give out (which were freely expressed to me by several of the miners on this date) were dispelled to some extent by the very heavy rains which fell on the following days. At my visit I found that most of the claims were getting matters put ship-shape after the holidays, and learned that the first half of the season had been productive of fairly good yields of gold. At the Sugar-pot claim a very good patch was struck, resting on the schist-rock near the back of the claim. Thirty-four men are employed at the several claims near the township; also six men at the Drybread Diggings and six at the Devonshire Diggings, making a total of forty-six men, all told, in the locality. There are no Chinamen here. Two dredging claims have recently been taken up—one at each side of the township. I still hold the opinion expressed in my last year's report—viz., that to work the Matakanui field to the best advantage the whole of the claims should be consolidated and a good storage-reservoir made in Thompson's Gorge, by which a continuous supply of water could be depended on. The old system of paved tail-races, washed up at long intervals, obtains here, and I have been repeatedly informed that very fair prospects can be obtained in the tailings. This being so, it is quite evident that gold is being lost. This could be avoided, to a great extent, by such an installation of sluice-boxes and saving-tables as may be seen at Bound Hill and other places. Morgan and Hughes's Claim, Shepherd's Flat, near St. Bathan's. —-(21/9/98) : This claim adjoins Mr. Bwing's Shepherd's Plat Claim, and is worked by sluicing, four men being employed. Work is carried on for eight hours per day, and water stored in dams at night. The face is about 100 ft. deep; area of claim, 8 acres. Stones are filled by hand into a truck, and hauled up an incline by a winch driven by a Pelton wheel, Eioing's Claims. —(21/9/98 and 22/9/98): Mr. John Ewing's claims at Cambrian's, Shepherd's Flat, Vinegar Hill, and Kildare Hill, St. Bathan's, were visited. Mr. Ewing continues to work his claims with the thoroughness which characterizes all his operations. Good provision is made for the safety of the employes, and at night the claims are mostly lit up with powerful electric lights. At Shepherd's Flat a large proportion of good-sized stones have to be dealt with. This is very succesfully done by a stone transit-plant or modified aerial tramway which Mr. Ewing has designed for the purpose. The sluiced stuff is conveyed along a short race fitted with a screen and trapdoor at its lower end. The stones are caught on the screen, and dropped through the trapdoor into a truck having a loose body. When the truck is full, the" trap-door is closed and the truck moved away on rails, another truck taking its place under the trap-door. The loaded truck body is then attached to a hoisting-rope, and raised to a convenient height and then hauled along the wire-rope tramway to where a movable tipping apparatus is secured. This engages the truck body and allows the load to be tipped, after which the empty truck body is returned to its oarriage and the operation repeated on the truck which has been loaded in the meantime. Mr. Ewing states that twenty trucks per hour can be dealt with. The plant is worked by water-power. Employes (thirty-four): Kildare Hill, six; Vinegar Hill, five ; Shepherd's Flat, sixteen ; Cambrian's, seven. Other claims held by Mr. Ewing (twenty): Matakanui, seven; Bald Hill Flat, seven ; Eoxburgh, six. Hunt's Claim, St. Bathan's. —(l2/1/99): Two men employed here sluicing. At present working off barren ground overlying the wash. Eights are held for eight heads of water from Dunstan Creek, and the race is some six miles long. Working pressure, 200 ft. head. Only Mr. Ewing's and the United M. and E. Company's Claims are at present on gold at this side of the hill. Eagle's Claim, St. Bathan's.— {l2/1/99): This claim adjoins that of the United M. and E. Company, r and has an area of 3 acres. The auriferous wash has a dip of about 75° from the and the easily-accessible portion of it has been worked. For the last two years the