Blackstone Hill liange is covered with the outcrops of qu ar ' z ' ree f s more or less auriferous, a trial-crushing—and tho first and only one—lately taken from one of them, yielding 41wts per ton, a return which might be greatly improved by further explorations, as most of the paying quartz-reefs of to day, in Otago, have, to my knowledge, at times yielded even less than that amount per ton, and for months at a time, but their owners' motto was " Nil Despcrandum," one which your Prospecting Association, I am sorry to remark, are too faint-hearted to adopt as yet. At Rough Ridge, quartz-reefing has been carried on intermittently and in a very desultory fashion for over 17 years, and there are reefs in all directions, from which, at various times, such yields as from one to three ounces per ton have been obtained, and to-day are lying idle, and this is "another of those things no fellah can understand." About 16 years ago, the Tda Valley Quartz-mining Com pany was formed, and a spleudid crushing-plant of ten heads erected on the Homeward Bound claim, and, after some years of varied success, the Company collapsed, and the battery, etc., was sold and vemoved to Bendigo. So far as I know, or can learn, the fault did not lie with the reefs; mismanagement, local jealousies and distrust sapped this promis ing venture, and it incontinently " bust." Some time after, a fresh start was made, and a steam-battery erected on the Great Eastern claim. This, after very varied fortunes from similar causes, has fallen into the hands of a few Naseby and local proprietors, and passes its quiet existence in crushing for the public, when the said public have any crushing to do, which, lam surprised 1 and sorry to notice, is not often. At present it is engaged on stone raised by Mr E. A. Withers, one of the pro prietors, from a claim opened by bim on the old Homeward Bound line. A washing-up lately gave a return of nearly one ounce per ton, and he now intends keeping the stamps going for a month or two, before cleaning up. 