C.—3.

Metallurgy of Gold and Silver. —Special classes in this subject have been held for the benefit of students preparing for battery-superintendents' examinations, dealing with the following branches : Crushing machinery; amalgamation, with the use and properties of mercury; machinery used; concentration and vanning ; chlorination and cyanide processes, with especial reference to recent improvements ; other leaching processes ; roasting ores ; testing and assaying ores; chemistry of the various processes ; arithmetic; plans and sketches of the various appliances and machinery. Text-books: Park's " Practical Chemistry and Assaying" and "Cyanide Process," Louis's " Gold-milling," Eose's " Metallurgy of Gold," Eissler's " Gold " and " Silver." Special instruction has been given at different times to persons desirous of obtaining certificates as engine-drivers, and six persons have been successful in obtaining such certificates by examination during the year. Class fees are : Mining and surveying, 12s. 6d.; chemistry, assaying, and metallurgy of gold and silver, each 7s. 6d. per quarter. No members' fees are required from students, but any persons other than students may become members on payment of a fee of 10s. The number of assays performed for the public during the year has been forty-two, and berdan' tests ten. A number of ore-samples have been submitted for analysis or identification of the mineral contents, but no results of very special interest have been obtained. In conclusion, I have to thank the committee of the school most heartily for their co-operation and support, always accorded very readily ; also the various donors of mineral specimens for the school collection, and Messrs. J. Chambers and Son for a number of catalogues of mining machinery for the school library. WESTPORT SCHOOL OF MINES. The hon. secretary, Mr. Edward Young, has supplied the following particulars to the 31st March, 1902 :— Owing to the want of an Instructor, classes were suspended during the early part of the year 1901, but were reopened on the sth July, Mr. D. A. Strachan, M.A., having kindly undertaken to deliver lectures on chemistry, while practical instruction in assaying was given by the President, Mr. James Bradley. There has been an average attendance of seven students, who have all made very satisfactory progress, and are becoming proficient in the analysis of complex ores. One of them, Mr. Sydney Pry, has lately passed his examination for a quartz-mining manager's certificate at Eeefton. There is only one class at present, the fee for each term being 10s., except for pupils attending day-schools, who are admitted at half-price. The ordinary annual membership fee is 10s. The work done in the school during the period has included ninety-four chemical, scorification, amalgam, and fusion assays, besides innumerable chemical tests of salts, minerals, &c. Most of the assays were made from ores of the district—tin, copper, antimony, zinc, zineblende, and other minerals—and in some instances high results of gold and other metals were obtained. The institution has been of marked utility to the district, and promises, from the increasing interest now being taken in it, to be still more fruitful of benefit in future. The chief drawback is the want of a regular Instructor. Free railway-passes to schools of mines students, if I may venture the suggestion, would also be a great boon to the latter, besides increasing the attendance. One of our students, the Mr. S. Fry above mentioned, often walked home after lectures, from Westport to Waimangaroa, a distance of ten miles. An appliance much required by the school is a second-hand theodolite for the teaching of surveying. During the period under report the school has been visited by Mr. Hayes, Inspecting Engineer, and also by Messrs. Tennent and Eichards, Inspector and Assistant Inspector of Mines for the district, and others who take a deep interest in it, and contribute any interesting mineral specimens they can find. The text-books used are Jago's " Chemistry," Dr. Black's " Chemistry," Park's " Laboratory Instructions," Hiorns's " Metallurgy," and Brown and Griffith's " Assaying." The school has a membership of forty-six, in addition to students. Various local donations have also been received, including a subsidy of £10 from the Westport Borough Council. The school wish to record their gratitude to Mr. D. A. Strachan, M.A., for his gratuitous and very valuable services to the institution. OTAGO SCHOOL OF MINES. (Is CONNECTION WITH THE UUIVDBSITY OS , OTAGO, DuNEDIN.) The Director, Professor James Park, F.G.S., reports as follows for the twelve months ending the 31st March, 1902 :— During the session of 1901 the school showed the satisfactory attendance of thirty-eight registered students, and one casual student for one special subject only—namely, practical assaying. The thirty-eight students attended with the intention of going through one or more of the courses of study prescribed in the calendar for the several divisions of the school. Of that number, eleven entered for their first year, leaving twenty-seven in their second or third year. In past years students have not strictly followed the curriculum prescribed in the calendar, and for this reason the year of attendance does not always coincide with the academic year of a student's course, and failure to pass a satisfactory examination in a subject at the end of the session may throw a student out of the prescribed course, and in some cases necessitate attendance in the same class for another year.

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