C—2.

from this lode have been forwarded to England and America for treatment, with the following result: Ore treated in California, value £43 per ton; ore treated at Swansea, England, value £44 per ton. Upwards of 17 tons of ore was sent to Messrs. Johnson, Matthey, and Co., assayers to the Bank of England, in February last year, which contained 9Joz. gold and 540z. silver to the ton of ore, which represents a value of about £50 per ton. A further parcel of 36 tons of ore was sent to the same firm, which was divided into three classes, giving the following result: First class—gold, 9oz. ldwt.; silver, 490z. lOdwt.: or a value of £45 per ton of ore. Second class—gold, soz. 7dwt.; silver, 9oz. :or a value of £23 per ton of ore. The third class was divided into two portions : one portion gave a value of £16 per ton of ore, and the other portion a value of £17 lis. per ton. This company has a special claim of about 160 acres, with numerous lodes going through the ground ; but as yet the surface-ore only has been tested—nothing is known whether the lodes will continue to carry down rich ore to a great depth or not. Silverton Mine. —This mine adjoins the Waihi, but the lode going through the ground is of* a different character. Some very rich stone is obtained from this mine. The lode is 12ft. wide in places, but a good portion of it is composed of low-grade ore. The operations in the mine were suspended for a long time, but were resumed previous to my visit. No stone was crushed last year. Martha Extended Mine. —This mine has been steadily worked for the last six years. The lode near the surface was 30ft. wide in places, and was worked in a face for a certain distance down. An adit-level was constructed at the lowest point that could be got; but the reef got narrower as it went down, and the gold did not seem to improve. The stone has always been of low grade, yielding from 4dwt. to 4-J-dwt. of gold per ton. Last year 2,000 tons of stone was crushed, which yielded 500oz. gold. The mine is worked entirely by tributers, sixteen being employed. One thing has to be said about the low yield from this mine—the crushing-battery where the stone is treated is one of the old type, and not likely to save a high percentage of the gold in the stone, and certainly very little of the silver. It is possible that when the Waihi Company's reduction-works are in full swing it will be found more economical to send the ore to them for treatment. Britannia Mine. —This mine is on the same line of reef as the Martha. A winze has been sunk for a distance of 56ft., and good prospects obtained from the lode, which is about 14ft. in width. Becently this mine has been purchased by the Waihi Company, and will be worked by them in conjunction with the other claim. Waitekauei. There was not a great deal of mining carried on in this district last year, but a considerable amount of preparatory work has been done in the Jubilee Company's ground, where twenty men have been employed. This company are erecting a crushing-battery of ten heads of stamps, five berdans, two grinding-pans, a settler, and shaking concentrating-tables. It is the intention of the company to treat all the large heaps of quartz and mullock in the gully where the battery is erected, and also to work large blocks of quartz, known to be of low grade, near the surface. About six men in all have been employed in the Waitekauri, Welcome, and Eclipse Mines, with the following results : —

There are 30 tons of stone at the Eclipse Mine awaiting treatment. 1 ton 12cwt. of ore from the Welcome was sold to Mr. Chambers, to be treated at the reduction-works at Karangahake by the Parkes process, for £30; but, unfortunately, this process could not extract the bullion from the ore. Te Aeoha Distbict. The most complete reduction-works in the whole of the Australasian Colonies are now erected in this district—namely, that of the Te Aroha Gold- and Silver-mining Company at-Waiorongomai, which is likely to be able to deal with all descriptions and characters of ore found on this field. Before proceeding to give a description of these works a short resume of the history of this field will not be out of place, to show the difficulties that have had to be encountered from time to time since it was first opened. The Te Aroha Goldfield has passed through many phases since it was first opened about seven years ago. It looked at one time the most promising field in the North Island, and everything was done at the outset to get it properly opened up. Messrs. Firth and Clarke erected a large custom reduction-works, and the Piako County constructed a tramway from the leading mines then opened up to connect them with these works, at a cost of £18,000, of which amount the Government contributed to the" extent of £9,000. A fixed tariff of 10s. per ton was charged for treatment. No expense was spared in the erection of this crushing-plant to make it as complete as possible ; indeed, it was the most complete plant erected in the colony at that time, costing about £20,000. The field w Tas therefore opened under the most favourable auspices.

43

Name of Mine. Quartz crushed. Yield of Gold. Number of Men employed. Average Yield of Gold per Ton. Waitekauri... Welcome iclipse Tons. 276 65 Specimens Oz. 85 75 5 3 2 1 Oz. dwt. gr. 0 5 10 14 0 Total 341 165