C.—3

128

There is now a pack-track constructed from the Lighthouse Store landing at Preservation Inlet to Wilson's Eiver, a distance of seven miles ; but this road is of very little use to those living in the vicinity of the quartz-reefs. The store where the miners get their provisions from is about four miles up from the mouth of the inlet, and they have to carry them on their backs over a very steep and muddy track for a distance of about four miles, or else pay some one else to bring them to their tents and huts. A visit to this field reminds a person of the early days of the goldfields. At the time of my visit there were two publicans' licenses issued, but there was no accommodation to be had but a shakedown on the floor; but no doubt this will soon be remedied, as builldings were being erected at the new surveyed Township of Cromarty, which is about four miles further up the inlet than the place where the store is at present.

DEEDGING. There are now a large number of dredges at work in connection with gold-mining, and, although they have not yet proved so remunerative as was at first anticipated, they must be acknowledged as successful machines for working ground of a comparatively shallow depth, where there is a large quantity of water to contend with, or for working the beds of rivers. As far as lifting the material is concerned, they are all that can be desired; but the same cannot be said in regard to goldsaving appliances in connection with them. But it is only a question of time when dredging machines will be perfected to such an extent that they will not only lift larger quantities of material, but the appliances in connection with them will be capable of extracting a fair percentage of the gold. It was considered by many, when the dredges were first introduced on the West Coast beaches, that they would open up a new era in gold-mining ; but, unfortunately, the whole of the dredges which were erected on the ocean beaches of the West Coast have all proved failures. These failures are due entirely to the class of machines that were erected, and by those in charge of them not being sufficiently acquainted with the mode of working. The whole of the ocean beaches on the West Coast are less or more auriferous, and large quantities of gold have been obtained from them, and they still continue to afford remunerative employment to a considerable number of miners in collecting the golden sand and washing it in the ordinary way. The time will come when dredges will be again placed on many of these beaches, and made remunerative ventures. It seems strange tha men can strip the ground by manual labour, washing the auriferous layers of sand, and make wages, when dredges which can shift in an hour about as much as eight men could do in a day, cannot be made remunerative for working. And yet the whole of the expense in connection with working them does not exceed £50 per week when they are working continuously day and night; and this is only wages for about seventeen men. The secret of this, however, is well understood by those acquainted with the method of beach-combing. The machines are made to lift the sand at the bow and deposit it at the stern, without extracting scarcely any of the gold. This was amply shown at the Saltwater Beach, where a Welman dredge was at work in a lagoon, where after working for some dime, they could not get sufficient gold to pay working expenses, and therefore suspended operations. After a while this lagoon broke out and left the dredge high and dry, and some miners went out to the place where it was working and obtained a considerable quantity of gold. It may truly be said that the dredges that have been erected on the whole of the Southern beaches have been on ground that should be made to give good returns if the washing appliances were constructed in a proper manner to deal with the quantity of material that the dredges are capable of lifting. Both Gillespie's and the Five-mile Beach are two of the richest beaches on the West Coast, and ought to be made to yield excellent returns by working them with these machines. It is found that the working expenses of the dredges for the quantity of material lifted is not more than the expense of working ground with a hydraulic elevator. They should, therefore, be made much more remunerative ventures than they hitherto have been. West Coast. Taylor Dredging Company. —The ground where this company is working is situate about three miles north of Greymouth, on an old beach lead that was partially worked in the early days of the West Coast. Mr. Joseph Taylor commenced first to work a Priestman elevator, and he afterwards had a dredge with a cataract pump erected ; but this proved a failure, and the Priestman grab was again resorted to. About two years ago this venture was floated into a registered company, who have been carrying on the working with the Priestman dredge, and using the cataract pump to drain the ground. It has not transpired what amount of gold is being obtained from this claim, but the inference is that it is payable for working. Alexandra Dredge. —This dredge is working on the Buller Eiver at Fern Flat. The pontoon which carries the dredging appliances is 80ft. long, with a beam of 20ft., but the weight of the steam-boiler and machinery has sunk the pontoon that it has only about a foot of free-board on the front end. When there is a slight fresh in the river and heavy current, the water washes over the front portion. The after-portion of the hull, where the engines and boiler are, is raised on the sides about 4ft. higher than the front or bow end. It is an ordinary centre-bucket dredger, having a ladder capable of dredging about 15ft. below water-level, and the tumbler-shaft is about 15ft. above waterlevel. The dredged material is dumped from the buckets on to a chute lined with iron rails, and from this hopper-chute there is another leading over the stern of the dredge, which is 2ft. 4in. wide in the bottom, and set on an inclination of about 4in. to 1 foot. This chute is fitted with cast-iron ripples placed crosswise in the chute. At 10ft. from the head, the bottom is covered with perforated iron plate, which allows the fine material to pass through into a box placed underneath the chute at right-angles. This leads the fine material on to four small tables, which are covered with cocoanut matting. There is likewise a grizzly, placed in the main chute near the bottom end, and the fine