0.—2

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task of unwatering and repairing the Sir Francis Drake shaft. This latter was found to be in extremely bad order, not so much by reason of any decay in the timber, but owing to much of it getting adrift, and the continuous obstruction to the baling, together with the necessity of retimbering as the work progressed and of coping with the constant and fairly heavy influx of water from surface workings, made the work very costly. At 150 ft. below No. 4 level, or 480 ft. from the collar of the shaft, a chamber was cut, and a level, No. 5 (No. 3 from shaft), projected in a direction a little west of north for 143 ft. At 40 ft. from the shaft reef was met with and driven on for approximately a similar distance. This reef was about 3 ft. wide, but it was not solid stone, and consisted of a series of stringers of quartz with country rock between them. The material carried little or no value. Five samples taken by myself at 5 ft. intervals between 40 ft. and CO ft. in the drive showed on assay nothing more than a trace of gold. At 90 ft. from the shaft this formation cut out, but it made again a few feet further on and continued to the end of the drive, when it again cut out. No values of any consequence were, however, as far as I can learn, found in it. Work at this horizon was then abandoned, and No. 3 level was cleaned up, as was also a winze sunk many years ago from it to a depth of 50 ft. at a point about 450 ft. northerly from the shaft. A belief existed that payable reef had been located in this winze, and the syndicate desired to find out if possible whether it was justified or not. The winze was baled out, and the manager informed me that he found reef at a short distance in the western wall from the winze, and that he took several samples from it which showed payable results. Owing to the heavy influx of water it was found impossible to keep the winze open for inspection, consequently I did not have an opportunity of seeing this reef. As the syndicate's funds were exhausted it approached the Department for some assistance to try and reach the stone from No. 4 level, and as the distance to be driven was not great a small grant on a £1 for £1 basis was made, towards the closing weeks of the year, to enable the work to be done. Progress Mine.—No underground work was done, but at the battery-site the retreatment of some of the old tailings was continued, some 644 oz. 4 dwt. of gold, valued at £2,262 14s. 9d., being recovered. Wealth of Nations Mine.—Mining and crushing operations were carried out continuously, but work is said to have been retarded considerably by lack of good miners. Quite a lot of work was found necessary in the way of repairs to the shaft and various levels from No. 4 level down, and in the opening-up and restoring of old passes for ventilation purposes, and much expense was thereby incurred that had not been foreseen. Early in the year No. 13 south level reached the block of stone in which a winze had previously been sunk from No. 12 level to a depth of 80 ft., and a rise was put up which made connection with the winze. The block on No. 13 level was found to be of fair width —upwards of 14 ft. for a good part of its length —but, unfortunately, the stone was not found to carry the high values shown where it was driven on in No. 12 level or sunk on in the winze. On the contrary, it was discovered to be of such exceedingly low grade as scarcely to pay the cost of extraction. At first this was not thought a matter of great moment, as values in some of the Reefton mines have been often known to vary greatly from stope to stope, and it was expected that when stoping was begun better-quality stone would soon be met with. Four stopes had, however, been taken off before the end of the year without any material improvement showing in the gold contents of the quartz. As it had been quite reasonable to believe that the values shown in the winze would have lived down this unforeseen and quite unexpected result of the work has proved a grievous disappointment to the shareholders, most of whom are local people. There can be little doubt but that better values will come in again higher up, but in the meantime the company's finances are nearly exhausted, and great care will be needed to guide the venture over the intervening period. Stoping was carried on on the same shoot of stone above No. 12 level, but the values from here do not seem to have been much better than those from above No. 13. Some fair-grade stone was, however, won from stopes over No. 11 level. Altogether 7,754 tons of quartz were crushed, by far the greater portion of which came from the south shoot over Nos. 12 and 13 levels, for a yield of 2,740 oz. gold, valued at £10,907 3s. 7d., equal to a return of 7'oB dwt. per ton. Thirty-eight men were employed. Towards the end of the year a plant for treatment of a large accumulation of slimes at the mine was completed. When this is in full working-order a substantial addition should be made to the company's earnings. Alexander River Reefs. —A small syndicate, known as the Alexander Gold-mining Syndicate, consisting almost wholly of the original prospectors of the field and their workmen, has been making great efforts to bring this field into the producing stage. During the year a water-race 17 chains in length, most of which was in solid rock, was cut, and an overshot water-wheel, 20 ft. in diameter, erected, the latter being made from timber hand-sawn on the spot. A small battery of five head of 650 lb. stamps has also been erected. The water-wheel, which has been erected close to the Alexander River, is used to drive a small 15 horse-power generator, from which current is transmitted to the battery, which is situated at an elevation of about 1,000 ft. above the river. For driving the battery a 10 horse-power motor is installed. The getting-in of this plant proved a most laborious task. To assist the party in the work a grant of £400 was made by the Department, which enabled a rough track to be made from the head of Brown's Creek to the foot of the spur on which the mine is situated. The material was carted in drays up the bed of Brown's Creek to the new track, and snigged over the latter. Most of the work had to be done through the winter, which was an unusually wet one, consequently the men employed at the work had to put up with much hardship. From the Alexander River to the battery-site the party had at its own expense to construct a steep track up the range, up which the machinery had to be dragged by means of tackle. The whole of the work of erecting the various parts of the plant was practically completed by the end of the year, and in view of the many difficulties that had to be faced in the performance of the work the men are to be highly complimented on the rapid and skilful way in which it has been carried out. The mine itself is situated several hundred feet higher still than the battery and at a distance of about 20 chains from the latter. An aerial has been provided by means of which the stone will be brought down from mine to mill. Much development will, of course, have yet to be done before it can be known whether or not the reef is likely to be a permanent one, but the indications that it will live in length and depth are favourable. In the meanwhile there is in sight a considerable tonnage of stone for the party to work on, and as there is little doubt as to the good quality of this stone the coming year offers decided promise that the party will be well recompensed for its enterprise and hard work. Perseverance Mine.—During the year Messrs. T. S. and J. H. Roberts, two prospectors well known in the district, acquired this old. mining property, situated midway between the Energetic and Murray Creek Mines, and have done a good deal of work in cleaning out the old adit and doing further surface prospecting on the area. The Consolidated Goldfields some years ago located gold-bearing stone in driving south on the reef in No. 1 adit, and had carried in No. 2 adit nearly to the reef when for some reason not now discoverable work was stopped. The present holders have a high opinion of the prospective value of the area, and efforts are being made to form a company to provide capital to further test it. Dredges. Rimu Flat Gold-dredge.—The big dredge of the Rimu Gold-dredging Company continued active work during the whole of the year, but failed to turn over quite so large a quantity of ground as during the previous year, consequently less gold was won than in 1923. The operations were nevertheless very successful, some 10,606 oz. of gold, valued at £47,256, being recovered, and dividends to the amount of a further £6,566 were paid, making a total distribution of £9,849 since the dredge was started. The company has been vigorously prospecting by means of Keystone drilling various parts of the district within reasonable radius of Rimu Flat in the hope of locating a further area of payable dredging-ground. So far, however, the prospecting efforts have not met with any success. Some good ground has been penetrated by the bores, but no area of payable ground large enough to warrant putting a dredge on has been proved. As the company intends continuing this policy of active prospecting, it is to be hoped the coming year will satisfactorily reward its efforts. On an average forty-eight men were employed. Awatuna Dredge.—This dredge, working on the beach leads near Awatuna Railway-station, has also been operated continuously during the year, eleven men being employed. For the period 1,193 oz. of gold, valued at £4,727, were recovered. As the dredge is only constructed to work to a depth of 25 ft., it was found that some of the best ground in the area could not be bottomed. KingswelVs Dredging-area, Ngahere.—Some further drilling and general prospecting was done on this area on the Grey River, and efforts were made by the holder to procure capital for working it, but so far success in this direction has not been attained.