a.—m>. 4.

REPOET ON THE GOLD EIELDS

32

Enclosure 3. Copy of Mr. Warden Pyke's Eeport for quarter ending 31st December, 1871. Since my last quarterly Eeport the sub-district of Black's has been severed from the district of Dunstan, and a warden appointed specially therefor. Except where otherwise indicated, my present Eeport will consequently refer only to the Dunstan district, as now again reconstituted. I have nothing of any importance to communicate, so far as the sub-districts of Alexandra and Clyde are concerned, with the exception of mentioning that Iverson's Beef at Conroys has turned out well, to the satisfaction of the shareholders, and that strenuous efforts are being made to thoroughly prospect the reef at Butchers, by draining the water which heretofore has baffled the prospectors. At Bendigo the want of water has greatly tended to discourage mining operations. On the Carricks, however, where steam power is employed for crushing purposes, the work goes merrily on, and some really good stone has been crushed. It has been of the usual mullocky description (breccia). There is every prospect of this locality becoming an extensive and permanent quartz mining district. Bendigo will, no doubt, " suffer a recovery" next spring; there are already premonitory indications of a revival in that direction. The Chinese element prefer in my district to resort to back gullies and untried places. At the Nevis they largely congregate. There are some doing well at the Nevis and at Eraser's Biver. At Earnscleugh a small and select party of Celestials have lately put in an appearance.

No. 19. The Ceomwell Eeees.—Supplementary to the Warden's Eeport upon the Dunstan District. Mr. R. A. A. Sheeein to Undee-Seceetary Gold Fields. Sic,— Wellington, 2nd July, 1872. In obedience to your request I have the honor to lay before you the following report in connection with the quartz reefs on the Carrick Range, situated some seven miles S.W. from Cromwell, in the Province of Otago, and shall supplement such report by drawing your attention to some of the most salient wants of the district, and tho characteristics of the reefs as manifested in their partial development. Leaving Cromwell to visit the Carrick Range, and crossing the Kawarau Eiver, you follow the valley of the Bannockburn some mile and a half on the Nevis Eoad, where the track trends to the West, leading to a small and newly formed township called Quartzville. It is composed of two hotels, two stores, a butcher's, baker's, and blacksmith's shops, several private houses, the Eoyal Standards Co.'s 8 h.p. 8 stamp battery, and a population of some seventy souls. The township is situated on the upper terrace of the Bannockburn Flat, and is about 1000 feet above the sea level. Two roads, both cut by private enterprise, here commence winding round the siding of the spurs, the one leading to the Heart of Oak, Star of the East, and other claims; while the road nearest to the Kawarau leads to the John Bull, the Nil Desperandum, and Eobert Burns. All the reefs on this range, and the reef workings, are as yet confined to this one spur leading to the main range, as the spurs leading from it, on which are found the Border Chief and the Pipeclay Eeefs/are only offshoots of this main Bpur, which divides the gullies known as Adams' and Pipeclay. It will thus be seen that only a small portion of the range is being worked—in fact only prospected— and I may add that the spur on which the workings have taken place, is almost as imperfectly prospected as the main range itself. The Eoyal Standard Company was the first formed on the hill. Their original claim is situated some two miles and a half from the township where their battery stands, and yielded at their trial crushing about seven ounces to the ton. The general average of the stone from this claim has been about three ounces. The leader producing this gold is thin and irregular, varying from an inch or two to eight or ten inches in thickness. Another thicker, poorer, gold bearing vein runs through their claim, but as yet remains unopened and untried. The claim is a special one, containing thirty-three acres, and may be characterised as unopened. The leader runs in a N.W. and S.E. direction, dipping to the N.E. This is nearly the uniform dip and direction of reefs on the range. With two exceptions this claim is the highest on the range, being about 3,200 feet above the sea level. A claim still higher, called Green's, yielded at its trial crushing 21dwts to the ton, while the All Nations, some 1000 feet higher than the Standard, yielded 24dwts to the ton from the test of twenty tons. The All Nations had. from two to three feet of stone. From the high elevation at which these claims are situated, they are unworkable for four months during the year. The Standard Company hold another claim some forty chains from Quartzville, on the road side leading to Carrickton, and the upper batteries. The trial crushing from this claim yielded 123ozsfrom 104 tons of quartz, the reef being from three feet to four feet in thickness. Numerous leaders being traced into the reef from every direction, have had the effect of making the lode poorer, which has been taken out from fifteen feet to twenty feet in thickness, and yielding only about 6dwts to the ton. The amount of stone in sight is large, sufficient to keep the mill employed for years, the reef having been opened some five chains in length, and tested to a depth of about eighty feet. The company having their own battery, can work the mine at a profit, the quartz being easily got, two men sufficing to get stone to the amount of eighty or ninety tons weekly. The reef, running across the spur, obtains natural drainage to a depth of 400 or 500 feet. I may here state that from the broken and ravine intersected character of the spur on which the workings are situated, tunnels in all the claims yet opened, can be driven, draining the reefs at low levels, obviating the necessity for pumping gear, and enabling the lodes to be cheaply worked. Adjoining the lower Standard claim, is the Caledonian, which has yielded on an average some 12dwts to the ton. The reef is from eighteen inches to three feet in