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St. Balkan's Sludge and Main Tailings Channel. —ln consequence of the drought that has been experienced in this locality for a series of years, and the shrinkage of water in the Dunstan Creek, this costly work has been completely submerged by the flow of water and debris from the various claims within the St. Bathan's basin. At one time the tailings threatened to cover a large and costly bridge that spans the channel on the main road to the interior. Last season being a favourable one for water, advantage was taken of it by the claimholders interested in looking after the channel. With but a middling supply of water, the course of the channel has been scoured out, the tailings being reduced from 8 ft. to 10 ft. in depth by 13 ft. wide. Walls are being formed with the only material that can be obtained with economy—viz., matagowrie scrub. The work of deepening has been subsidised by the Government, £1 for £1 up to £1,000, the subsidy to extend over a period of three years. The work of deepening is under the supervision of Mr. J. Eagle, and, if carried out in accordance with a previous survey—viz., 58 ft. deep at All Nations Point—it will be a boon to those who depend upon mining within the prescribed area mentioned. Ewing's Claims. —Mr. John Ewing, whose indomitable perseverance and skill has largely contributed to the success of hydraulic elevating, continues to control the operations of his various claims in Central Otago. At the Kildare Hill, at St. Bathan's, the material is elevated for a height of about 135 ft., which is the greatest depth reached in the district. Good provision is made for the safety of the employes, and at night the claims are mostly lit up with powerful electric lights. At Shepherd's Plat a large proportion of good-sized stones have to be dealt with. This is very successfully done by a stone-transit plant, or modified aerial tramway, which Mr. Ewing has designed for the purpose. The sluiced stuff is conveyed along a short race, fitted with a screen and trap-door at its lower end. The stones are caught on the screen and dropped through the trap-door into a truck having a loose body. When the truck is full the trap-door is closed, and the truck moved away on rails, another truck taking its place under the trap-door. The loaded truck-body is then attached to a hoisting-rope and raised to a convenient height, and then hauled along the wire-rope tramway to where a movable tipping apparatus is secured. This engages the truck-body and allows the load to be tipped, after which the empty truck is returned to its carriage, and the operation repeated on the truck which has been loaded in the meantime. Mr. Ewing states that twenty trucks per hour can be dealt with. The plant is worked by water-power. Number of men employed—Kildare Hill, 6; Vinegar Hill, 5 ; Shepherd's Flat, 16 ; Cambrians, 7 : total, 34. The number of men in the other claims held by Mr. Ewing are—Matakanui, 7 ; Bald Hill Flat, 7; Koxburgh, 6 : total, 20. Matakanui (Tinker's), Dry-bread, and Devonshire. On the whole the season has so far been a good one, and the water-supply has kept up well. The fears that it might soon give out, which were freely expressed by several of the miners, were dispelled to some extent by the very heavy rains which fell about the middle of January. Thirtyfour men are employed at the several claims near the township ; also, six men at the Dry-bread Diggings, and six at the Devonshire Diggings, making a total of forty-six men in the locality. Two dredging claims have recently been taken up, one at each side of the township. The opinion previously expressed—that to work the Matakanui field to the best advantage the whole of the claims should be consolidated, and a good storage-reservoir made in Thompson's Gorge, from which a continuous supply of water could be depended on—still holds good. The old system of paved tail-races, which are only washed up at long intervals, is still adopted here. But better results would in all probability be obtained if the later improvements elsewhere in use were to be adopted ; cocoa-matting and the various kinds of riffles are found to save a larger percentage of gold than the old tail-races appear to have done in the past. Bald Hill Flat. Carrol and Lynch's Claim (Area, 16 acres ; owners, Pierce Carrol and William Lynch; minemanager, Pierce Carrol). —This claim is operated on by ground-sluicing and elevating, the amount of ground worked on during the year being 8 square chains. From this area, or 25,860 yards, 208 oz. 4 dwfc. of gold was yielded, valued at £801 12s. 9d. The length of water-races is seven miles, with a capacity of six heads, and 2,000 ft. of pipes, 15 in.-9 in. Ewing's Claim, Last Chance Claim, Wilkinson's Claim, and several small parties are also engaged in sluicing. Ewing's and Last Chance Claims are worked by elevating. Several parties also continue to work claims in the vicinity of Coal Creek. Boxburgh Amalgamated Claim (Area, 88 acres; owners, Eoxburgh Amalgamated Mining and Sluicing Company, Limited; mine-manager, J. H. Waigth). —During the year a considerable amount of work has been done. The old road from the town to the cemetery has been enclosed, and a new road made in a northerly direction on the east side of the claim, joining the old road nearly a mile above the bridge crossing the Teviot Stream. A layer of sand from 25 ft. to 30ft. thick overlies the wash, and a considerable area of this has been stripped by ground-sluicing. The pipe-line has also been diverted from the penstock to fit in with the altered conditions of the work, and the workshops, &c, removed further back. Three paddocks are open, and near the manager's house the wash is improving very materially, and appears to run back into the unworked ground. Twenty-two men are employed. Dividends were paid during last year. The total area of the claim is 88 acres, of which rather more than one-fourth has been worked. A plan of the claim is kept by the working manager. This is ruled into squares representing a chain each, and the face of the worked ground is marked on the plan from time to time. A similar arrangement exists at Blue Spur, and at the Empire Dredging Claim at W T aipori. If working-plans of all mining and dredging claims were kept in a similar manner it would be found a decided advantage, and most useful. In some parts of the mine the bottom consists of clay, and in the other parts soft rock. Generally speaking the wash is not hard to treat, as the stones are not of a large nature, and are