a—2.

Development places have been driven approximately 6 chains south and west in the coal and on the south side of the fault. The quality and thickness of the seam was maintained and everything made ready to develop the area. However, an industrial dispute occurred in September and the mine ceased operations on 3rd October. Lakeside Mine. During the year the ownership of this mine changed hands. A limited-liability company was formed and took over the control of the mine. No improvement has yet taken place as the result of the change-over, the output not having increased. The small amount of eoal won has been obtained chiefly from pillar-extraction. Wangaloa Mine. —Development-work has been carried out to the dip and the north-west level has been extended to a total distance of 500 ft., this being below and beyond Barclay's pillared area. All places to the south-west have been driven on to the fault-line. Kaituna Mine.- Further development of this mine was stopped in the latter part of the year and a commencement made to extract whatever available coal remains to be won. Unless further coal is located, the completion of this mine will soon take place. Southland Mines. Hakatere Mine. The development has been continued north for a distance of approximately 6 chains and also east towards the outcrop. Work has been carried out on a small scale. Hamilton s Pit. Opencast mining has been continued along similar lines to previous years. Whiterig Pit.- Operations have been suspended at this pit owing to the excessive quantity of surface stripping. Otikerama Mine.—Development-work has been continued slowly to the dip, and also to the south-east and northwest. Pillars are being made slightly larger and the standard of work slightly improved. Croydon Pit. Opencast mining has been continued under conditions similar to previous years. Beattie Coster Jfme.—Opencast mining has been continued in a northerly direction. The standard of work at this pit has been good. Greens Mine.-—No further development has been done at this mine, the output having been obtained from the splitting of pillars in the higher sections. Unless this pillar-splitting operation is soon abandoned at this old mine its end is drawing much nearer. Boghead Mine. Operations at this mine have decreased considerably as the result of price-cutting competition from some of the opencast pits in the district. A small amount only of development-work was carried out to the dip and along the levels north and south. Glerdee me.—Development-work has been extended to the north. A ventilation fan was installed during the year and an additional aircourse constructed. Springfield Pit (Gore). —Opencast operations were carried out intermittently and on a small scale. Ota Creek Pit.—Opencast mining has been carried out intermittently and under normal circumstances. Terrace Pit. Opencast mining was continued under difficulties until the latter part of the year, when operations were suspended. iireglow Pit— Opencast mining operations were resumed at this pit and a small quantity of lignite won. Baby Pit. Mining operations were continued along lines similar to those prevailing previously. North Chatton Mine.' An attempt was made to mine coal here, a level being driven 80 ft., but the work was condemned as being dangerous, and operations were suspended. Mount Wendon Mine (Waikaka). —A new mine was opened up here, but proved unsuccessful and was abandoned. Coster s Pit, Edendale. This is a new opencast pit commenced in the latter part of the year. Kea Pit, Mataura. This is also a new opencast pit commenced towards the end of the year. Te Tipua Pit, Mataura.—This opencast pit was worked vigorously during the year, the output being taken by the Mataura Paper Mills. Some of the boiler-furnaces in this district have been specially constructed to burn lignite. Landslip Pit. Opencast mining has been continued under difficulties, a small amount of lignite only having been Argyle Pit— Work was continued intermittently and on a small scale. Diamond Pit. Work has continued regularly at this pit, there being a reasonable ratio of thickness of lignite and surface cover at this point. Orepuki Mine. Work was continued under difficulties adjacent to the river-bed, but only on a small scale. Princhester Creek.—No regular seam of coal has so far been located, and a small quantity only of coal was being Lynwood Pit (Te Anau). —Opencast operations were continued to supply the local requirements. Terrace Mine (Kingston Crossing).—A small amount of pillar-extraction was carried out in the south portion of the old workings. An additional mine-entrance was constructed and a start was made to develop the seam to the north and towards new ground. A reasonable demand continues to exist for this lignite. Morleyvale Mine. All efforts to locate a workable coal-seam having failed, all available coal was won and operations suspended early in the year. Star Mine. The bulk of the output from this mine has again been procured from pillar-extraction. Any idea of further development to the dip was abandoned, and the present position is that the pillars adjacent to the main dipheading have been won from the lower portion of the workings. A limited amount of development was directed to the north-west in the higher portion of the workings. However, as this work is proceeding towards the river-flat the outlook cannot be considered bright. The present position of the mine is such that, unless further workable coal is located, the mine will probably cease to exist in the near future. Birchwood Mine. Pillar-extraction has been continued during the year from the area lying to the north-east of the original dip-heading. This work is now nearing the present main dip and will soon be completed. Development of the main area lying to the north-west—i.e., to the dip—has been continued. The main dip extension has been extended to a total distance of approximately 600 ft. in good-quality coal. Main levels have been driven south-west and north-east preparatory to forming panels. At a distance of 7 chains the north-east levels were in slightly inferior coal with a decided change in contour. The levels going south-west have continued in particularly good coal. However, for the thorough development of this mine the main dip extension requires more concentration and should be pushed ahead vigorously as the prospects ahead are unknown. Black Diamond Mine.—The bulk of the output from this mine was obtained from pillar-extraction. This work was continued in the east section and, without any untoward circumstance all areas were promptly sealed off when completed. A crosscut dip-heading was set off from the bottom of the main dip preparatory to the extraction of the pillars formed in the lowest portion of the main dip workings and to the east adjacent to the fault-line. Wairaki Mine.—The extraction of pillars has again provided the bulk of the output at this mine. In No. 2 west almost all the available coal has been won, and this section will soon be completed. No. 2 east has also retreated to within close proximity to the coal barrier underlying the surface road and railway reserve. A dip heading was driven from the No. 3 west level for a distance of 200 ft. and then allowed to stand. This development has again been put in hand with a view to developing the area to the dip of No. 3 west section. Development of No. 3 east section is also being pushed ahead. This area has been presumed to be faulted, but so far no definite effort has been made to prove the extent of the faulting. This property changed hands in November, and the increased markets secured by the new company are being reflected in the amount of development-work being put in hand. Black Lion Mine. Pillar-extraction has been continued throughout the year, and no underground developmentwork of any consequence has taken place. The pillar-extraction in the east level section was completed, and nearly all the pillars lying to the east of the main jig have been extracted. A few places were driven on to the outcrop coal adjacent to the top of the main jig. The area which has provided the output for the last two years is the thickest portion of the seam and the remaining coal will retreat much more rapidly. A surface borehole was commenced and at the end of the year was down 160 ft., but so far no further workable coal has been found, and the operations at this mine will rapidly draw to a close. Mossbank JS/o. 1 Mine.—The total output , from this mine was obtained from pillar-extraction and without any possibility of further underground development. All pillars lying to the east and north of the main level have been

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