a—3

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The northern end of the range shows the presence of a schistose slaty breccia, similar in character to that seen at Tinker's, Drybread, and Criffel face, in the Cardrona Valley. Extensive sluicing is being carried on at the western base of Kyeburn Peak, a large claim being there situated directly on the line that would connect the workings at Mount Buster with those at the Upper Kyeburn Township. Opposite this, and about one mile and a half distant, another sluicing claim is being worked, in the upper part of the Little Kyeburn, a little below where the road begins to ascend Mount Buster. So far as could be ascertained, the larger claims, having at command a good supply of water, yield satisfactory returns. Mr. McKay, in his last year explorations, in tracing the quartz drift from Mount Buster, Kyeburn, and the Maniototo Plains, found the drift exposed at the surface on the road leading from the Taieri Bridge to Ewe Burn and Naseby. Here, Mr McKay states, the drift lies at low angles, and spreads over a considerable breadth of country. To the south-east they pass under the basaltic sheet developed in the middle of the Maniototo Plain, while to the north-west they are overlain by the recent sandstone gravels of Ewe Burn Creek. Along the double ridge striking in the direction of Ewe Burn Schoolhouse, they extend four or five miles, and these beds are so disposed and situated that they might be prospected to very considerable depths without encountering water. The bore-hole put down at the Ewe Burn, for the purpose of proving the existence of artesian water, in its deeper part passed through these beds, and gold was found in the material brought up from a considerable depth in this bore-hole. Much lower beds would be met with at the surface within a mile or so of the Taieri Bridge. This area is well worth prospecting, even though the quartz drifts could not be passed though or bottomed, because gold in paying quantities does occur at different horizons in these quartz-drifts. No prospecting has been done over this area other than one or two shallow holes put down to prove the rewash deposit on the sides of the low spurs within a short distance of the junction of the Hog Burn with the Taieri. Little gold has ever been obtained from the Ewe Burn Creek bed, but the line of quartz drift traced east from the Wether Burn is returned considerably to the north, and crosses the Ewe Burn Valley in the line of Butcher's Gully, where some workings, now abandoned, have been carried on; also in the bed of the Ewe Burn, at about where the quartz drifts cross, gold-workings once were, though no one is working there at present. The rocks of the Mount Ida Range are not goldbearing, and it is from this source that the recent gravels of the Ewe Burn Valley are supplied: hence their non-auriferous character, except near the point where the line of quartz drift crosses the creek. Hamilton's. "With an ample water-supply, the whole of the quartz drift in the lagoon-basin at Hamilton's would, ere this, have been washed away ; but two or three parties, with a limited supply of water, alone are working the ground. The sweeping-out of the lagoon-basin is not likely to be accomplished for many years to come. The smaller area of quartz drift at the Shepherd's Hut has been largely, and, lately, more energetically worked than the same deposit at Hamilton's. At both places the great drawback is the lack of water, which is scarce so soon as the snow has melted off the northern part of the Eock and Pillar Eange, which is not high enough to retain snow longer than the middle of December. Between Hamilton's and the Taieri Eiver, above the Taieri Lake, the slope of the range is covered by a thick sheet of basaltic rock, underneath which there are white clays, underlain by quartz drifts, that outcrop to the surface at the north-west limits of the volcanic sheet, and also in the south-west- or up-hill side of this area. This latter line of outcrop has been worked as far as could be done on account of water, and, as reported to Mr. McKay, good prospects of gold were still to be had when the works along this line were abandoned. There should be no difficulty in proving these quartz drifts at many places along the northwest line of outcrop, nor, considering that from the Taieri Eiver to Hamilton's there is a rise of 800 ft., should there be the least difficulty in draining by audits the quartz drifts under the basalt sheet. Considering that Hamilton's has yielded a very large amount of gold since it was opened, and that the grits under the basalt have been worked along their south-west outcrop, it is somewhat surprising that nothing has been done to prove these beds where they underly the volcanic rock, more especially since, according to Mr. McKay's description, and the section of the beds he shows, this could very easily be done. The volcanic rocks of Hamilton's stretch across the Taieri, and form a ridge of low hills between the Taieri Lake and the lower part of the Hogburn Valley. On the north-east side of the Taieri the volcanic beds dip to the south-east, and thus the underlying white clays and quartz grits tend to appear, and the latter do actually appear in the low ridges between the lower courses of the Hogburn and the Eweburn before these streams make junction with the Taieri. This is a part of the district which has never been prospected, apparently because the surface indications are that the ground is likely to be very deep to the auriferous stratum; but it would appear that, since the quartz drifts over a considerable area are actually at the surface, the depth to sink may not be so great after all. For the present, however, there is scope enough for prospecting under the basalt sheet of Hamilton's, where the bottom can be reached and the beds proved as to their auriferous character. Hyde. Mining at Hyde is in a very backward state at the present time. A very limited water-supply is available, and those holding the bulk of the water are engaged in sluicing the bed of Hyde Creek, near the Taieri, and thus bringing up a low-level tail-race, by means of which, eventually,