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which was to be paid in cash, and a certain proportion, in paid-up shares, to be given to the original proprietors; but the value the original owners placed on their interest was such that they were unsuccessful in forming a company. After this scheme fell through, an arrangement was entered into between the proprietors of the ground and a few private individuals, whereby the latter were to get three-quarters of the ground on condition of paying a small amount of cash to the proprietors, and also spending £1,000 in prospecting the ground. The result of this was, after driving into the hill for a short distance on as low a level as the creek would permit, large blocks of native copper, and also a considerable amount of ore containing carbonates and oxides, wore met with, which had the effect of raising the price of shares to a higher value. Several tons of the ore were forwarded to Newcastle, in New South Wales, to be treated at the smelting-works, which gave a high percentage of copper. The present company was then formed, with a capital of £60,000, of which £20,000 was paid to the former shareholders. Smelting-works, tramways, and roads were constructed to treat the ore and produce marketable copper. Subsequent to the formation of the company an adjoining lease, belonging to the United Company, was purchased, which gives a large area of ground, or a length on the belt of country in which the copper is found, between the Roding and Minor Rivers. The company, in prospecting on the Champion Lode, found another lode almost parallel with the Champion, about 120 ft. further to the eastward : this is termed the Doctor's Lode. They also constructed six different levels on what is termed the United Lode, which is in the lease that the company purchased, extending from the Eoding River to Copper Creek. To enable the company to bring their machinery and plant on the ground, and to assist in the development of the mineral belt that runs through this district, the Government subsidized the construction of a dray-road up the Aniseed Valley to the company's mine, which is a distance of twelve miles, to the extent of £4,117. The Government also subsidized a liorse-track over the range to the extent of £209, making a total of £4,326 that was given by the Government towards the construction of roads and tracks to assist in the development of the minerals in this part of the country. The work done in connection with this company's mine is as follows: A block of ore in what what is termed the Champion Lode has been worked. It proved to bo in the shape of a spherical triangle, having the respective bases of 200 ft., 160 ft., and 80ft. This block contained green carbonate, red oxides, and native copper. A level is constructed for some distance into the hill ; but the copper ore appeared to be completely cut out. There is also a level driven on the Doctor's Lode, and a winze sunk in the bottom of the tunnel for some 50ft. This winze carried the ore for a certain distance, and then cut out. The shoot of ore in the Doctor's Lode is dipping southerly at an inclination of lin 2, and has also a slight inclination to the westward. The width of the ore varies considerably : in places the bunches would widen out to 15ft., and in other places the ore is very thin ; but it would average from 2ft. 6in. to 3ft. wide, and from 20ft. to 60ft. across at right angles to the southern strike or dip. The level on the Doctor's Lode is constructed for 360 ft., at the end of which there is a shaft leading to the surface : this shaft is also sunk down to a depth of 20ft. below the bottom of the level to cut the lode, which is partially worked above this level, and which indicates by its southern dip that it will be cut in this shaft in another 10ft. or 15ft. In the level which has been driven on the Champion Lode two winzes have been sunk —one 20ft. in from the mouth of the level, which went through rich ore for 30ft., and then cut out; and the other is in 100 ft. from the mouth of the level, and down to a depth of 100 ft. without striking any ore. A shaft has also been sunk on the opposite side of Copper Creek to a depth of 157 ft., and a level driven from near the bottom of this shaft for 410 ft. in a southerly direction and 160 ft. in a northerly without any ore being found. The workings on what is termed the United Lode are about one mile northwards from the Champion, in the face of the range fronting the Ending River. Six different levels have been driven into the face of the hill about 50ft. to 60ft. apart, and large blocks of ore got in the whole of them. The lowest level is about 500 ft. above the level of the river. It is in this portion of the mine where ore is likely to be more permanent, and where the bundles are of greater extent. The ore is of poorer quality than found in the Champion and Doctor's Lodes; but the blocks being larger will more than compensate for this. The mine is now opened up to such an extent on the United Lode that a large quantity of ore can be easily obtained—sufficient to keep the smeltingwork in full operation for two or three years if the quality of the ore is sufficiently rich to pay for working. That is a question which there are doubts, and one on which the company by this time ought to be able to solve. Character of the Country. —Although the workings in this company's mine have been termed lodes there is no defined lode yet found in their ground. The ore is found in a belt of serpentine rock, which is from three to four chains in width, and occurs in bunches here and there without having the walls clearly defined. The serpentine and ore are intimately mixed together, and when native copper occurs it is generally mixed up with rock. On the western side of the serpentine belt there is a dike of diorite, which joins on to a belt of gneiss and syenite, after which there is a belt of crystalline limestone, and thence slate rock. On the eastern side of the serpentine there is diorite dike, with belts of gneiss and syenite; on the eastern side of these serpentine again is found, and chrome-ore. It has generally been considered by geologists that whenever copper is found in serpentine rocks it is not worth working, on account of it always occurring in bunches, here and there, without having any defined lode; but at the recent discussion on a lecture delivered by Sir Julius yon Haast, under the auspices of the Geological Association, in the conference-room of the Indian and Colonial Exhibition, when the character of the country in which copper found in the Champion Company's ground was described, Mr. Warrington Srnythe, F.R.S., made th.9 following remarks: "There was one point that interested him more particularly, and that had reference to