a—s,

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In addition to this, we have spent £171 14s. 9d. on Mine Development Account, £143 4s. 3d. on New Plant Account, £4 Os. 3d. on New Buildings Account, and £12 15s. 6d. on Prospecting Account, all of which works are chargeable to capital. On Mining Account, that is, rising, crosscutting and stoping, the sum of £1,366 Bs. has been spent to obtain 1,098 tons of ore, or an average of £1 4s. 9d. per ton mined. 1,265 tons of ore was milled at a cost of £251 19s. Bd. or an average of 3s. lid. per ton milled. The treatment of 15 tons of concentrates was omitted from the previous half-year's report, which yielded 101 oz. 9 dwt. 15 gr., valued at £308 Is. 6d. It has cost £162 9s. for mine-maintenance—that is, keeping the main low-level adit, incline, and the return ventilation-tunnel in repair. The total expenditure on revenue accounts for the half-year, all charges, amounted to £2,580 4s. 9d., or an average of £2 3s. 4d. per ton mined and milled. Development-work : I have been strongly of opinion for some time past that there is a good prospect of striking payable stone between passes Nos. 14 and 20 in the incline. I may state that from passes Nos. 1 to 14 there were two reefs ; one in the hanging-wall and one in the footwall. The hanging-wall reef was met with in the incline tunnel and was of fair quality, and on being worked up to a height of 20 ft. at No. 1 pass, indications led us to believe that a reef existed in the footwall; a crosscut was consequently started, and a distance of 15 ft. driven, when the footwall reef was discovered and found to be of good quality. This chute of stone continued and was worked down to No. 14 pass when it ran small but was still gold-bearing. Mr. Stanford (who was manager at the time) considered that it was too expensive to open up, and it was decided to discontinue operations on this line. The distance to rise from the incline to cut this line will be between 65 ft. and 70 ft. lam of opinion that if this reef was picked up again and followed, it would prove payable. I have often thought of going on with this work, and my only reason for not doing so long ago was the possibility of the reef not being so good as I believe it is, and perhaps not proving remunerative. There is, of course, a certain amount of risk, but, at the same time, I believe we ought to open up this line again. Our margin of profit has been so small lately, owing to the great amount of deadwork to be carried out in opening up our present workings, that lam almost afraid to start any new work. The above is work that I would recommend, and will be glad if the directors will sanction it. There is another venture that lam of opinion offers a fair chance of success, and that is, to drive back on the line of reef, from the incline, say from pass No. 20. This drive would be towards the east and would be under the present incline tunnel. This would, I think, be a good move as it would cut any chutes of stone that may have gone underfoot from the incline. This, I think, is all the more desirable, as it is an utter impossibility to approach this ground from any other point, as our present low-level adit has,been driven from the lowest possible point obtainable — namely, the creek-level —so that our present incline is the only means by which the Premier Mine can be worked. Ido not know of any other work that I would recommend in connection with the mine, except that which can be carried out from the incline." Tipperary Mine (owners, the Indian Glenrock (Wynaad) Company (Limited), Macetown). —Mr. William Patton, manager, writes : " I beg to report that having received instructions from the London oard of directors, I resumed work at the Tipperary Mine on the 4th December, last. Ventilation : This mine having been closed down for about five years, was found, on resuming work on the 4th December to be full of bad air, so that it was impossible to get through to ascertain what state the main adit was in. The first thing to do under the circumstances was to construct a water blast, so as to enable us to go on with repairing-work. This work was successfully carried out, so that we are now pushing ahead with the repairs, which prove to be more serious than I expected owing to the large chamber at the hauling-shaft being broken down, but it is impossible to say to what extent, as the tunnel is filled up, and access to the inner part of the tunnel is impossible in the meantime. Eepairing Tram-line from Mine to Mill: This work is almost completed and a good job is being made of it. A good deal of damage was done to the line by heavy floods in the spring, which carried away some of the walls along the banks of the creek. These, however, are almost all rebuilt, and in about two weeks the road will be in work-ing-order. Cleaning and Repairing Water-race : This work will be taken in hand immediately the tramline is finished, and will take some time to complete as the race is filled up in places. There is also a long stretch of wooden boxes, which will require renewing (the length being about 100 ft.), and will cost £10 to £15. We shall, however, have this work carried out as cheaply as possible until the reef is tested." Cromwell. Cromwell Proprietary Gold-mining Company, Bendigo (C. S. Reeves, legal manager).—As stated in last year's report this property was let on tribute to the Bendigo Gold-mining Company (Limited), by whom it was sublet on tribute to M. B. Edwards and party. Operations, however, have not been in the direction of the development of the mine, but have been confined to prospecting for payable stone in the higher levels. To further test the permanency and value of the stone at depth, the proposed lowlevel tunnel from Bendigo Gully will require to be driven. This proposal received due consideration from the London board of directors, but the desired instructions are not forthcoming. Tenders were subsequently called for the purchase of the property of the Cromwell Proprietary Gold-mining Company (Limited) of Bendigo, consisting of mining-licenses, water-races, winding and crushing plant, and the whole concern was sold at a small figure to Mr. D. B. Waters, mining-engineer, who, it is understood, was acting on behalf of a small syndicate. Bendigo Tailings Syndicate, Bendigo (S. E. Brent, secretary).—Cyaniding operations were carried on until the clean tailings in the storage-dam became exhausted. Attention was then turned to the accumulation of battery-tailings, which had been discharged into the creek and allowed to run to waste for many years, and are now lying spread out from the foot of Bendigo Gully. The deposit is covered by creek debris, and a much larger plant is required than the one in use in order to treat the tailings profitably. Some preliminary work was done, but operations had been suspended for the greater part of the year.