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Coal. The export of coal for the year from Greymouth was as follows : Blackball Mine, 99,597 tons 6 cwt. ; Brunner Mine, 116,714 tons : total, 216,311 tons 6 cwt. The working of coal at Eeefton is confined almost entirely to local demand for household purposes and for the mines and dredges. An attempt was made by agents at Greymouth to obtain this coal, but the supply was so intermittent and the carriage charges so heavy that they have, I think, all. abandoned it. It is said that there is coal at Coal Creek of equal value for household purposes with that of Eeefton; and, if so, the Eeefton coal will not be able to compete for the market. Geneual. The number of suits disposed of in the Warden's Court, Greymouth, for the year ending the 31st December, 1902, was thirty-four. The revenue for the year amounted to £5,566 12s. Id., the particulars of which are as follows : Miners' rights, £160 ss. ; rents, £2,563 95.; water licenses, £2 ss. ; miscellaneous, £2,775 Bs. 7d. ; fees and fines, £65 4s. 6d: total, £5,566 12s. Id. Comparison between the Band (South Africa) and New Zealand: It is not, I think, out of place or without interest in this report to compare the expenses o* working a Eeefton mine, where none but well-paid white labour is employed, with the expenses o* working mines on the Band, where all the common labour-work of the mine is done by African natives on a low scale of pay. The possibility of substituting white labour for native labour is one of the highest importance to the Empire, including this colony. It has been repeatedly asserted that the ore on the Band is of too low a grade to allow of the employment of white labour except in the upper departments, such as those of foreman, supervisors, and " bosses" of native labour, and the performance of work requiring skill, intelligence, and experience. There is some information as to grades of ore and dividends paid by the Band mines given in a report made by the engineers of those mines to the Bight Hon. Mr. Chamberlain, and from which copious extracts appear in the London Times of the 9th February last. The information is, it is true, insufficient for an exact or comprehensive comparison. There are only two items where we are able to touch, but these are crucial. One is the average yield per ton of the groups of Band mines, and the other is the dividends declared at per ton of ore raised. I give the two items of the Band, and the corresponding items of the Progress Mines of New Zealand, taken from the report of 1901, the only one that I have at my disposal. Band Mines. —Thirteen companies ; yield per ton, £1 ss. ; only one of the thirteen paid any dividend. Thirteen companies ; yield per ton, £1 10s.; dividend, 9Td. Twelve companies; yield per ton, £1 15s. and over; dividend, 7s. Eleven companies; yield per ton, over £2 ; dividend, 7s. 6-ld. Nineteen companies; yield per ton, over £2 55.; dividend, lis. 2-sd. Twelve companies; yield per ton, over £2 10s.; dividend, £1 7s. lOd. Progress Mines. —The report of the Progress mines for 1901 gives the following figures : Total value of gold won, £93,474 ; total working-cost, 16s. 6T57d. per ton ; profit, 17s. 4-201 d. per ton : total, £1 13s. 10'358d. per ton. Dividends paid, 9s. lid. per ton. For the year 1902 the figures for the Progress mines were as follows : 55,976 tons milled ; value, £101,254 15s. lOd. Value of yield per ton, £1 16s. 2-135 d. Dividend per ton, 12s. 3-385 d. 16,422 tons cyanided; value, £5,745 os. 4d.; value of yield per ton, 6s. lT96d. per ton. It is necessary to give the milling account separate from the cyanide, because the tailings cyanided were not the proceeds of the year's milling, but included an accumulation of tailings from a long date back. The following are the figures for the year 1902 of the Consolidated mines—the Wealth of Nations and Golden Fleece. The dividend paid in this case would be no guide, since the company derive the greater part of their income from sources outside the mines. I therefore give workingexpenses and profit, the working-expenses covering every outgoing in the colony, leaving only " London expenses " and " writing-off " to be deducted. Consolidated. —2s,lBo tons milled; value, £40,971 15s. 3d. Value of yield per ton, £1 12s. 6-517 d. from actual milling. Total value of yield of 25,180 tons (including yield of concentrates and cyanide), £53,052 4s. lid. Working-cost per ton, £1 2s. 4'766d.; profit, 19s. 8-894 d.: total value, £2 2s. l-66d. I have confined the comparison to these mines in Eeefton because, from the extent of the capital and completeness of plant and organization, they stand the most nearly to the Band mines. From the mining report of 1901 I take the following as to the largest mine in the Auckland Province:— Waihi Mine.- -159,325 tons treated; value, £431,601 os. Bd. Value per ton, £2 14s. 2-144 d. £165,000 paid in dividends, equal to £1 os. 8-547 d. per ton. To compare the Band tables with the New Zealand mines given above, we have the following results :■ — Band. —Yield of twelve companies, £1 15s. per ton and over; dividend, 7s. lOd. per ton. Yield of eleven companies, £2 per ton and over ; dividend, 7s. 6d. per ton. Yield of twelve companies, over £2 10s. per ton ; dividend, £1 7s. lOd. per ton. Progress. —l9ol : Yield per ton, £1 13s lOd.; dividend, 9s. lid. per ton. 1902 : Yield per ton, £1 16s. 2d.; dividend, 12s. 3d. per ton. Consolidated. —l9o2: Value of yield per ton, £2 2s. Id.; profit, as stated above, 19s. Bd. per ton. Waihi. —l9ol: Value of yield per ton, £2 14s. 2d. ; dividend, £1 os. Bd. per ton.