C—9

1887. NEW ZEALAND.

THAMES SCHOOL OF MINES (REPORT ON THE), BY A. MONTGOMERY, M.A.

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

Mr. Montgomery to the Hon. the Minister of Mines. Sir,— Thames School of Mines, 19th April, 1887. I have the honour to report on the work of the Thames School of Mines since my last report, of the 17th May, 1886. On that date I was at Waiorongomai, teaching the use of the blowpipe and wet tests for recognizing various minerals, and also the methods of making quantitative lire-assays of gold- and silver-bearing quartz. The classes for instruction were held in the evening, while practice in assaying was carried on all day. There was a good attendance, averaging thirteen, nearly all miners. From Waiorongomai I went to To Aroha, where a similar course of instruction was given. The attendance here also was very satisfactory, averaging twenty-two per day. A knowledge of iireassaying is most useful to those engaged in mining both here and at Waiorongomai, as there is much silver-ore in these districts, the value of which cannot be found even approximately by any simpler process. Lead-ores are also found here whose value cannot be estimated, by any rough test, as they contain very variable quantities of gold and silver. Meanwhile the Committee of the School of Mines had secured a building at the Thames suitable for holding the classes therein, and on leaving Te Aroha I stayed some days at the Thames preparing specification of fittings required for the school. This finished, I went to Coromandel. The only suitable building available for holding the classes in proved to bo the Courthouse, which I could not get possession of for a few days on account of the Resident Magistrate having ccme down on his monthly visit. The same sort of teaching was given here as at Te Aroha, assaying, as usual, attracting most attention. The average attendance per diem was about twenty. After a month's stay in Coromandel I returned to the Thames, and found that the building was not yet ready for use, and various delays in getting it finished prevented me from having any classes for nearly three weeks. During this time I visited all the principal mines in the neighbourhood and prepared for the coming session, which commenced on the 16th August. From that date classes were held constantly till the 17th December. I then went to Onehunga to examine the srnelting-furnace put up there by Mr. Johnson, a report on which has been forwarded to you. Work was recommenced on the Ist February, and classes have been constantly held at the Thames ever since. The month of January was spent in collecting and arranging specimens of the various rocks in the district and in preparing lectures for the next term. According to the programme issued at the beginning of last year, another visiting-tour to Ohinemuri and other out-districts should have commenced on the Ist November, but the Managing Committee of the School of Mines decided not to send me out again. There were several reasons for this. The principal one was a belief—fully shared by myself—of the futility of short trips to the out-districts unless the work could be carried on in them between times. This would involve, as was pointed out in my last year's report, the establishment of small laboratories in these places, an expense which the committee had no funds at their disposal to meet. Each of these little laboratories would have to be furnished with a small furnace and its appurtenances, some chemicals and apparatus, and a balance. In my first trip everything was carried from place to place, and on my departure there was nothing left to carry on work with. The committee felt that unless they could provide these requisites it would be much better to keep me at the Thames. A second reason was that on the Ist November, and for some time afterwards, the committee not only had no funds to spend in fitting up laboratories in the out-districts, but were heavily in debt on account of the central school, and it was not till the 15th December that there were funds to pay these debts. A third reason, was the belief that, in order that the School of Mines might be of real and permanent