The whole of these lodes will be worked below the water level as soon as the air-compressor and winding gear can be erected, so that the output of the mine will then be considerably increased. The com pressed-air engines for this purpose aie of 20-horse po.vyer each, and besides working the winding and pumping gear they are intended to drive a ttauple o£ rock drills and ventilate the mine. Messrs Kincaid, M'Queen, and Co. were supplying thip machinery, the greater part of. which was on the ground at the time of our visit. A shaft to re.acji the lower levels has been sunk on a gold-bearing ~par+, of the Main' lode to a depth of between 80f t' ami -90fi. It is of very capacious dimensions — 12{t by*4^if,—and will give plenty of room for pumping and winding from a depth of 1000 ft. A drive will be gab jn from the present bottom of the

shaft for 110 ft to the Middle lode, so as to strike it at a place where it bears gold. A commodious chamber is also being cut out for the necessary winding and pumping gear. The reserves of stone in the mine are of con siderable extent —viz., as follows :—Middle lode (below the water line), nearly 300 ft long; Promised Land Lode, 200 ft; North lode, oOOL't; Main lode not known. Above the water, line: Middle lode, 500 ft long, with height not yet known. In the Promised Land lode there are no reserves above the water, and the North and Main lodes have also been worked out to the sur face. The two last-mentioned lodes are those originally prospected, and have been worked at the «west end of the ground only. In our wanderings underground Mr Evans frequently stopped to see how the work was being done, or how the stone was looking, and these halts gave us an opportunity of seeing something of the miners. Generally speaking, they seemed a fine lot of harcl working fellows, and it was evident that while the process of muscular development had been going on they had not neglected the mental faculties. As a rule, the average working man gets rid of a considerable amount of adipose tissue when the " boss" is around; but these. 