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worked to pay interest on the capital invested, which, up to the present time, is £13,000, including £7,000 in promoters' shares. The value of the promoters' interest was originally £19,800 ; but the original company was put in liquidation, and a new company formed, which took possession of the property from July, 1892, when the value of the promoters' shares was reduced to about the amount stated. But this syndicate is managed on the same lines as other English mining companies ; that is, there is an annual expense of about £2,000 for directors' fees and office expenses, and which is in itself 10 per cent, on the actual money spent, including the value of promoters' shares, so that nothing short of extensive operations would ever give the other shareholders any interest on their capital. Taking the small area of ground already worked, and the quantity of gold obtained therefrom, with a good water-supply this company has a valuable property. At the present time the elevator is supplied with water from a main pipe 13in. in diameter, and about one mile in length, having a head of 280 ft. They use for the elevator a nozzle of 2fin. in diameter, and a breaking-down nozzle of lfin. in diameter, which discharges about 6f sluiceheads of water; this means that the velocity of water in the main pipes exceeds 7ft. per second, and with this velocity the friction in the pipe is equal to at least l-30ft. of head for every 100 ft. in length of pipe. Taking it on this basis, the loss of the hydrostatic head equals about 69ft. of head that is absorbed in friction ; therefore, taking the total head at 280 — 69, it leaves an actual hydrostatic head of only 211 ft. If the syndicate work two elevators from one main they ought to have a pipe of at least 24in. in diameter. If it were conveying double the quantity of the present water used, namely 13-5 sluice-heads, the velocity would be about 4-3 ft. per second, and the head absorbed by friction would be about 32ft., or 37ft. more than at the present time ; this would be equal to an additional head of water on each elevator, as will be seen in analyzing the result. Taking 6f heads with a hydrostatic head of 211 ft., it gives a force of 5,340,937 foot pounds per minute, and the same quantity, with a head of 248 ft., gives a force of 6,277,500 foot pounds, being a difference of 936,563 foot pounds ; and as one sluice-head of water with a hydrostatic head of 248 ft. gives a force of 925,040 pounds per minute, it is clear that the saving by using the larger pipe would be equal to a little over an additional sluice-head of water. The larger the main supply-pipe the better results will be obtained, but, as a general rule, the velocity in the supply-pipe should not exceed about 4ft. per second. Where the main supply-pipes are a considerable length the first cost is a great item, but this will soon be recouped by the extra amount of work that can be done by having pipes of a sufficient diameter in the first instance. The Bound Hill Syndicate Company are not the only ones in the colony who have laid down too small pipes at first. The generality of miners are apt to do the same -thing, on account of the expense; but after using the pipes the mistake is soon acknowledged, and endeavours made to get larger ones, having a sufficient carrying capacity. In wet weather, or when the syndicate cannot use their water, they sell it to the miners at the rate of 15s. per week for a quantity that will pass over a notch Bin. long by lin. deep. With such a supply as this, it must be extremely good sluicing-ground for men to be able to pay for their food and clothes, without their being able to earn wages. Almost each party of miners have a small dam where they store the water, which allows them to carry on sluicing operations on a very small scale for two or three hours per day. Wilson's River. The alluvial workings opened up in this locality have been as yet confined to the bed of Wilson's Eiver, Sealers' Creek No. 2, and the terraces alongside Sealers' Creek. At the time of my visit it was estimated that there were altogether about 200 miners on the mainland and on Coal Island,- the greater portion of these being at work in the bed of Wilson's Eiver. The gold in this river-bed is found principally in the joints and crevices of the rock, having very little gold in the gravel-wash laying on the bottom. The tide comes up this river for about a mile and a half, and the bed has been worked as far down the river as the tide would admit, and for about four miles up the stream. The whole of the gold obtained from the alluvial workings here is extremely porous, and intermixed with particles of quartz, the edges in many instances being sharp, thus showing that it had not been carried any great distance by the stream. The character of the gold is coarse, and in some instances 2oz. nuggets have been found. There has been gold found in the river-bed as far up as it has been worked ; but that found above the place the prospectors' reef crosses the river is far more rounded and flattened than that found below; at the same time there are particles of quartz adhering to it. This shows that the particles of gold came down the river from another source than the reef referred to. The country is of such a broken character, that the great difficulty in getting a supply of provisions for inland is necessarily a great drawback to prospecting in this part of the colony. Had it not been for the surveyed line of road, which induced miners to prospect inland, nothing would probably have yet been known about the auriferous character of the country in this direction. At Sealers' Creek the gold is similar in character to that found in Wilson's Eiver, being all extremely porous, having particles of quartz attached. The gold found in this locality appears to have come from no great distance, and in all probability a rich lode will be found in this vicinity. Several very rich quartz specimens have been found amongst the wash-drift. At Coal Island there are about twelve miners, all of whom are working in the beds of the small creeks and streams, and said to be doing fairly well. But to take the district altogether, the miners are not making wages, owing to the wet climate, and the floods in the creeks and streams where they are working, which in many cases only admits of work being carried on for a few days in the month. Even the best claim on Wilson's Eiver is said not to have paid more than £3 10s. per week for the whole of the time it has been held ; and there are many claims which have not given the owners £1 10s. per week. When it is taken into consideration that the cost of packing provisions from Preservation Inlet is £1 per hundredweight, and that it is very seldom that fresh beef and mutton can be got, and that the climate is extremely moist, men require to be making a good livelihood to stay.