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spected. The prospecting of this flat was stimulated by the finding of rich gold high up on the slope from Lyell Creek to the flat. This gold was supposed to have broken away from the edge of the flat, and it must be confessed that this was probably the case. How far it was concentrated in its passage down the slope towards Lyell Creek is another matter, which future enterprise must determine. In Lyell Creek itself the alluvial gold-workings are confined within the limits of a very narrow valley ; at many places extremely gorgy, and practically a gorge throughout. Quartz-mining is now and will be the most important form of gold-mining. There are in the valley of Lyell Creek some old-established mines—notably the United Alpine and the Low-level Extended Companies, the former has been a prominent mine for the past twenty years. The Lowlevel Tunnel must be mentioned in this place as a work of great importance to mining in the district. In the New Creek district the different mines are not yet fully equipped, and the initiatory prospecting stage has yet to be passed, but, as an area for auriferous quartz-mining, its prospects are similar to those of the Lyell Creek, the rocks being the same, and continuous between these places. Block XXV. —This extends along both banks of the Maruia, a distance of thirteen miles from the southern boundary of Block VIII. The average width of the block is one mile, and the total area 8,320 acres. The surface is constituted by steep mountain slopes on each side of a narrow valley. The whole area is heavily timbered, except where there have been some clearings made by man. The level lands in this part of the valley are very limited, and are confined to the east or right-hand bank of the river. There are a few miners scattered along the bank of the river, and probably their number would be increased were freer communications to be had with the more settled districts of the Buller Valley. Land fit for settlement is of very limited extent, and it is just such lands—the alluvial flats along the banks of the river—that are required for mining purposes. Where not too gorgy, dredging for gold might be carried on in the bed of the river itself. Payable gold, but nothing remarkably rich, seems to be got along the river banks at almost any point where gravel or finer shingle has accumulated. Block XXVI. —This block also extends along the Maruia, a distance of thirteen miles, and has the same average width as Block XXV., and its area is the same—namely, 8,320 acres. For the first five miles, following the river upwards, the mountains are close to the river on the east side of the valley, but on the west side there are some flat lands between the river and the ranges which towards the lower end of the block may be distant half- to three-quarters of a mile. Between five miles and nine miles the river valley is more confined and gorgy, and for about two miles is difficult to pass even on foot. In this part of the valley a number of miners are settled, and were the cost of provision less than it is, there can be no doubt but that a considerable population would be engaged in gold-mining along the banks of the river. A good track requires to be made along the whole iength of the valley, from the Buller to the Maruia Plains, where it would join the track over the range to the Matakitaki. Above the gorge the Maruia is joined by the Warbeck coming from the east. At the mouth of this small stream some gold-mining is at present being carried on, and higher up along the banks of the river to the gravel gorge of the old glacies-moraine stretched across the valley a mile above the juncture of the Warbeck. Above this the river runs along the foot of a high terrace on its left bank, and it has some flats at a lower level, principally on the left bank. Block XXVII. —This forms an area of about three miles square, and contains 6,250 acres. It extends across the Maruia Biver from a mile up Station Creek to the foot of the Granite Mountains, on the opposite side of the river. At one time thirty to forty miners were working in Station Creek, but at the present time no work is being done on this stream. As part of the Maruia Plains, the land within this block, although fully averaging in quality the whole plain, cannot be classed as good grazing land. The climate is cold in winter, and vegetation is completely checked from April to October. Block XXVIII. —This extends along the upper valley of the Maruia from the boundary of Block XXVII, for a distance of thirteen miles, with an average width of one mile and a quarter. The area of the block is 8,320 acres. For the most part the land is flat river-bed, poor shingle-bed, or grassy flats of better quality bordering the river, or bush-clad mountain slopes, where these confine the valley and the river to a width of a few chains or a quarter of a mile. The country away from the river-flats is bush-clad. Some parts of the banks of the river are good grass lands, but the back of the stoney plain bears but a struggling grass vegetation of tussock. Above the junction of the Alford the river valley becomes a ravine between two mountain ranges of mica-schist. Gold is known to exist on the hill slopes on the left side of the valley, and a number of miners are at present working on the Alford, but these are outside the limits of the block. Block XXlX. —This extends along both banks, but principally along the eastern bank, of the Matakitaki Biver to Horse Flat, one mile above the junction of the Glenroy with the Matakitaki. The total length is twenty-one miles, the average breadth half a mile, and the area 3,400 acres. On the west side of the valley, to the junction of the Glenroy, the range descends abruptly to the level of the river, and there are thus no flat lands of any considerable extent on that side of the valley. On the opposite or east side of the valley a variable breadth of flat bush-covered land extends twelve miles up the river. Beyond this the hills form high slopes, overlooking the river on both sides of the valley, and to the junction of the Glenroy the extent of flat terrace-land is much more limited. In the lower part of the valley there is a considerable extent of flat terrace land, but this is mostly covered with birch bush, an exclusive growth of which indicates very poor land. These lands, wherever of any value, have already been taken up, and are for the most part occupied. From the ford and bend in the river below the junction of the Glenroy Biver, to the south boundary of the block, the level lands of limited extent form high terraces on both banks of the river. Their value as agricultural lands is very little, and they are mostly being worked for gold. The gold-workings in the Matakitaki Valley are chiefly along the banks of the river and on the lower river flats. There is generally a poor supply of water, and all the water that can readily be