c.—2,

of the endless rope, and direct haulage is now used in a crosscut driven from near the end of the main haulageroad to the No. 1 seam-workings. A small seam was cut in the crosscut and a place was driven for 30 yards to the north, but the seam thinned to 2 ft. To the south of the haulage-road into No. 1 seam a prospect dip was driven into that seam. When first met it was 5 ft. thick, but it is only 2£ ft. thick at the face. The water flowing down the new main return-airway has been picked up and conveyed 3,000 ft. to the main haulage-road by in. pipes, and there enters the main lodgment. Kaitangata No. 2 Mine. —Pillaring was continuous in the No. 6 section and very little remains to be extracted therefrom. The slant dip in the No. 2 seam section has been driven 15 chains to the southwest, but, not being to the full dip, it was stopped. When the upper south levels from near the head of the slant were in 12 chains the coal thinned, so pillaring was commenced. In the upper north places the seam was from 5 ft. to 8 ft. in thickness. From a lower north level a dip place was driven almost due west. When 4£ chains down an upthrow fault of 15 ft. was met. To cross this fault an incline at a grade of lin 5 was driven and at the top of the incline 8 ft. of coal was worked. A level has been driven 4 chains to the south, from below the fault, in coal 6 ft. thick. A place has been set away to the south-east from this level and a connection will be made back to and on the bearing of the slant dip. This will shorten the haulage considerably when it is effected. Benhar Mine.—The main dip is now down 800 ft. from the surface, and is still in good clean lignite. The upper south levels, approaching the barrier between the old and the new mines, have been stopped. The top north level is in 5 chains from the main dip. The seam is full of clay backs there, so that place will soon be stopped. The rest of the places both north and south are in clean lignite. The ventilating-fan was removed from its old site and installed, with arrangements for air-reversal, at the new mine early in the year. The old mine was then sealed. Brighton Mine. —Having driven under the traffic road and left a barrier to the east of that road a level was driven to the south east. From this level a back heading was broken away to go back and parallel with the drive under the road. The seam proved to be dipping there instead of rising. To the north-east the seam is also dipping, so it appears that the drive under the road is on an anticline. They will soon give up working this mine, and reopen another nearer the main Brighton Road. Green's Mine, Gore.—The electrically driven centrifugal pump arrived early in the year and was installed near the bottom of the main dip. The 20 h.p. totally enclosed squirrel-cage A.C. motor is direct-coupled to a 4 in. single-stage pump, capable of 10,000 gallons per hour against a head of 155 ft. The main dip has been extended only 3 chains below the deviation, and most of the output for the year was produced from the north places. At the face of two of those going towards the old workings a considerable quantity of water was seeping so they were stopped. The plan shows one of these places to be 2f chains and the other over 3 chains away from the old workings. An automatic indicator has been procured for the ventilating-fan and records 0-10 in. of water-gauge. Otikerama Mine. —This was originally an opencast pit, but it was decided to put in drives to the north and south. The north level is about 2 chains in, but, being driven too wide, the owners were instructed to reduce the width to 14 ft. The south level is also in 2 chains and will reach the boundary in another half-chain. Ramsay's Pit, McNab.—From 6 ft. to 8 ft. of bottoms were taken up, and as the lignite was thinning to the east and south the pit was abandoned on 2nd August, 1930. Rosedale Pit, McNab. —This pit was formerly worked by a Mr. A. Reinke, The clay overburden, about 6 ft. thick, has been stripped for a dozen yards in length and 6 ft. in width over a seam of lignite 20 ft. thick. A small petrol-driven pump is used to unwater the pit. Hakatea Pit, Waimumu. —To the north a fair amount of stripping has been done and is kept well ahead of the face of lignite, which is 12 ft. thick with only 3 ft. of clay overburden. Larking's Pit, Waimumu. —Mr. P. Larking, formerly of Mataura, has recently opened up another lignite-pit about 20 chains east of a traffic road and 30 chains from the Hakatea Pit. A long trench was cut to the floor of the seam and 2 in. pipes laid in the trench. About 8 ft. of lignite is being worked with 3 ft. of clay stripping. A tramway of 3 in. by 2 in. scantlings has been laid across a paddock to the traffic road. Glenlee Mine.—Work in the main north level was resumed early in the year, and has been continued there and also in a place to the south-east. The timber supports at the mine-entrance have been renewed with blue-gum sets. Ramsay's Mine, North Chatton.—The land was sold for grazing purposes, and no further mining will be done. Argyle Pit. —The new water-race has been completed, and, with the new dam, is now in use. Work has been continued to the south, and a good supply of lignite has been stripped. Further stripping will be done before the demand for lignite again increases, and the shorter route for the tailings will be completed from the pit to the Waikaia River. Melver's Pit, Waikaia. —A considerable amount of stripping has been done to the south-east and the small output was obtained from bottoms, near the centre of the pit. Northcoat's Pit, Waikaia.—Early in the year the small output was rather dirty, owing to clay backs and there not being sufficient water available to wash away the clay. At the north end of the pit the stripping contained large boulders of greywacke. In October a large slip occurred, about half-way along the face, burying many tons of lignite which had been stripped. Owing to shortage of water, they have not yet been able to remove the debris, but have continued working to the north, where they are working the top of the seam. Wendon Mine. —Some more top coal was won from the old mine, and then the new dip, 15 chains to the south, was again worked. It is now down about 3 chains at a grade of 1 in 5, and has only a few* yards farther to go to reach old workings. The seam is of good quality and almost vertical, and contains many clay backs. When the old workings are .reached, the tops, about 10 ft. in thickness, will then be worked back. Terrace Mine, Kingston Crossing.—This mine was abandoned towards the end of 1929. Princhester Creek Pit.—Stripping has been continued to the east, and a sufficient supply got ready for the winter trade. Further east the overburden is light. To take advantage of the small amount of sunshine in the gully the upper portion of the seam was worked first. The water-supply for sluicing away the overburden was much restricted during the first few months, but there is now a fair supply in the dam. At the northwest corner of the pit the seam is now only 2 ft. thick and, should it continue to thin along the north side, only about 200 tons remain to work from this pit, but prospecting farther to the north may reveal additional supplies. Boghead Mine. —For another year the dip has not been extended and the output has been won from the bords to north and south. The faces of the two lowest north bords are about a chain away from the boundary, and the places to the rise have been stopped. A little lignite was also won from an opencast area north of the mine-entrance. Mataura J.ignite Mine. —Development to the south-west was completed in September. The dip was again worked and has been extended 4 chains, the face now being 19 chains from the surface and within a chain of the boundary. The extension of the dip was kept within the stipulated width of 12 ft. and height of 8 ft. Five miners are employed at present in the lower east bords. Larking's Pit, Mataura. —Stripping was continued to the south and east, but the overburden increased to over 13 ft. in thickness. It became unprofitable to work the pit, which was closed in July. Ota Creek Pit.—Lignite was won intermittently during the year from the south end of the pit. Wyndham Pit. —No work was done at this pit during the year. Gabites' Pit, Menzies Ferry.—This pit has been abandoned.

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