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rushing into the erection of machinery before testing the quantity of payable ore in their claims, was the means of killing the field and preventing men from trying to further prospect the ground. When once a place gets a bad name, unless it be some men residing in the locality, very few from other parts of the colony would care to go and spend money and time in visiting the field to examine it. The Croesus Company had to suspend operations on account of the stone not carrying sufficient gold to pay the expense of working. This ground was again worked by a small party of miners with payable results. According to the returns furnished the department, the Croesus Battery crushed 426 tons of stone last year, which yielded 4030z. of gold, namely : — Surprise Claim ... ... ... 132 tons, which yielded 2400z. gold Croesus Claim ... ... ... 129 „ „ „ 79 „ Eureka Claim ... ... ... 75 „ „ „ 36 „ Blue Slate Claim ... ... 30 „ „ „ 18 „ Jacob and Party's Claim ... ... 60 „ „ „ 30 „ Bonanza Company. —This company's mine is situate between Nenthorn and Deepdale, and has been giving good returns to the shareholders ever since it was opened. The lode varies from lft. to 3ft. 6in., and it has been worked along the lode near the surface for a distance of 800 ft. A shaft has been sunk on the eastern workings to a depth of 140 ft. The lode here has a greater thickness than it has on the top levels: it is also richer, and said to be the best stone m the mine. Sinking this shaft could not be proceeded with, owing to the quantity of water to contend with, and it is contemplated to construct an adit-level from near a creek running parallel with the lode, which is expected will cut the reef at from 800 ft. to 900 ft., and will be about 400 ft. below the workings at the shaft referred to. The crushing-plant belonging to this company consists of a Huntington roller-mill, 3ft. 6in. diameter, and grinding-pans, which are driven by a portable engine, using about seven tons of coal per week when working, which costs, delivered on the ground, £2 7s. per ton. Barewood Beefs. —There have been several miners working the quartz lodes at Barewood, and, according to the battery returns from this locality, 1,970 tons of stone was crushed, which yielded 6590z. of gold. This is a locality where very little attention has heretofore been given, and it is gratifying to find the returns for the last year so encouraging. Old Man Bange. There is a large extent of auriferous country in this range. The surface gravel is in most places greatly intermixed with quartz drift, and some good specimens of gold in quartz are found occasionally in carrying on hydraulic-sluicing operations on the face of the range. This was the case in the locality where White's Eeef is now being worked; the surface gravel was first washed off, which gave good returns of gold for working, and, on the rock being laid bare, the reef on which work is now carried on was exposed to view. The proprietors of this claim, originally held by White's Eeef Company, are Messrs. Syme Brothers. They have been carrying on operations steadily, and during last year they crushed 130 tons of stone, which yielded 119oz. of gold. They are now engaged in constructing a lower adit to open up the lode at a deeper level. Crossan and Gray. —This party found a reef on the face of the range above Bald Hill Flat by sluicing away the surface gravel. There was a water-race brought on to this ground by Mr. Kemp, the proprietor of the hotel and store at Bald Hill Flat, and he gave the prospectors the use of the water to carry a cut into the ground to prospect it. In taking in this cut, two small leaders with gold-bearing stone were exposed to view. After taking down a cut on these leaders about 15ft. deep and a chain in length, the sides came in, and the cut had to be abandoned. A shaft was then sunk, and a lode about 4ft. in thickness struck, at about 6ft. below the bottom of the cut previously taken in. They went down to a depth of 25ft. on the lode and commenced blocking out, and up to the end of March last it was reported to me that they had crushed 315 tons of quartz, which yielded 7660z. of gold. Macetown. There were only two quartz-mining companies working mines in this locality last year— namely, the Premier Consolidated and the Sunrise. The latter company did very little work last year, as the previous crushing from their mine showed the stone of too low grade to pay for working, and they have sold their claim and plant to the Premier Consolidated Company, who have been carrying on continuous operations in and about their mine for the year. A low-level adit has been constructed for a distance of 1,410 ft., and about 60ft. under the old workings. This is the lowest adit that can be taken in. At the time of my visit they had twenty men employed in and about the mine, and three men and two boys attending to the crushing-battery. A tramway has been constructed from the adit mouth for ten chains down the gorge, where a large stone paddock for holding quartz is erected. This paddock is capable of holding about 400 tons of quartz ; and from the paddock to the crushing-battery, a distance of about seven chains, it was proposed to lay down a tramway and tip the quartz into a chute, so as to land it on the floor of the crushing battery in front of the stamp mortars. The lode which they are working varies in width from lft. to 2ft. 6in., but it is well defined and in a better looking country than it was on the upper levels, and, from the appearance of the lode, the quartz should contain more gold than it did on the upper levels. The mine is now well opened up, and the workings ought to be much more economically carried on than in former years. The old overshot water-wheel for driving their crushing-battery has been substituted by a Pelton, and they find they can now do much more work. The crushing-battery consists of ten heads of stamps, and the one recently purchased from the Sunrise Company has also ten heads, so that they have now two batteries of ten heads each. They use an Bin. drop, and make seventy blows per minute ; the stamps in the old battery being 6001b. each when new. There is a fair percentage of pyrites in the stone carrying gold ; but, beyond what is collected on the blanket-tables,