43

C.—s

Westtobt Disteict. Westporl. — There is not a great c;eal of quartz-mining carried en in the Westport District. It is only of late years that any payable quartz lodes have teen found. The only localities where quartz has been worked pic at Waimangsroa and Mokihinui. At the latter place, although rich auriferous quartz has tern found rear the surface^ the general character of the country, teing very hard and compact, dees not j;iT. c much premise that the reefs will te found payable at any great depth. Great RepubUc Company, Waimangaroa.- —This company was formed in 1882 for the purpose of working a quartz lode which was then discovered in this locality, and which promised at the time to give good returns. After stoping out a considerable quantity of stone, the lode that was first discovered became broken, and the amount of gold got less. Still, the value of the stone in the outcrop justified the expenditure that was made in further testing it. Recently a rich lode has been struck in another direction, which again promises to give good returns. The company, having a battery of their own, with necessary paddocks, tramways, &c, are now in a position to work the ground to its best advantage. The capital of the company is £38,000, in 38,000 shares, of which £28,816 13s. 4d. is subscribed, and out of which £9,816 13s. 4d. has been paid. The amount of dividends paid is £1,900. Bed Queen Company, Mokihinui. —This is the only quartz-mining company in the Mokihinui District that has given any returns to the shareholders. The company's mine is on the south side of the Mokihinui River. The rock adjoining the quartz lode is of a very hard and compact character. The lode itself is from 6in. to 18in. in thickness, and is formed between well-defined walls. The capital of the company is £48,000, in 48,000 shares, of which £29,300 has been subscribed, and out of which £5,050 14s. 2d. is paid up. There has been £2,400 paid in dividends. Other Companies, Mokihinui. —There are three other companies having claims on the reefs, but only one of them is engaged in carrying on active operations — namely, the Southern Light Company, with a subscribed capital of £13,600, of which £809 10s. 2d. is paid up. The other two are the Mokihinui Company, with a subscribed capital of £2,650, of which £2,418 19s. 9d. is paid up ; and the Guiding Star Company, with a subscribed capital of £2,400, of which £2,291 15s. 6d. is paid up. None of these companies ever paid any dividends. Kumara, Westland. —This is the most extensive field in the colony where hydraulic operations are carried on, and a field where the miners are earning good wages. The great difficulty that will shortly have to be met is the dump for tailings. The limited area where tailings can be deposited is getting rapidly filled up, and depending to a great extent on floods in the Teremakau River to wash them away. This will soon raise the bed of the river to such an extent that the tailings difficulty will become in a short time a serious question for the miners to contend with. The No. 2 Sludge-channel, that was constructed to relieve the No. 1 Channel, has been a great boon to the miners, inasmuch that it has enabled all the claims on the flat to be worked, and it has taken away that chronic grievance that miners had against the department for years past in connection with the sludge-channel. Boss United Company, Boss, Westland. —This company's property consists of 260 acres of leasehold on Ross Flat and 40 acres of freehold in the immediate vicinity, together with one of the most complete hydraulic pumping-plants in the colony, and two sets of hydraulic elevators for working the ground in the upper levels, as well as good winding-machinery for working the deep levels. They also hold the principal water-rights and water-races in importance that are fully constructed in the vicinity of Ross. During the last year this company, in prospecting the deep levels, discovered what was generally believed to be the layer of auriferous drift which proved so rich in Cassius's, the Morning Star, and Excelsior claims before they suspended operations, caused by the stoppage of the drainage-appliances in 1872, and which were finally wound up. This layer was opened out on and was worked until the beginning of this year, when the quantity of water there was to contend with was more than the pumping-machinery was able to lift. It is believed that the extra supply of water came from the old workings on the flat, w7hich are known to be full of water down to the 300 ft. level from 90ft. below the level of the surface, where the underground tail-race carries off the surface-water to this depth. There is no other goldfield in the colony which resembles the formation of Ross Flat. The number of different layers of auriferous drifts that underlie each other, that have been worked and proved to contain rich deposits of gold, points to it as a place well worthy of continuing gold-mining operations. The company sank a shaft to a depth of 392 ft., when they went through nine gold-bearing layers of gravel-wash. Annexed is a section of this shaft, showing the nature of the ground gone through. The amount of gold obtained from the Morning Star, Excelsior, and Cassius's claims previous to the present company's formation, and the time engaged in actually working the auriferous drifts, are as follows :—

Name of Claim. Number of Weeks engaged in working Auriferous Drifts. Amount of Gold obtained. Morning Star... Excelsior Dassius's 4 34 28 36 Oz. dwt.gr. 4,094 6 23 2,726 11 5 4,722 11 17 Total ... 11,543 10 21