37

C—2.

Prince, Alfred Mine. —The pillars having been withdrawn near the bottom of the dip workings, and a good fall not having taken place, a creep has occurred, and the return airway is blocked sor 6 chains from the surface. Good timber supports are being used in the workings and on the dip haulage-road.. Ngapara Mine.- —The working-places are being driven about 9 ft. wide and 7 ft. high, and very little timber is required. The workings are dry, and the small amount of water which enters is let away by places being sunk into the underlying gravels. The ventilation is good, and the mine is in very good order. Shag Point Mine. —In the north level, off a short steep dip, the coal became sooty, and the level was stopped when, about 3 chains in. Tho coal is fairly clean in the south level, but it is inclined to be thin, being now about 3 ft. in thickness. Shag Point Coal-mining Company's Mine. —A short dip, about 24, chains in length, was driven from the inbye end of tho west level off tho main dip. A level is now in about 6 chains to the west from the bottom of this dip. The coal is fairly clean from this area, and most of the output is now obtained from there. In the places to the rise of the west level the coal becomes very stony and eventually unprofitable to work. The mine is well timbered and ventilated Kyeburn Diggings Mine. —No output for the year. Wedderburn (Shea's Mine). —A small seam of lignite overlain by about 4 ft. of gravel. Gimmerburn Mine. —A small opencast pit from which coal is mined for local sale. Botting's Mine. —No output for the year. Rough Ridge Mine. —Very little work was done at this opencast pit during the year. Idaburn Mine. —An oil-engine driving a small centrifugal pump has displaced a vertical steam boiler and pulsometcr. There is only about 6 ft. overburden on the thick seam. Oturehua Mine (Becker Bros.). —Another opencast pit where an oil-engine and small centrifugal pump a.re used.. Tho stripping is well ahead of the working-face. Lowis's Mine. —No coal was produced during the year from this small opencast pit. Dillon's Mine. —An opencast pit from, which a small output, for private use, was obtained. Wade's Mine. —This small seam of crushed lignite was not worked during the year. Armitage's Mine. —A small opencast pit worked for private use. St. Balkan's Mine. —A thick seam of lignite with only a few feet of overburden, which is carted away from the pit. Cambrian Mine. —The overburden —which is fairly heavy—is sluiced away, by water, under pressure of approximately 100 lb. per square inch. The working-face is in good order. Wheeler's Mine, St. Balkan's. —A small output was produced from this opencast pit. Lwuderlane Mine. —An opencast pit in which the seam is very steeply inclined and is in contact with the schist. This seam will need to be worked bord-and-pillar if it is further developed. Alexandra Mine. —Pillaring was continued during the year, two miners being employed. Owing to the heaving floor the return airway needs frequent repair. McPherson's Mine. —An opencast pit from which the overburden, up to 70 ft. in depth, is being sluiced away. The coal is conveyed to Roxburgh and Miller's Flat by motor-trucks. Cromwell Mine. —Owing to the soft clay floor the main dip drive, formerly 6 ft. in height, is now only 3 ft. A new dip has been started a few chains nearer the town, and, when completed, this will be used for haulage purposes instead of the present dip. The working-places are being driven narrow, and the faces are fairly well timbered. Shepherd's Creek Mine. —The pillars are now being worked about 500 ft. down from the mine-entrance, and they will last about'three years. The workings are in good order, and the ventilation, is fairly good. Cardrona Mine. —An opencast pit worked for local requirements. Nevis Mine. —The seam is almost vertical, and up to 60 ft. in thickness. As the supply available for opencast work is nearly exhausted, it will soon be necessary to sink on the seam to supply the local requirements. Nevis Grossing Mine. —At this mine also the available opencast work will soon be exhausted. Another pit further down the valley will shortly be opened, and the overburden will be sluiced away by the present water-supply. Fernhill Mine. —Owing to heating occurring on the main heading, about 5 chains from the entrance, six stoppings had to be put in, and the available area of pillars is in consequence very much reduced. The large deposit of buildingsand, which overlies the old mine, is being extensively worked. Freeman's Mine. —Three pillar places are still being worked. Ventilation is produced by an underground furnace built twenty years ago. Jubilee Mine. —The section of solid workings to the west of the main dip and north of the old Brighton Road has been proceeded with, and five of the working-places have reached the boundary. A block of pillars cast of the main haulage has been successfully extracted, and pillaring was also continued in the upper seam. Those on the east side of the heading have been extracted to within two chains of the main level. Saddle Hill A T o. 1 Mine (including Burnwell Mine). —The pillar section is nearing exhaustion. A new drive, going towards the Glenochicl old mine, is down 34, chains, the last chain being in rather dirty coal. Saddle Hill No. 2 Mine. —The mine was exhausted and the plant removed during March. Walton Park Mine. —The dip was extended to the permanent water-level, and a horse-road driven above waterlevel through pillars in the old Prince of Wales shaft workings (1870-71) and through several pillars left in the early Walton Park workings (1878). Tho bords were found standing well, and were cleaned up, and the fallen roof coal, which was inclined to heat, filled away. Manuka props erected during the first workings remained in position and were perfectly sound, as were also several wooden brattice stoppings put in about 1900. The old pillars aro Very narrow, being only two or three yards in width, but they are being withdrawn safely and successfully. Top coal is also being worked back. East Taieri Mine. —Tho flood which occurred in April caused a large landslide, which completely covered tho old mine-entrance. It was deemed inadvisable to remove this largo quantity of debris. The southern area has been worked bord-and-pillar up to the large fault, the throw of which has not been proved. Willowbank Mine. —The altitude of this mine is the highest in the district. It is situated near the saddle at the foot of the lesser Saddle Hill. The main level has been driven about 3 chains in, and a place on the south side has met troubled ground. Another place going north has struck a large " roll." The seam is a large one, being about 20 ft. in thickness. Brighton Mine. —This is another mine which was damaged by the floods early in the year. A considerable quantity of loose sand was carried into the mine, and another outlet had to be made for a return airway. The clay stoppings —put in about eighteen months ago —are standing well, and were successful in cooling off the area. Ruanui Mine. —This mine was closed down at the end of January. Waronui Mine. —As the coal at the face of the main dip drive thinned rapidly and became stony this drive was stopped in August. The stone is very irregular, and appears as intrusions rather than bands. From a point 200 ft. along the bottom west level another dip has been driven over 400 ft. Pillars have been extracted from another west level section. A few chains north-west of the mine-mouth a borehole was put down by hand. It was estimated to strike coal at 100 ft., but after drilling 200 ft. without success the hole was abandoned. Crichton Mine. —This mine was worked continuously until August. It was then shut down, and again reopened early in December. The mine is about half a mile from the traffic-road, and the lignite is hauled up to the road by a steam-winch. Lakeside Mine. —Closed down on the 3rd May. Taratu, Mine. —Shaft section : There was no development work at this section during the year, and all the output was produced from pillar-extraction from the eastern and northern districts. Barclay's section : Development to the east of the main drivo (in Section 20) proceeded apace in clean coal 30 ft. in thickness. In a small pillar section south of these solid workings the pillars are being extracted and the top coals worked back. Tuakitoto Mine. —Mining has been continued in a small way during the year. The natural ventilation is good. Kaituna Mine. —The old dip heading closed through the heaving floor, and side coal was taken off in an endeavour to make a water lodgment, but owing to " crush " the dip was eventually abandoned and a crosscut was driven on the