REPORT UBRARY *- UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORf . RIVERSIDE CHARLES L WEAVER COLLEC1 E O I, O & Y SOUTH-WEST PAUT OF NELSON AND THE NORTHERN PART OF AVESTLAND. AI.EXA.NDEB McKAY. F.O.S. GOVERNMENT GEOLOGIST. SECOND EDITION. MY AUTHORITY : JOHN MACKAY, GOVEKNMENT PKINTEK. 1897. 11 E P O E T GEOLOGY OF THE SOUTH-WEST PART OF NELSON AND THE NORTHERN FART OF WESTLAND. BY ALEXANDER MoKAY. F.G.S. SECOND EDITION. )<Y AUTHOKITY : JOHN MACKAY, GOVERNMENT PRINTEK, J897. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. THIS Report is reprinted from the Mines Reports for 1895 and 1896, the descriptions of the blocks reserved for min- ing purposes being taken from the Mines Reports for the latter year. The matter of the Report has been but little altered, the principal object being to meet the demand for copies of the Report and to provide it in a handier page than that on which it was originally produced. A. McKAY, 7th December, 1897. CONTENTS. Page A. McKay to Under -Secretary for \ Mines, forwarding Report . . 1 j Chief Areas over which Auriferous Quartz Lodes occur . . . . 2 East side of Inangahua Valley . . 2 Mount Davy Range . . . . 2 Paparoa Range . . Waiinangaroa and Mount William 2 Their limited extent in Total of Area examined . . . . 2 Gneissic Schist and Granites of higher part of Paparoa Range . . . . 3 The Maitai Rocks the Principal Source of Gold in Recent Creek and River Alluviums . . . . 3 And Probably to the Tertiary Gravels of Pleiocene date . . . . 3 The " Old-man Bottom " as a Source of Gold to Younger Alluvial Deposits 4 Beach Workings . . . . . . 4 j Gold in Cements of Cretaceous date 5 , In the Grey Valley . . . . 5 | In the Inangahua Valley . . 5 In the Buller Lower Gorge . . 5 In the Upper Buller Valley . . 6 GEOLOGY OF GKEY AND BULLER VALLEYS, General Sketch . . . . . . 6 Grey Valley . . : . . . . 6 Buller Valley .. ... .. 9 The Warbeck River ... ..10 The Matakitaki River .. .. 10 Glenroy River . . . . . . 10 Upper Buller to Inangahua Junction 11 Inangahua Valley ... .. 11 Lower Bullet Gorge . . . . 14 Blackwater to Hawk's Crag . . 15 Lower Buller and Coast-line North to Waimangaroa . . . . 16 Coastal Track, Lower Buller to the Fox River . . . . . . 16 Coast-line, Fox River to Barrytown 18 Barrytown to Grey Valley . . 18 WESTLAND DISTRICT, Grey River to Marsden and Valley of New River . . . . . . 18 Teremakau Valley . . . . 19 Arahura Valley and District . . 20 Hokitika Valley and Valley of the Three-mile Creek . . . . 21 Totara watershed, Ross, and Mt. Greenland .. .. ..22 TABLE OF FORMATIONS. Page Recent, (a.) Glacier Deposits . . . . 23 (6.) River Alluvia . . . . 24 In the Hokitika Valley . . 24 On Kanieri River . . . . 24 In the Three-mile Creek . . 25 In the Arahura Valley . . 25 On the Kawhaka River . . 25 In the Waimea Valley . . 25 In Greek's and Duffer's Creeks 26 In the Kapitea Watershed . . 26 On the south side of Teremakau Valley .. .. ..26 In Donegal Creek . . . . 26 In the New River watershed . . 27 In the Grey Valley . . . . 27 In Ford's Creek . . . . 27 In Blackball Creek . . . . 28 In Valley of the Roaring Meg . . 28 In Moonlight Valley . . . . 28 In Garden Gully . . . . 28 In Slaty Creek . . . . 29 In Blacksand Creek . . . . 29 On the Arnold Flat . . . . 30 In the Valley of the Big Grey . . 30 In the Little Grey Valley . . 31 In Snowy Creek . . . . 31 In the Blackwater . . . . 31 In the Big River . . . . 31 In Adamstown Creek . . 31 In the Valley of Antonio's Creek 31 In Slab Hut Creek . . . . 32 On the East side of Inangahua Valley .. .. ..32 In Devil's Creek and Maori Gully 32 In Soldier's Gully . . . . 32 In Rainy Creek, in Lankey's Gully, and along Murray Creek .. .. ..32 In Painkiller Creek and Burke's Creek .. .. ..32 In the Inangahua Valley . . 32 North Branch of the Inangahua 32 In Boatman's Creek . . . . 33 In Little Boatman's Creek . . 33 In Italian Gully . . . . 33 In Larry's Creek .. ..33 In Landing Creek . . . . 33 Between Landing Creek and Coal Creek . . . . 34 West side of Inangahua Valley . . 34 At Stony Creek . . . . 34 In Fletcher's Creek . . . . 34 VI CONTENTS. FORMATIONS continued. Page I. Recent continued. (b.) River Alluvia continued. Coast -line between Greymouth and Westport . . . . 34 In the Ten-mile Creek Valley . . 34 In Baker's Creek . . . . 34 In Fagin's Creek . . . . 35 In Granity Creek . . . . 35 In Canoe Creek . . . . 35 In Lawson's and Scott's Creeks 35 Talus formed by the partial de- struction of Barrytown Lead 35 Canoe Creek to Buller River . . 35 Lower Buller Valley . . . . 35 In the Waimangaroa Valley . . 35 In the Buller Valley, from foot of the Gorge to the Inangahua Junction . . . . . . 36 In the Buller Valley, from Inangahua Junction to Lyell 36 In New Creek . . . . 36 Upper Buller Valley .. ..36 In the Buller Gorge, Lyell Creek to Fern Flat .. 36 In Lyell Creek . . . . 37 In the Maruia Valley . . 37 In the Warbeck . . . . 37 In Station Creek . . . . 38 In the Alfred River Valley . . 38 Buller Valley from Fern Flat to Junction of Mataira . . 38 In Doughboy Creek . . . . 38 In the Matakitaki Valley . . 38 In the Upper Matakitaki . . 38 In the Glenroy Valley . . 39 (c.) Littoral . . . . . . 39 Mikonui to Teremakau Rivers . . 39 North of Teremakau to Grey River . . . . . . 39 Grey River to Seven- and Nine- mile Beaches . . . . 40 Barrytown to Mouth of the Buller River . . . . 40 North of the Buller River . . 40 ; IA. Pleistocene, High-level Old River -channels and Terraces . . . . 40 I In the Greenstone Valley . . 41 ! In the Grey Valley . . ' . . 41 ! In the Valley of Moonlight Creek . . . . . . 41 On south east side of Little Grey Valley . . . . 42 On the Big Grey, Mackley's to Clark River . . . . 42 Lake Hochstetter to Bell Hill . . 42 Coast, Grey River to Cape Foulwind . . . . . . 43 In the Inangahua Valley . . 43 In the Upper Buller . . . . 43 In the Upper Maruia Valley . . 43 II. Pleistocene and Younger Pliocene, Extended Glacier Deposits out- side the Limits of the Moun- tains . . . . . . 44 South of the Hokitika River . . 44 FOBMATIONS continued. Page I II. Pleistocene, &c. continued. Extended Glacier Deposits contd. Below Kanieri Forks.. .. 44 In the Arahura Valley . . 45 Basin of the Kapitea Creeks . . 45 On the north side of the Tere- makau Valley . . . . 46 Absence of, in Paparoa Range 46 River Deposits formed prior to the advance of the Glaciers . . 47 At Ross . . . . . . 47 Between Ross and Rimu . . 47 In the Kanieri Valley . . 47 At Kumara. . . . . . 47 Marine Gravels containing Black- sand Leads . . 47 The Houhou Lead . . . . 48 Humphrey's Gully Range . . 48 Dwyer's Freehold . . . . 48 On Ballarat Hill . . . . 50 North side of Waimea Valley . . 50 The Lamplough Lead . . 50 Teremakau to Rutherglen . . 51 Greymouth to Point Elizabeth and Barrytown . . . . 51 Brighton, St. Kilda, and Charleston . . . . 52 III. Lower Pliocene and Upper Mio- cene, (a.) Humphrey's Gully Beds . . 53 In Humphrey's Gully Range . . 53 At Ross . . . . . . 54 In the Grey Valley . . . . 54 In the Little Grey and Inanga- hua Valleys . . . . 55 (b.) " Old-man Bottom " . . . . 55 In Northern Westland . . 55 In the No Town Hills to Big Grey . . . . . . 55 In the Little Grey Valley . . 55 In the Inangahua Valley . . 55 (c.) Brown Sands . . . . 56 In the Greenstone Valley and No Town Hills . . . . 56 IV. Lower Miocene, Blue Fossiliferous Sands and Marly Clays .. ..56 In the Northern District of Westland . . . . . . 56 In the Grey Valley . . . . 56 Between Cape Foulwind and Westport . . . . . . 57 VI. Cretaceo-tertiary and Cretaceous, Upper Beds . . . . . . 57 Middle Beds .. .. ..58 Lower Beds . . . . . . 59 Stanniferous and Auriferous . . 59 In Murray Creek and Lankey's Gully .. .. ..61 In the Upper Buller Valley . . 61 X. Triassic, Beds in Upper Teremakau Valley 61 XII. Carboniferous, Maitai Series . . . . . . 61 In Mount Greenland.. .. 61 At the Kanieri . . . . 61 CONTENTS. VII FORMATIONS continued. Page Page XII. Carboniferous continued. DIFFERENT BLOCKS OF LAND RESERVED Mailai Series continued. FOR MINING PURPOSES continued. In Mount Buckley Range 62 Block IX. . . SO In the Paparoa Range 62 XXV. .. 80 On the Snow River, thence XXVI. . . 81 along the east side of the XXVII. . . 81 Little Grey Valley.. 63 XXVIII. . . . . 82 Within the Inangahua Valley 63 XXIX. . . 82 In the Buller Lower Valley . . 63 XXX. . . 83 XII. Devonian 64 XXXI. . . 83 Reef ton Series 64 LI. . . 84 Te Anu Series 64 . LIII. . . 85 Metamorphic 64 LIV. . . 88 Mica Schists 64 LIX. . . 89 Upper, Middle, and Lower Schists 64 LXI. . . 89 Gneissic Schists 65 LXIL .. 90 Crystalline and Metamorphic LXI1I. . . 91 Granite 65 LXV. . . 92 In the Paparoa Mountains 65 . LXVI. . . 93 In the Brunner and Victoria LXIX. . . 93 Mountains 66 LXX. . . 95 Plutonic 66 . LXXI. . . 96 Massive and Intrusive Granites . . 66 LXXIV. . . 97 In Northern Westland 66 LXXV. . . 98 In the Paparoa Mountains 66 LXXVII. . . . . 99 In the Buller Valley 66 LXX1X. . . 99 LXXX. . . 99 DIFFERENT BLOCKS OF LAND RESEB ,VED LXXXI. .. 100 FOR MINING PURPOSES. LXXXV. . ..101 Block I. 67 LXXXVI. . . ..102 II. 68 LXXXVII. ..103 III. 70 i , Lxxxvnr ..105 IV. 78i LXXXIX. . . ..105 V. 74 XC11I. ..106 VI. 76 XCIV. ..106 VII. 76 xcv. ..107 VIII. 79 XCVi. ..108 B, E P O H T ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE SOUTH-WEST TART OF NELSON AND THE NORTHERN PART OF THE WESTLAND DISTRICT. Mr. A. McKAY to the UNDER-SECRETARY of MINES. Mines Department, Wellington, SIR, 18th August, 1895. I have the honour to forward my report on parts of the Grey and Buller Valleys and the Paparoa Mountains, in the district of the west coast of the Middle Island, in which I was engaged during Sep- tember, October, parts of November and December, 1894, and parts of February and March, 1895. During the latter part of November and the first half of^December, 1894, I was engaged with Mr. N. D. Cochrane, Inspector of Mines, in making an examination of a portion of the Mokihinui Coalfield, a joiut report on which has already been presented ; and during the latter part of January and till the middle of February, 1895, [ accom- panied Mr. Gordon, Inspecting Engineer, on a trip to the east district of Auckland (the Urewera country), the report on which is also a joint one; and, again, I accompanied -Mr. Gordon to the west coast of the Middle Island, and with him made an examination of the different blocks of land reserved for mining purposes in the Westland District, north of the Mikonui River, and in the south-west part of. the Provincial District of Nelson. The report on this work is also a joint one. In compliance with your directions, the examination of the region of the Paparoa Mountains, and parts of the Grey and Buller Valleys, was made principally with the object of studying the nature and source of the gold deposits of that district. To do this involved the necessity of paying some attention to the general geology of the dis- trict, and a study of the lithological and petrological characters of the rocks, their mineralogical composition and contents. 1 2 GEOLOGICAL EEPOKTS. In exploring for mineral veins likely to contain metalliferous ores or gold, more especially the latter, I have shown that the chief areas over which auriferous quartz lodes occur, or may be expected to occur, extend, 1. As a narrow belt along the east side of the Inangahua Valley, from near the Buller River to Reefton. This work *as first under- taken during January, 1874, when I examined the gold-bearing rocks of the district, distinguishing them from the associated Devonian series,, and traced them from Rainy Creek and Merrijigs north to Larry's Creek; and, during the latter part of December, 1875, from Rainy Creek, through Merrijigs, in the direction of Big River to Antonio's Flat; and in 1882 I again examined the same district for the purpose of clearly discriminating between the Carboniferous (auriferous) and the Devonian (non-auriferous) strata of the district, and determining the limits of each. Also at this time I examined and determined the limits of the Lankey's Gully cements, lying between the two branches of the Inangahua River, and the same rocka lying farther to the northward. 2. The auriferous rocks occurring as a wedge-shaped area of limited extent, stretching along the middle or lower slope of the Mount Davy Range, from the Grey River at the upper end of the Brunner Gorge to within the watershed of Ford's Creek. The reefs of Langdon's Creek occur within this area. 3. The rocks of the Paparoa Range, from the northern end of Mount Davy and the source of Ford's Creek to the northern source of Moonlight Creek. This area is of considerable extent, and con- tains numerous lines of reefs, some of which are of gigantic dimen- sions, and probably auriferous to a degree that will enable them to be worked for gold. All the creeks draining from this range, with one exception, are gold-bearing, and thus give evidence of the auriferous character of the rocks into which their channels have been cut. 4. An area of semi-metamorphic and unaltered slates and sand- stones that occupies part of the Waimangaroa watershed, and thence extends through Mount William south across the Buller Valley as a narrow belt, the rocks of which are well displayed in these localities, and in the road-cuttings from the east bank of the Little Ohika for a quarter of a mile along the road through the Buller Gorge. A small area of slates invaded by granites, and also containing quartz reefs, appears on the banks of the Buller River between the Inangahua Junction and a mile and a half further down the river. These rocks occupy but a very limited extent of the total area recently examined within the Grey and Buller watersheds from the coast as far inland as the east slopes of the Bruuner and Victoria McKAY. South-We&t Nelson awi Northern Westland. 3 Mountains, from the Buller to the Brown Grey, and west of a line from the Bog Saddle (leading from the Upper Grey into the Buller watershed) to Lake Brunner. Within these limits, excluding the Matakitaki and Mangles watersheds, all the important gold-workings of the Grey and Lower Buller Valleys are to be found, and no effort has yet proved successful to trace the gold to the schists and un- altered rocks of the Spencer Mountains and the main range to the south-west; and it does appear almost a necessity that the gold found in the low grounds o.f the westward region has been liberated from rocks confined to the western area. The rocks of the higher part of the Paparoa Range, from the sources of Slaty River and Bullock Creek to the Buller Gorge, are gneissic schists, passing sometimes into granites and at other times into mica schist. Throughout, the whole of this series of rocks are remarkably barren in metalliferous ores, and it was in vain that they were searched for auriferous quartz reefs or other indications of the presence of gold. As the rocks on examination are unpromising in appearance, this unfavourable view is confirmed by what has been the experience of the alluvial miner, whose trips into the so-called granite region, as regards gold-getting, have always been without success; and systematic and successful workings have never been carried on within the area covered by these rocks except in localities where it may be clearly shown that the gold has been derived from a distant and different source. The auriferous Maitai series of rocks, which are of Carboniferous age, must therefore not only be regarded as supplying gold to the creeks and mountain-streams, of which they form the bed and bound- ing valley-slopes, but they must have largely contributed gold to those alluvial formations that are at some distance from the slate areas, and that usually rest on Tertiary clays or soft sandstone. Thus the presence of alluvial gold in the gravel deposits of the low grounds may indicate the source of the gold in one case as being in the neighbour- ing range, and in other cases as being at a considerable distance. For example, at Langdon's, Blackball, and Moonlight, on the north-west side of the Grey Valley, the gold is mostly derived from the slates of the adjoining range, while on the south-east side of the Grey Valley, from the Arnold to tlfe Big Grey, it would be hard to say from what particular area of slate the gold of Nelson Creek, Orwell Creek, or Napoleon Hill has been dei'ived. These gravels on the south-east side of the Grey Valley extend into and along the same side of the Little Grey Watershed, and thence into the Inangahua Valley, along the east side of which they are found as far as Coal Creek. They form a belt of country varying from two to five miles wide, and the gravel formation is of great 4 GEOLOGICAL REPORTS. thickness 300 ft. to 600 ft. On these gravels, as a false bottom, rest the alluvial deposits of modern date, which constitute the wash of the many gold-mining localities that lie along this belt of older gravel formation. As to the south-east of the boundary-line of the gravel formation very little gold-mining has, and scarcely any is at the present time, carried on, it is a fair, nay, the only, inference that may be drawn that the gold in the superficial modern deposits of the creek-valleys has been derived from the older gravels that underlie and form the surrounding hills. This, by those having any knowledge of the facts, will scarcely be denied ; and naturally from this follows the inquiry : Are these older gravels likely to afford gold-bearing strata rich enough to pay for working (in situ], without the interposition of the natural processes of sluicing and concentration along the water- channels of the district, as has been in the case of the creek-gravels already worked ? Many miners believe they are auriferous, and would pay to work, but perhaps the greater number contend that no gold is to be got from the " Old-man bottom," the term by which the alluvial gold-miner designates these gravels. I agree with the minority in this case, and am of the opinion that in many instances the " Old-man bottom " is worked under the belief that, in the particular instance, the gravels do not belong to the same series, but to a younger formation. Such differences of opinion might be maintained with a show of reasoning when the higher beds, or beds that outcrop at a low angle, are concerned; but when it can be shown that the auriferous stratum occupies the middle of the gravel series as developed in a particular locality, or it may be the lowest stratum, then it is hard to see how it could reasonably be contended that these gravels are non-auriferous. But, while it may be admitted that the " Old-man bottom " is thus a source of gold to the younger drifts within the area over which it extends, the origin of the " Old-man bottom " itself, and the original source of the gold it contains, is a much more debatable question. This has at some length been dis- cussed in a former report dealing with the northern part of the West- land District,* and need not be more then adverted to in this place. Another condition of the occurrence of gold, and another form of mining, is the beach-workings, and the mining of auriferous black- sand deposits at higher levels, and often at a considerable distance inland from the coast-line. Such deposits within the district ex- amined are found over the greater part of the coast-line and immedi- ately inland, but are more noteworthy in the northern and southern parts. The northern part, extending from the Buller River to Charleston, has yielded very large quantities of gold and supported a * " Geological Explorations of the Northern Part of Westland," Goldfields and Mining Reports, 1893, p. 132. McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westiand. 5 large mining population for a long series of years, and is still very far from being exhausted. In the southern part of the district, from Greymouth to Canoe Creek, the recent black-sand deposits on the sea- shore and the raised beaches further inland have also been very pro- ductive, and are still yielding a large return of gold. Gold-workings in cements of Cretaceous date are also likely to develop into considerable importance, and prove a comparatively per- manent form of mining in both the Grey and Buller Valleys. In the Grey Valley, and on the south-west part of the Paparoa Range, the beds in question have been but little prospected with 1he direct purpose of proving them gold- bearing, but there lacks not indications of their auriferous character, both in the Mount Davy Range and in the valley of Slaty Creek and Big River. In the first-mentioned part of the district a great development of coarse breccia-conglome- rates and pebbly quartz drifts extends through the range, from the slopes of the Grey Valley to the coast-line between the Nine-mile and the Twelve-mile Creeks, north of Greymouth. The coarser material of this division of the cements resembles the breccia-con- glomerates of the Horse Range and Trotter's Creek that form the lower strata of the Shag Point Coalfield, in the Otago Provincial District, where, of somewhat finer grain and not quite so angular in character, it resembles the deposit of the Blue Spur, air Tuapeka. The finer and more quartzy material, which is the higher in the series, resembles closely the quartz drifts of Central Otago, where, over a widely-extended area, they are often very rich in gold. In the Buller Watershed, along the east side of the Inangahua Valley, both kinds of deposit are developed ; the coarser brecciated material within the valley of Boatman's Creek, and the quartz drifts from Rainy Creek to the gorge of the Buller River, on the west slope of the Brunner Mountains. The vast formation of angular brecciated material represented in Hawk's Crag, in the middle part of the Lower Buller Gorge, has not been proved to contain gold, but, so far as has been ascertained, no one has thought of testing any part of this formation with the object of proving it auriferous ; nor may it be said does it hold out any great prospects of rewarding efforts to show that it is payably auriferous, but there is quite a possibility of its being so. The arguments in favour of Hawk's Crag breccias being gold-bearing are, that the material, though angular, has been transported from a dis- tance, and therefore some sort of arrangement favourable to the aggregation in particular horizons of the gold it contains must have taken place. The component rocks of the breccia material, though various, is mainly a subschistose rock, which, when in situ, was likely enough to contain gold-bearing reefs. Unfortunately, so far 6 GEOLOGICAL REPORTS. as proved, the gneissic schists of the Paparoa Range do not contain gold. While dealing with the probability of gold occurring in cements of Cretaceous date, I may close this by remarking that, during a recent visit to the Upper Buller Valley, in which I accompanied Mr. Gordon, Inspecting Engineer, we were both strongly impressed with the evidences that a very large part of the gold found in the valleys of the Maruia, Matakitaki, Mangles, &c., have been directly derived or liberated from conglomerates and pebble-beds under- and over- lying the principal or lower coal seams. The facts constituting the evidence on which our opinion as to the auriferous character of the conglomerates referred to is based, have been known to all during the last twenty years or more, and in a vague way have been speculated upon by Mr. Cox when reporting on the geology of the district.* The facts are not more clear now than they have been at any time during the past twenty years; but they are such as lead to the very definite conclusion that the conglomerates referred to are a great storehouse of gold, and are likely to prove of the utmost importance in the near future, now that attention has been pointedly drawn to them. Of course it remains to be proved whether the gold is widely dis- persed throughout a great thickness of gravel or conglomerate cement, or whether it is concentrated so as to occur as rich deposits, allowing of its being mined from particular bands of conglomerate. From the well-rounded character of the bulk of the conglomerates the inference is that the gold will be found as rich deposits in particular horizons, although, at the same time, the cements may be generally gold- bearing to a less degree. I have, &c., ALEX. McKAY. The Under-Secretary of Mines, Wellington. GEOLOGY OF THE GEEY AND BULLEE VALLEYS AND PART OF WESTLAND. GENEBAL SKETCH. NELSON DISTRICT. Grey Valley. The principal source of the Grey River is Lake Christabel, which lies towards the south-western end of the Spencer Mountains. Towards the east, these mountains are formed of sand- stone and indurated shales of probable Carboniferous age, followed at places by calcareous breccias, and diabasic ash-beds, red or green, * Geological Reports, 1883-84, p. 9, McKAY. South-West Nelson titid Northern Westland. 1 that are probably of Triassic age. From beneath these, to the west- ward, appear mica-schists. From Lake Christabel the Grey flows west across the schist-belt till it receives the Brown Grey coining from the north, from the junction with which it has a south-west course between schist moun- tains on the east side of the valley and granite mountains on the west sid'e, till, again altering its course, the river breaks through the chain of granite mountains, and thus forms the first gorge of the Big Grey. Through the granite gorge the rive^i- at first runs north, then north-west to the point where it receives the Alexander coming from the north-east. Thence the Big Grey has a generally west-north-west course to its junction with the Little Grfey, below which junction the united waters are known as the Grey River. The gorge 'of the Big Grey and the course of the Alexander River are in granite or gneissic rocks ; but around the sourfctes of the Snowy River, a tributary of the Little Grey, the granite gives place to unaltered rocks consisting of sandstones and slates, forming part of the auriferous series of Reef tdn- Maitai series of Carboniferous age. These rocks, as a belt four to five miles wide, extend north east to the Inangahua, and from Merri- jigs north to the reefing district of Crushingtott and Murray Creek. The Little Grey has, from its source to its junction with the Big Grey, a south-West course. Its broad Valley is filled with recent alluvial shingle from Squaretown to the junction with the Big Grey. These recent alluvial deposits are mainly confided to the low grounds of the middle part of the valley and its north-western side. On the south-east side the Valley is filled with a vast accumulation of gravels of Pliocene age that are biit across by tributaries of the Little Grey, such as Slab-hut Creek; Antonib's Creek, Adamstdwu Creek, and Black water. These and the lesser streams falling into then! have so cut down and sculptured the Plidcelie gravels (Usually known as " Old-man bottom ") that they now form brdken hilly country, i'lill of deep, narrow creek-valleys. On the north side of the lower part bf Big River these gravel hills for a time terminate, and high-level river-terraces, formed by the action of the Big Grey, take their place. Several streams' rising in the Paparoa Range join the Little Grey f rdm the north-west. The largest of these, the Otiitutu, or " Rough River," falls into the 1 Grey just below the junctidn of the Little Grey. After debouching from the granite mountains, ambng which it takes it rise, the Rough River has its course for five or six miles across att alluvial plain built up of material mainly derived from the mountains In which it takes its rise, and which is therefore due to its bwn action. BeloW the junction bf the Little Grey with the Big Grey the united waters are denominated thfe Gtrey River, aiid the valley of this GEOLOGICAL EEPOKTS. part of the watershed from the junction to the sea, is called the Grey Valley. The lower alluvial grounds of this part are from two to five miles wide. These lower lands are limited on the south-eastern side by a belt of broken hilly country, which, having a breadth of from seven to eiglit miles, extends from the southern bank of the Big Grey to the Arnold Flat, a distance of nineteen miles, and is continued to the south-west across the valley of Stillwater Creek to the water-divide leading into the New River basin. This belt of hilly country is broken through by the Ahaura and Arnold Rivers, and its whole breadth is traversed by Nelson Creek, the main source of which comes from Lake Hochstetter. Numerous smaller streams take their rise among these hills, and generally follow a north-west course to their junction with the Grey River. These hills are formed of Pliocene gravels ( :e Old-man bottom"), and are nearly in direct continuation of the same gravels on the south-east side of the Little Grey Valley. All the streams breaking through or taking their rise in them are gold-bearing, and in the beds of many of them the gravels have proved exceedingly rich in gold. South-east of this line of hills the country is of lower elevation, and broad shingle-terraces (due to action of the larger rivers, the Big Grey, the Ahaura, and the Arnold, &c.) extend from the south- eastern limits of these hills to the foot of the high mountains forming the outermost of the series of ranges that culminate in the main axis and water-parting between the east and west coasts of the island. On the northern side of the lower part of the Ahaura River there is an alluvial gravel plain due to the action of that river when running at a higher level. On to this plain Orwell Creek debouches, at a point about one-third of its total length from its source. The Ahaura runs in a deep channel, having on the south-western banks steep cliffs of gravel belonging to the "Old-man bottom." . The lower part of its course is through a deep narrow gorge to the lower river-plain of the Grey Valley, across which it has a short course to its junction with the main stream. The Arnold River from Lake Brunner flows along a broad valley, the surface-gravels on its north-eastern side for about a mile back from the stream are due to the modern action of the river, a lesser breadth on the southern side is due to the same action. Beyond the broad alluvial tract of this part of the Grey Valley, or to the south-east, the granite belt extends from the gorge of the Big Grey to and across the Ahaura River, and thence to the neigh- bourhood of the Kopara, and beyond this along the south side of Lake Brunner into the watershed of the Teremakau and the West- land district. East of the granite-belt there is a broad rib of mica- schist, the true limits of which have not yet been ascertained, and McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 9 beyond this the unaltered Palaeozoic rocks, forming the main chain and extending eastward into the Amuri district of Nelson. On the north-west side of the Grey Valley, between Slaty River and Black- ball Creek, alluvial flats near the level of the river are confined to the lower parts of Slaty River and Moonlight Creek. Along the western bank of Slaty there is a considerable area of such land, now mostly occupied by farmers. In the lower Moonlight the area is less, and the low grounds along this stream, both above and below the junction of the Meg River, form a narrow strip on both banks. Elsewhere from Slaty to Blackball, and south-east of the sslate range or coal rocks, " Old-man bottom " appears at the surface, unless it is covered by high-level creek gravels of younger date. In Blackball and Ford's Creeks there are no heavy bodies of gravel deposit due to other action than that of the streams at present operating in the denudation of the country. . Between Blackball Creek and the Brunner Gorge, on this side of the valley, there is a fringe of shingle of limited breadth deposited by the Grey River, the mountain-creek wash found in the beds of the several streams of this nart being derived from a narrow belt of slate on the slopes of the Mount Davy Range, or from the con- glomerates and breccia conglomerates at the base of the Cretaceous formation, as developed in this part of the Paparoa Chain. The Grey Valley below Brunnerton, as far as the Limestone Range running from Point Elizabeth to Marsden on the New River, shows alluvial triangular flats one on each bank of the river; that on the northern side extending some distance up Coal Creek, that on the southern side being bounded by hilly country lying towards the New River watershed. Buller Valley. The area of the Buller Valley here coming under consideration in the upper valley embraces the watersheds of the Matakitaki and Maruia Rivers, both of which take their rise in the Spencer Mountains, and flow north in nearly parallel courses to their junctions with the Buller. From the Grey Valley a low depression leads by way of the Bog Saddle into the valley of the Maruia, opposite, or nearly opposite, the junction of the Alfred River. The Bog Saddle is, a bush-covered plain, formed by the action of the Maruia River when this was an affluent of the Grey, and not, as now, of the Buller River. The diversion of the Maruia to its present course, and the lowering of its bed, has cut away the eastern margin of the old high-level river-bed, and the erosion of the valley of the Brown Grey has, in like manner, circumscribed the former area of the shingle- beds now confined to the higher level of the Bog Saddle. Towards the source of the Maruia River the rocks of the Spencer Mountains consist of sandstones and slates of Carboniferous age. 10 GEOLOGICAL REPORTS. Appearing from beneath these, and forming the mountains between the Alfred and the upper part of the river, and stretching north-east towards the sources of the Glenroy and Matakitaki Rivers, there is a continuation of the schist rocks, described as lying to the south- east of the granite belt in the Grey Valley. On the plain opposite the junction of the Alfred there is an isolated mountain of marble, or crystalline limestone, and the same calcareous beds stretch north- east along the- right bank of the Alfred River. This limestone appears to rest upon gneissic granite. Granite rock towards the source of the Glenroy has but a limited develop- ment ; but, on the left side of the valley, it forms the mountains to and round the sources of the Inangahua River and the Victoria and Brunner Mountains, stretching along the west side of the Maruia Valley to the Buller Gorge above the Lyell Township. From the Alfred junction to the junction of the Warbeek* seven miles below Walker's Homestead, a distance of twenty-one miles, the Upper Maruia Plains stretch, principally, at first, on the west bank of the river, as far as th^e Home Station, and finally, for the last seven miles, the greatest breadth of level land is on the east bank of the river. Generally, these plains are open lands, grass-covered, with a species of tussock ; but large areas are covered with a stunted manuka scrub, the area covered by which is said during late years to have been greatly increased. The soil of these plains, that embrace a total of about 22,000 acres, is at some places of fair quality, but the bulk of it is very poor, and all vegetation, owing to the severity of the climate, is at a standstill from the middle of April to the middle or end of October. A little above the junction of the Warbeck, a line of moraine hills stretches across the valley from the east slopes of the Victoria Moun- tains on the west side to the hills bounding the opposite side of the valley which forms the water-parting between this part of the Maruia and the Glenroy Valley. This line of terminal moraine is well marked, and explains the character of the terraces along the upper valley of the river to the Alfred junction. This part of the valley, on the disappearance of the glacier that once filled it, was for a long period a lake, which was gradually filled with shingle to the level of the highest terrace or moraine, and subsequently, by the action of the river, the deposits accumulated in this manner were cut down to form the lower terraces and bottom flats along the margin of the river. Between Station Creek and the Warbeck the mountains on the east side of the valley are mainly composed of Cretaceous strata, con- sisting of conglomerates and sandstones, constituting the lower part of the coal-bearing series. Below the Warbeck, gneissic granite McKAY. Sonth-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 11 appears on both sides of the valley ; and, from the Upper Warbeck, this rock constitutes a range of mountains on the right bank of the river to within twelve miles of its junction with the Buller. The lower part of the valley is, for the most part, narrow, deep, and gorgy, the only extent of level land being on the left bank, from twelve to fifteen miles above the confluence with the Buller. About eight miles above the junction the granite or gneiss gives place to coal-measures belonging to the Cretaceous or Cretaceo-tertiary series. These form the mountains on the right bank, and, crossing the river to the westward, extend some distance in that direction amongst the granite peaks of the Brunner Mountains. The Matakitaki, like the Maruia, takes its rise in the Spencer Mountains, and for the first fifteen miles flows in a northerly course through or across a succession of sandstone and shale, schist, or granite mountains, as has been shown the Maruia does. Below the point indicated the Matakitaki has a west course for about twelve miles. This part of its course is across granite and coal-measures, while there are also considerable developments of superficial gravels that are of importance, they being auriferous. Below the junction of the Glenroy the Matakitaki resumes its north-and-south course, and flows along the west side of its valley to its junction with the Buller. On both sides of this lower part of the Matakitaki Valley the rocks are of Cretaceous or Cretaceo-tertiary age, and consist of lime- stones, marly strata, and beds of sandstone or quartz conglomerates and shales, with coal seams of greater or lesser thickness and value. The lower terrace lands and the bed and immediate banks of the river show the presence of a shingle largely derived from the harder rocks towards the source of the river, but also in a great measure from beds of conglomerate occurring as part of the Creta- ceous formation. This conglomerate, it has been ascertained, is gold-bearing to such an extent that it becomes of great importance in considering the immediate whence of the gold found in the Matakitaki and Mangles Rivers, and also, to some extent, that found iu the Maruia and its tributaries. Glenroy River. This takes its rise between and near the sources of the Maruia and the Matakitaki, and flows north-west and north to its junction with the Matakitaki. Its source is in schist, its middle course in the conglomerates and sandstones of the coal-bearing series, and its lower course for about two miles through granite, and finally for a short distance across coal-measures to its junction with the Matakitaki. All the gold-workings in this part of the Buller water- shed are, with the exception of those on the Alfred, either upon a granite bottom or upon different members of the Cretaceous forma- tion ; and it is a remarkable fact that generally, except on the 12 GEOLOGICAL KEPORTS. Alfred River, to the eastward of the Cretaceous formation, no payable gold has been found. Upper Buller to the Inangahua Junction. This part of the district includes the narrow valley of the Buller below the Maruia, including Lyell Creek and New Creek areas, and the river-valley below the latter to the Inangahua Junction. The gorge above the Lyell passes through frequent alterations of granite and comparatively unaltered rocks. Near the junction of the Newton River a rib of Cretaceo- tertiary limestone and associated marly beds are deeply involved as vertical strata between granite. The same thing happens between the bridge over the Buller, one and a half miles below Lyell, and the lower part of New Creek, where a representative development of the Cape Foulwind limestone, underlain by coal-measures, occurs, standing at very high angles between the auriferous slates of New Creek and the granite of the lower part of Lyell Creek. Below the bridge Cretaceo-tertiary and coal-bearing rocks, overlain by terrace gravels, extend along the banks of the river for some two miles, beyond which granite again appears in the hills on the left bank and along the road-line. The granite further down the valley is followed by a narrow rib of slate, then, near Junker's Hotel, by grits, &c., of the lower coal-measures, followed by limestone and dark-coloured marly strata, which, dipping west underneath the recent alluvial gravel-beds, reach to the Inangahua Junction. The granitoid rocks on the north side of the Lyell Gorge do not extend more than a few hundred yards up Lyell Creek, and in the New Creek area they appear to be absent altogether. Inangahua Valley. The Inangahua River and its principal tributary, the Waitahu or North Branch, both take their rise in, and draw most of their waters from, the southern end of the chain of granite mountains that forms the water-parting between the Maruia and Inangahua Valleys. About fourteen miles above Reefton, slate succeeds the granite on the south side of the Inangahua ; but no slate appears on the north bank in contact with the crystalline rocks, a development of coal rocks taking place between the Devonian rocks and the granite on this side of the valley. The junction of the two older series is thus obscured. A narrow belt of Devonian rocks extends from the lower part of Lankey's Gully south across the Inangahua to near the source of Rainy Creek. In the direction of Deep Creek the rocks show evidences of having been subjected to metamorphic alteration. Thev differ indeed from the tvpical rocks of the auriferous series, but it has not been definitely proved that they are other than the gold-bearing series of Reefton, or of an age greater than that of the Carboniferous period. There are some areas of flat laud in the valley of the Inangahua above Reefton, but these . South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 13 do not appear to have at any time been prospected for gold. These alluvial flats are now occupied in part as freehold lands. A very considerable area of the range east of Lankey's Gully, lying between the two branches of the Inangahua, has its higher part formed of grits and conglomerates, constituting part (the lower part) of the coal- bearing series. These are gold-bearing in Murray Creek and in Lankey's Creek, and probably in other parts where they are present. The Devonian rocks form the lower part of the range to the east of Murray Creek and Lankey's Gully, but after a time they sink to lower levels. Along the line of Garvie's Creek the coal rocks fill a deep syncline, and thus it is not seen what Palaeozoic rocks underlie the coal-measures, nor in what manner these make junction with the granite. West of the Devonian rocks these are overlain by the Maitai series, the auriferous rocks of this district and the neighbouring mining districts of Boatman's to the north and of Merrijigs and Big River to the south. The district to the south, including the Big River area, has already in this connection been dealt with. Boat- man's and Larry's to the northward are in the same line of country- rock which, on the disappearance of the Devonian strata, is continued along this side of the valley to the Buller River. The syncline filled with coal rocks, which has been described as extending along Garvie's Creek from the south to the north branch of the Inangahua, is continued further to the north, and has a remarkable development in the upper part of Boatman's Creek. It does not appear to cross or reach as far as Larry's Creek. The Devonian rocks also are not traceable as far as Boatman's Creek, they in this direction being overlain and surrounded on three sides by the auriferous series. Near the Town of Reefton the auriferous series are succeeded by a considerable development of the coal-bearing rocks, but the junction between the two is often obscured by terraces of river-gravel that are now at a considerable elevation above the lower levels of the opposite plain. The coal rocks are seen to extend along the lower flanks of the range between the north branch of the Inangahua and Boatman's Creek, near Capleston. The coal rocks are well exposed in the valley of Boatman's Creek, at the Township of Capleston, and along Little Boatman's Creek to the foot of Specimen Hill. They are followed by a massive development of Pliocene gravels (" Old-man bottom"), which, forming high terraces or broken hilly country, continue past Boatman's to and beyond Larry's Creek, and in the same direction across Landing and Coal Creeks to within a short distance of the Buller River. Boatman's, Larry's, Landing, and Coal Creeks, of which Larry's Creek carries considerably the greater 14 GEOLOGICAL RBPOKTS. volume of water, are mountain-streams, all of them taking their rise in the granite mountains to the east of the Inangahua Valley, and all of them traverse the low grounds of the valley to reach the Inanaugahua River, which has its course along the foot of the mountains on the west side of the valley. A considerable breadth of the low-lying recent alluvial ground is found between the " old-man " formation on the east side of the valley and the river towards the southern end of the plain. This area of lower and more recent alluvial land gets narrower as the valley is followed to the north, and this for a time terminates at half a mile to the south of the Landing. Terrace fiats are developed to a considerable extent on the east side of the lower part of the valley, between the Landing and the Junction. Below Reef ton, Devil's Creek makes junction from the south. In the valley of this stream the fundamental rocks are the auriferous series of slates and sand- stones, in the rocks of which a considerable number of quartz-mines are being worked. Coal rocks are also developed to a moderate extent on the higher lands towards Merrijigs. Deposits of gravel belonging to " Old-man bottom " also occupy the higher ground between the Sir Francis Drake Mine and Merrijigs, and also along some parts of Maori Creek. Coal rocks are to a limited extent present in the lower part of Devil's Creek, while towards the Midland Railway-line and the saddle leading to Squaretown there is a great development of Pliocene gravels or " Old-man bottom." These Pliocene gravels form high cliffs on the left bank of the river in its passage from the east to the west side of the valley. On reaching the furthest west, the river turns to the north and closely follows the lower spurs of the Paparoa Range to its junction with the Buller. Lower Buller Gorge. From the lanaugahua Junction to the ferry at the foot of the gorge, six miles from Westport, the Buller River, breaking through the Paparoa Papahua chain of mountains, has, for the greater part of the distance (twenty-two miles), its course through a tortuous and deep mountain-gorge, presenting at places scenes of rare magnificence and savage grandeur. One mile and a half below the Inangahua Junction the river breaks through a formation of cretaceous limestone, and has formed high cliffs on both its banks. The limestone forms on the southern side of the valley a sort of table-land between the Lower Inangahua and the Buller, below the junction. This at one time has received a deposit of river-shingle, probably by the action of the Buller before it had commenced to cut down the limestone part of the gorge. These gravels what remains of them are necessarily but a remnant of what they once were, and to some extent their removal has been effected along underground channels in the limestone. Some of these under- McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 15 ground channels have been explored,, and the concentrated gravels of the surface-wash found to be rich in gold at least, gold-bearing to such an extent that a rush set in, and for a considerable time workings were carried on in these underground channels. Below the limestone cliffs the valley opens out, and between the Lime- stone Range and the river lies the Big Swamp, extending to the junction of Coal Creek and to Grainger's Point, where the river is again enclosed between the precipitous cliffs or steep slopes of a gorge. From the north the Mackley River joins the Buller opposite the middle of the Big Swamp. The Maokley flows in a transverse valley, which lies between the Mount Glasgow Range and the Lyell Mountains to the eastward. This transverse valley is continued across the Buller and along the course of Coal Creek on the south side of the main valley, the limestone hills between Coal Creek and the Inangahua forming one side of the transverse valley, the hills be- tween the upper part of Coal Creek and the lower part of the Blackwater the other side of the valley. At Berlin's, for a short distance the hills on the south side of the gorge are low, and a greater breadth of alluvial gravel deposit occurs here than elsewhere in the middle and lower parts of the gorge, and it is here that the chief " diggings " in the Buller Gorge have been ever since the commencement of mining in the district. At Lovell's Point the river is again confined between precipitous rocks or steep banks, although some alluvial banks are formed between the latter point and the mouth of the Blackwater. Between the Blackwater and Hawk's Crag, immediately beyond the Crag and near the " Twelve-mile," there are also small areas of gravel-formed alluvial banks on the south side of the river, and there is a like small area on the north bank of the river, opposite Powell's accomrnodatiou-house, at the Twelve-mile. These small areas of alluvial deposit, in favourable situations, and the bed of the river when low, are worked for gold. Below the Twelve-mile there is an area of gravel deposit at the junction of the Big Ohika ; but the gravels of this have been brought down the Ohika, and, being mostly OE wholly granite, they are either non-auriferous or have not been prospected for gold. Below this point the gorge is cut through granite mountains, and so steep are the slopes to the water's edge that few opportunities are afforded for the accumulation of shingle, even between high-flood mark and what the river marks when of medium volume. From the Inangahua Junction to a few chains. west of the Little Ohika all the rocks on the south side of the Buller Gorge belong to different members of the Cretaceo-tertiarv or Cretaceous formation. The higher beds are limestones and dark mudstone marls, often, but 16 GEOLOGICAL REPORTS. not always, underlain by the Cape Foulwind limestone, beneath which, associated with sandstones and shales, is the upper or brown-coal series. These coal-measures rest on the breccias of Grainger's Point, and they so rest with some appearance of unconformity. The breccias of Grainger's Point are amongst the lowest beds of the sequence, and in the lower beds are very obscure in their stratification. Towards the west they alternate with beds of sandstone and sandy shales, which are followed by pebbly conglomerates, which again are followed by sandstones, the whole forming a syncline the east side of which is repeated in Lovell's Bluff, between which and the Blackwater the beds form an anticline, exposing, as the lowest rocks of the series, light-grey, thin-bedded siliceous shales, much indurated, and having at places the general aspect of the Cobden limestone at Greymouth. These latter rocks are followed by the higher beds described, and they constitute the west wing of the anticline to within 300 yards of Hawk's Crag, where they are followed by the enormous develop- ment of breccias that continue without intermission and without material change in their characters till they are terminated along the west side of the Little Ohika Valley. These Hawk's Crag breccias extend six or seven miles up the Blackwater, and constitute, between that stream and the Little Ohika, perhaps, or, rather, without doubt, the most rugged and inaccessible country in the whole of the Paparoa district. The same rocks form exceedingly rough country east of Mount William Ridge to Hawk's Crag ; and this part of the country is unexplored, its geology being explained and mapped from what is known of the Buller Gorge and that of the Waimangaroa watershed. Lower Buller and Coast-line north to Waimangaroa. From the lower end of the Buller Gorge the outer slopes of the ranges are granite till, passing Mount Rochfort, the steep slope west from the plateau shows coal-measures tilted to high angles and resting on the granites. The coal-measures here dip to the westward. Along the foot of the range high-level terraces extend from the Buller Gorge to Fairburn, and below these, gradually sloping to the coast-line, are the lower flat lands, which may be regarded as partly due to the action of the river and partly as a littoral marine formation. Large areas of these lower plains are swampy and devoid of forest, and are hence called " pakihis." The Waimangaroa crosses this coastal plain where it is about two miles wide, east of which the river- valley gradually narrows till it becomes a deep mountain-gorge. Gold is found and worked on the beaches at the mouth of the river, and also along its banks from the point where the narrower part of the valley begins to the source of the river. Coastal Track, Lower Buller to the Fox River. From Cape Foul- wind to the mouth of the Nile the coast (near the Cape) for the McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 17 first two miles is bold, and formed of gneissic granite, followed inland and to the south by coal-bearing rocks. Towards the mouth of the Okari and Totara Rivers it is low and sandy. East to the Buller River and the slopes of the Paparoa Range the country north of the Totara River rises gradually, and forms a gently-sloping plain to the foot of the high terrace extending between the Buller and Totara Rivers. Along the butt of this terrace, from Bald Hill to the Sham- rock Claim, lie the main gold-workings of Addison's Flat, although there are at least three other lines of gold-workings between the foot of the high terrace and the coast-line. Deposits of black sand are found in considerable areas over many parts of Addison's Flat and the slope thence to the mouth of the Totara River. Generally, however, the superficial rock deposit is a granity beach-wash. Along the course of the Totara River the marine deposits have been carried away by the river, and a large shingle fan of river material takes their place. On the south side of the Buller the marine sands cap the brink of the highest terrace, and the succession of terraces to the river-level show by how much the land has been raised since the sea washed the foot of the Big Terrace between Bald Hill and the Sham- rock Lead. The high terrace east of Addison's Fiat, some 300ft. above the level of the flat, has a width of from one mile and a half to two miles before the foot of the granite range is reached. Black-sand deposits, evidencing the presence of the sea, are also to be met with on the higher terrace, but no important gold-workings have been carried on at this higher level. South of the Little Totara the country from the western base of the granite mountains is hilly to the sea. The Nile, the Four-mile, and the Fox River drain this area. A range of limestone hills, com- mencing on the coast-line near the mouth of the Totara, sweeps inland in a semicircle from this point to St. Kilda and Brighton. The limestone (its western boundary) is furthest from the coast-line between Candlelight and the Four-mile, south of Charleston. A valley depression lies between the limestone hills and the foot of the Paparoa Range. This part is either not gold-bearing or has not been sufficiently prospected. Coal is found along this line, and outcrops on the banks of the Fox River, and marine Tertiary (Miocene) beds are also present. It is between the limestone range and the sea that the greatest interest attaches to this part of the district. Over this are black-sand deposits that have been accumulated at all heights up to fully 500ft. above sea-level. These black-sand deposits have been the mainstay of gold-mining in the Charleston district. The auriferous character is not confined to the purely black-sand beds, but the beds of granite wash (beach-gravels) widely spread over the area between the limestone and the sea are also gold-bearing. It is here that black 2 18 GEOLOGICAL EEPOKTS. sand deposited by the action of the sea reaches the highest level along the coast-line between Ross and the Mohikinui River. The Fox River has cut part of its course through the limestone, and in this part the river-channel is through a remarkable gorge, which is only a few feet in width, but 300 ft. or more in depth. Coast-line, Fox River to Barrytown. Gold-mining in the north part of this district is limited to the beaches on the coast-line and one or two patches of high-level gravels in the vicinity of Razorback. South of Razorback and the Punakaiki River continuous beach- workings are to be had as far as the Fourteen-mile Bluff, while inland of the present coast an old high-level terrace-working extends along the foot of the ranges, from Doubtful River to Baker's Creek. There are also creek-workings in some of the various streams drain- ing this part and taking their rise from the southern continuation of the Paparoa Mountains. Canoe Creek and Fagin's Creek are the most important of these gold-bearing streams. Barrytown to the Grey Valley, This part of the district has a bold coast-line, and the inland district is mountainous. Gold- workings are chiefly confined to the beach and the sea-terraces immediately at the back thereof. The conglomerates of the Ten- mile Creek are thought to be stanniferous, and probably also are gold-bearing. From the Seven-mile to the Nine-mile, and again between the Nine-mile and the Ten-mile, a back lead is at the present time being worked, and at higher levels, 60ft. or 100ft., there is a high-level line of auriferous gravels that corresponds with the higher levels of Darkies' Terrace, between Point Elizabeth and Cobden, west of the Limestone Range. WESTLAND DISTRICT. This has been fully described in the Goldfields and Mining Reports for 1893,* so that a few remarks on the general character of the country will suffice in this place. Grey River to Marsden and the Valley of New River. The coast- line of this part is formed of a slightly elevated beach, ranging from half a mile to less than a quarter of a mile in width. Behind this, near Greymouth, are hills of Tertiary clays, or, further back, and forming a range of higher hills, the southern continuation of the Cobden limestone. The valiey of Salt-water Creek and the vicinity of Rutherglen shows clearly that the New River at one time had its course to the sea in this direction, the old high-level beaches being destroyed in the middle parts of the valley, and only attesting their * Geological Explorations of the Northern Part of Westland, Mining Reports, 1893, C.-3, p. 132. . McKAY. South- West Nelson and Northern Westland. 19 former continuity By appearing us disjointed fragments on the ridges that are between the Salt-water and New River, and the first- mentioned and lesser streams to the north. The valley of New River, as elsewhere described,* is due to the action of the main stream and its various tributaries on a tableland formed near its surface by gravels of the " Old-man bottom/' which are present also in the adjoining hills overlain by glacier debris brought on to this region by the action of a branch of the Teremakau Glacier, \vhich, passing through the gap in the mountains at and below Jackson's, filled the Lake Brunner basin and thence over- flowed the country to the west and south-west. By this means (the action of the New River itself) gold widely dispersed was collected and greatly concentrated along the beds of the several streams within the watersheds of New River and Salt-water Creek; and these accu- mulations of auriferous material, together with the beach deposits, modern, and of older date at high levels, formed a source of gold that has maintained a large mining population from the early days of the Coast till within very recently. Teremakau Valley. The Greenstone or Hohonu River is the principal gold-bearing tributary of the Teremakau. The source of the gold is the same as that of the New River, and the physical circumstances under which the river-valley has been excavated differs only in this, that the Greenstone takes its rise among mountains of gninite and gneiss, which may have hastened somewhat the rate at which the middle and lower valley was cut down. The granite belt which, from the south of Lake Brunner, extends through the Green- stone Mountains to the south side of the Teremakau Valley, limits, with the exception of the Seven-mile Creek and some other creeks in the Taipo watershed, the eastern extension of payable gold in the Teremakau Valley. In the neighbourhood of Kumara the gold has its origin in part from the morainic hills of Dillmanstown, and those that thence extend south-west to the granite belt at the western base of Turiwhate Mountain. The river-plain that extends from Kumara to the sea, and is limited to the south by Aker's Creek, either con- tains, comparatively intact but covered over, a northern extension of the old high-level marine-drifts of the Houhou, Blue Spur, Ballarat Hill, and Lamplough Lead, or, if destroyed by the action of the river, its gold has gone to enrich the black-sand leads of the present beach-line and Drake's Terrace on the southern bank of the Tere- makau. The sequence of the rocks in the Teremakau Valley east of the granite belt is the same as farther to the north, the granite being * See report already cited above, page 137. 20 GEOLOGICAL EEPOBTS. succeeded by the mica-schist formation, and this by but slightly altered or unaltered formations of Devonian and Carboniferous age. On the boundary-line between the last two named formations quartz veins occur, and it is in this horizon that the reef on Jackson's Hill has been found. The same line of reef runs over the range south-west into the valley of the Seven-mile Creek. On the northern bank of the Teremakau, opposite Jackson's, the rocks are mica-schist, and on this side of the river it is not till passing to the eastward of the junction of the Otira that the corresponding rocks to those at Jackson's are met with. Arahura Valley and District. As formerly the Arahura occupied or wandered over the greater part of the Kapitea basin, and also at one time had outlet from the same by way of Waimea Creek, the principal features of the Arahura, Kapitea, and Waimea may be described together as of one district. As in other parts of northern Westland, the coast-line is backed by a low raised beach. Behind this at most places there is a steep face leading on to a high-level terrace. This is the region of the fine black-sand deposits con- taining gold equally fine. Next to the south-east rise the Tertiary hills, the valleys between which are .filled with wash, either of a granity or a sandstone type, according to its source namely, of the first, the old moraines of the Arahura, or, of the second, the gravels of the " Old-man bottom," which are present, the first to a large extent in the Kapitea basin, and the last forming the highest beds of the Tertiary sequence, and is generally found on the top of the rocks which belong to that period . Between the Teremakau and the Arahura, eastward of the Waimea Hills, there is a very considerable development of glacier drifts that occupy the upper basin of Kapitea Creek and the lower and middle parts of the Kawhaka watershed back to the western boundary of the granite belt. The low grounds of the Arahura Valley from Humphrey's Gully to the sea contain some considerable areas of river alluvium, more recent than the glacier deposits men- tioned. Between Humphrey's Gully and the junction of the Kawaka these are confined to the southern side of the valley ; but from half a mile above the crossing of the river, on the Christchurch-Hokitika Road, the alluvial flats are on both sides of the valley, and towards the mouth of the river the breadth of these increases till they join with those of the Three-mile to the south, and to the north leave but a narrow ridge between them and the lower Waimea Valley. South-east of Island Hill there is another considerable area of river alluvium, between the first and second gorges of the Arahura, while on the south side of the river, from the Christchurch Hokitika Road to nearly abreast of the lower end of Kanieri Lake, there \f a McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 21 large development of gravels of the age of the " Old-man bottom " (Older Pliocene), overlain in parts by glacier deposits. These, with the underlying Tertiary clay, form the Humphrey's Gully Range, in- terposed between the Arahura Valley and that of the Kanieri River. East of the granite belt, the limits of which are along a line crossing the Arahura at the foot of the Second gorge, the rocks consist of a triple series of mica-schists, the middle and upper of which are divided by a band of magnesian rocks, mainly olivine. The crystal- line rocks terminate near the upper end of the Second gorge, and thence to the crest of the Southern Alps the rocks are unaltered Palaeozoic sediments. Gold is found in the Arahura Valley almost to the source of the river, and has afforded payable results to the foot of the Second gorge. At the present time there are no workings above the foot of the First gorge cut through the great moraine between Island Hill and the east end of the Humphrey's Gully Range. Recent developments at the opposite end of this range, on the Arahura slope from the Blue Spur, show that the auriferous deposits of this district are far from being exhausted. Hokitika Valley and Valley of the Three-mile Creek. The Three- mile creek drains but a small watershed ; but this is important as having yielded a large quantity of gold, and it would appear that its resources are as yet far from being exhausted. Near the sea the stream is sluggish, and on the north side its banks are low and covered by a heavy growth of forest-trees. On the south side the Houhou Terrace lies between it and the lower part of the Hokitika Valley. Below the line of the Houhou Lead, which crosses the creek at the Blue Spur Township, there is a moderately-sized flat bounded by terraces on each side. This the gravels of it enriched by the destruction of the upper part of the Houhou Lead, proved very rich in gold. The upper valley has been encroached upon by an offshoot of the Kanieri Glacier (rather that of the Browning Valley passing through Lake Kanieri), and the result has been the deposit of moraines of considerable magnitude, which, with the creek-gravels, are being worked for gold at the present time. The lower Hokitika Valley forms a triangular flat between high terrace-lands to the north and south. These low grounds are partly due to river-action ; but near the seaboard the deposits in and west of Craig's freehold must be regarded as formed by the sea. Between Wood- stock and the Lower Kanieri, at Kanieri Township, moraines stretch across the valley, also up the Kanieri River to the Forks, and, with the hilly country between Rimu and Ross, bound thus on the south- western and north-western sides the low alluvial flats of the Hokitika Valley above the Kanieri Junction, that include the Kokatahi Plain. The Kokatahi Plain is of considerable extent. It stretches north. 22 GEOLOGICAL EEPOKTS. south, and east to the limits of the mountains. The Kokatahi Plain proper lies on the north bank of the Hokitika, but here the term is used as applicable to the whole of the low grounds of this part of the valley. The Hokitika, in the middle of the plain, d hides into two branches, the eastern of which is called the Kokatahi River, this again dividing into three main streams, all coming from the east or south- east. On the east side of the Kokatahi Plain granite again forsns the outer western slopes of the higher mountains, and this is followed by the same sequence of rocks that have been mentioned in describing the middle and upper parts of the Arahura Valley. On the south-west side of the Hokitika Valley, below the Gorge, lies Constitution Hill, which is in part composed of slate. Between this and the hilly country along the road-line from Rimu to Ross lies the Big Swamp, from which in times of flood a portion of the surplus waters of the Hokitika finds its way into Lake Mahinapua. The hilly country between Rimu and Ross is densely covered with forest growth, and the details of the surface are for the most part unknown, or known only to a few explorers. Its general character is, however, quite evident from what can be seen along the ordinary route of travel, and it is warrantable to say that the whole is overspread with morainic heaps, that towards the Totara River only have been modified by the action of running water. Old river- gravels underlie these morainic heaps, as seen at Back Creek and Seddou Terrace, and towards the margins they may have been acted on by streams from, or the whole body of, the Hokitika, as in the case of the Rimu Flat. Totara Watershed Ross and Mount Greenland. The Totara River takes its rise from Mount Fraser and the Cedar Creek Saddle, leading into the Mikonui watershed. The upper and middle parts of its course are along a mountain -valley between Mount Green- land and Constitution Hill, and the river is so confined till reaching and passing the outer spurs of Mount Greenland. Seaward of this the Totara receives Donnelly's Creek and flows along the north side of Ross Flat to the Totara Lagoon. Between the hills and the sea from the Mikonui to the Totara extends a tract of low, level country, having its greatest breadth to the north. From the lower slopes of the spurs of Mount Greenland gold has been traced into this flat, and the portion known as Ross Fiat has in past time yielded a great amount of gold, and it is known that considerable areas of very rich ground await working, capital and machinery being required to do this. East of the alluvial plain the ridge of front hills are composed of Pliocene gravels (" Old-man bottom "), and behind or on top of McKAY. Smith-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 23 these, in Mont (TOr, there is a development of what appears to be a glacier deposit. Mount Greenland, like the bulk of Constitution Hill, is formed of sandstone and slates belonging to the Maitai series of the New Zealand Geological Survey classification, and thus corre- sponds in age with the auriferous rocks of Reefton. The Cedar Creek rocks are of the same age. Quartz reefs occur on both the east and west slopes of Mount Greenland, but though a considerable amount of prospecting has been done on the Cedar Creek line, the prospects have not been such as were anticipated, and " reefing " as a form of gold-mining is developing but slowly in this part of the district. TABLE OP FOKMATIONS. Sedimentary. I. Recent. Glacier, River alluvia, Littoral. IA. Pleistocene. High-level old river-channels and terraces. II. Pleistocene and Younger Pliocene. Extended glacier deposits outside the limits of the mountains. River-deposits formed prior to the advance of the glaciers. Marine gravels, &c., containing black-sand leads. III. Older Pliocene and Upper Miocene. Humphrey's Gully beds, " Old- man bottom," Brown sands. IV. Lower Miocene (Marine Tertiary beds). Blue fossiliferous sands and marly clays. VI. Cretaceo-tertiary and Cretaceous. Upper, Middle, and Lower series. X. Triassic (?). Beds in the Upper Teremakau Valley, resembling the jas- peroid and diabasic beds of the Selwyn Gorge, Canter- bury. XII. Carboniferous. Maitai series Westland formation of Haast. XIII. Devonian. (a.) Reefton series. (b.) Slightly altered sub-metamorphic rocks. Metamorphic. Mica-schists. Upper, Middle, and Lower mica-schists. Gneissic schists. Crystalline schists and metamorphic granite. Plutonic. Massive and intrusive granites, &c. I. RECENT. Northern Part of Westland. (a.) Glacier Deposits. Glacier deposits in course of formation are found only around the sources of the Hokitika River, and, as a factor 24 GEOLOGICAL EEPOKTS. in the liberation of gold liable to be carried to the coast-line, are of little importance. Neither are they of much consequence as afford- ing gold directly from the morainic heaps, as these accumulate. The rocks concerned in the production of these morainic accumulations are, it would appear, not highly impregnated with. auriferous quartz reefs, and, besides, the moraines themselves are accumulated in such distant and inaccessible parts of the country that they would require to be very rich in gold to tempt the miner to explore and work them. (b.) River Alluvia. In the Mikonui and the upper part of the Totara River gold-workings have been carried on in the beds and immediate banks of these streams ; but in this southern part of the district it is Donnelly's Creek, Jones's Creek, and a number of small streams draining from the western part of the Mount Greenland block of mountains, that yielded gold in such quantities as made the Ross district famous in the early davs of gold-mining on the West Coast. Some part of this gold was undoubtedly directly derived from the auriferous Maitai rocks of Mount Greenland, but there can be no question that the greater part, found in the recent wash of the beds and banks of the various streams draining from the western slopes of the range, was derived from gravels of older dates present in the creek valleys, or resting on or forming the lower slopes of the outer hills. In the Hokitika Valley, above Kanieri, there have been but few, and these unimportant, workings along the bed and banks of the main stream, or of its largest tributary, the Kbkatahi River, and its various affluents. Recently it has been reported that payable gold has been got on the banks of the Hokitika, at or just below 'the junction of the Kokatahi. But if the Hokitika is to be regarded as an at-present- gold-bearing river, the gold-workings at Woodstock and the Kauieri Townships must be regarded as recent deposits due to the action of the Hokitika, and the geological evidence does not bear this assump- tion out. At Woodstock the gold-workings are in gravels that underlie glacier accumulations, and consequently are to be excluded from deposits coming under this head. On the opposite side of the river, at the Kanieri Township and Commissioner's Flat, the relation of the auriferous wash to the moraine-heaps is, in certain cases, that it passes under them, and in others that the gold of the superficial deposits should properly be considered as having been brought down the Kanieri River. Yet it is true that at the Kanieri Township the gold-bearing gravels on the immediate banks of the river and on the seaward side of the morainic hills may, without doing violence to the truth, be considered as being due to the action of the Hokitika. Along the Kanieri River a considerable amount of gold-working has been carried on in beds of this age at, above, and below the Porks, and in several tributary streams, such as Coal Creek, Butcher's Creek, McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 25 &c., but all of these streams derive their gold not from the rock matrices direct, but from older alluvial or glacier deposits than are to be found in that neighbourhood. In the Three-mile Creek the recent alluvial auriferous deposits are wholly derived from alluvial or glacier detritus brought from a dis : tance and deposited prior to the action of the present stream upon them. These older gravels being auriferous, and in certain cases very richly so, the result has been that the gravels of the bed of the Three-mile Creek and lower flats along the banks have yielded large quantities of gold, the Blue Spur Flat having maintained a large population for many years. In the Arahura Valley gold has been worked along the bed' of the stream and over parts of the low flats on its banks from below the Christchurch Hokitika Road to the foot of the Second gorge, and for a long time maintained a considerable population. Tributary streams joining the Arahura from the south have also yielded gold to a con- siderable extent from their modern alluvia. These are the several creeks between the Christchurch Road and Humphrey's Gully, Humphrey's Gully itself, and Macdonald's and German Gullies, and others of lesser consequence farther up the valley as far as Caledonian Creek ; all of these being auriferous, do but indicate a prior existence of alluvial auriferous deposits, from which the gold in the creek beds and on their banks has been derived, and this as a consequence, since none of these creeks contain within their watersheds any solid rocks of a character likely to carry auriferous reefs or afford other than alluvial gold. On the north side of the Arahura Valley there is a considerable extent of alluvial land, stretching from the river-bank to the foot of the southern Waimea Hills, over which gold may be found. The higher part of this terrace-plain may, however, be more properly treated of under another heading. Along the Kawhaka River, and in the flatter low grounds of Fox's Creek, beds and deposits of this age are known to be auriferous, but along the Kawhaka River thev have never to any extent paid for work- ing, and in Fox's Flat the ground is too wet and deep to be readily worked, or at least worked profitably, so says report in general. It is, however, an opinion strongly expressed by miners whose opinions are entitled to respect, that Fox's Flat must contain rich deposits, seeing the creek where workable, and Fox's Hill, were very rich diggings. In the Waimea Valley the great bulk of the gold-workings are to be regarded as being in gravel deposits of this age, for though it is quite true that the present stream passing along the valley could not and did not bring the auriferous wash into the watershed of the Waimea after the Arahura abandoned this valley as its course to the 26 GEOLOGICAL EEPORTS. sea, without question a considerable reassortrnent of the alluvia it left was effected by the waters of the present Waimea and its different tributaries. Yet such heavy deposits as are found in Tunnel Terrace and at other places in the valley must be referred to the action of the Arahura, and not to that of the Waimea, which is an inconsiderable and wholly modern river. Liverpool Bill's Gully and the Right- and Left-hand branches of the Waimea not having at any time been former channels of the Arahura, their alluvial gravels must be re- garded as derived from glacier deposits, or from the gravels of the " Old-man bottom/' rearranged and concentrated by the action of the present streams in immediately modern times. In Greek's and Duffer's Creeks the auriferous wash being worked is, for the most part, such as might be considered under this head ; but not wholly so, for there are workings at high levels on the side of the range towards Stony Creek and Fox's that show the " Old-man bottom " is being worked in that direction. In the Kapitea watershed the upper portions towards the Loop- line Road on the one hand, and the track from Whiskey Creek, on the Kawaka, to Greek's on the other, have been but little explored, and certainly not sufficiently prospected ; and it is not till nearing the Greenstone Hokitika Road that distinct alluvia, due to the present action of the^ stream, begin to be met with in the main stream or in Little Kapitea Creek. At Italian Gully and Callaghan's Hill the gold- workings, whatever they may have been, are not now in modern creek gravels. Following down Kapitea Creek considerable areas of worked ground are met with, showing the former importance of mining in the modern gravels and bed of this stream. On the south side of the Teremakau Valley, regard must be had to the workings in the Seven-mile Creek, Scot's Creek, and some other creeks within the Taipo Valley, a tributary of the Teremakau. Neither the Little nor the Big Wahinuinui proved gold-bearing at least, not sufficiently so as to attract a mining population and this may be said also of all the recent alluvial deposits in the Teremakau Valley above the Taipo Junction. In Donegal Creek, a quarter of a mile on the Kumara side of the junction of the road from Kumara with the Christchurch Hokitika Road, gold-workings were for a considerable time carried on in creek- wash derived from glacier debris and "Old-man bottom" showing in the banks of the stream. These workings were not in gravels brought down by the Teremakau itself, the gravels of which apparently remain barren of gold till passing opposite Dillmanstowu, and at the junction of the Greenstone. On the south-western bank of the Teremakau, between Kumara and the mouth of the river, there is a considerable extent of bush-clad McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern WesUand. 27 plain, gradually sloping towards the sea. As the Teremakau has cut its way to the sea at a considerably lower level than this plain, though the surface of it may be recent gravels, the high level prevents them being considered under this head, except it be some reconstructions of the gravels along the banks of the lower part of Hughie's Creek. On the northern side of the Teremakau Valley there are no gold- workings east of the west margin of the granite mountains at the source of the Big Hohonu or Greenstone River. In the Greenstone Valley (a quarter to half a mile wide) the low banks have been worked for gold from the junction with the Teremakau to Maori Point and Harrison's Terrace, and in some of its tributaries gold workings have been as, for instance, Little Fuchsia Creek. Workings are now carried on for the most part at higher levels. In the New River watershed the recent alluvia of almost every creek have been worked for gold, and of the Rutherglen district, within the watershed of Saltwater Creek, the same thing may be said. The various lesser streams and gully-creeks need not, therefore, be here more closely described. In the Grey Valley, below Brunnerton, there are no gold-workings in the low grounds along the river- banks. At the upper end of the Brnnner Gorge there are workings on the banks of the river, and again at intervals gold has been obtained up to the junction of Ford's Creek and the Blackball Creek with the Grey River. At one place a considerable amount of plant has been erected for the working of the low-level river-gravels close under the terrace. In Langdon's, Ruby, and Nugget Creeks, and the beds of several other streams draining from the eastern slopes of the Mount Davy Range, the modern alluvia have been worked for gold since the earlier discoveries made in the Grey Valley, and, by a limited population of miners, are still being worked. In all these creeks the wash and gold is in part derived from cements at the base of the coal-measures, but in greater part from the denudation of a narrow belt of gold-bearing slate and sandstone country, which, in a wedge-shaped area, is prolonged along the middle lower slope of the Mount Davy Range nearly to the right- hand branch of Ford's Creek. In Ford's Creek, gold-workings have been carried on in both branches, and a large area on the south-west bank of the left branch has been worked, chiefly by Chinamen. No part of Ford's Creek drains from slate country, and none of its gravels are due to the action of the Grey River. Its gold is of such a quality that it cannot have had the same source as that found in the Blackball, and it remains, therefore, but to infer that the gold of Ford's Creek has been derived from the conglomerates at the base of the coal-bearing series, which, as a coarse breccia conglomerate, has a large develop- 28 GEOLOGICAL EEPOETS. ment within the watershed, and of which much detritus is mixed up with the slaty portion of the gold-bearing wash. In Blackball Creek all the wash of the valley may be considered recent. It is wholly derived from the slates and sandstones of the Maitai series, that form the neighbouring part of the Paparoa Range, and which within this watershed are impregnated with quartz-reefs, some of which are of considerable dimensions. The inference usually made, that the gold comes from these rocks, is thus evidently correct, as there are no other than auriferous Maitai rocks in that part of the valley where the chief workings are carried on. In the valley of the Roaring Mey there is an alluvial flat near the source of the stream which is known to be gold-bearing ; but in this very little work has been done up to the present 'time, it being thought necessary to bottom the alluvial deposits in the flat, where the ground is likely to be deep and wet. From a study of this during the past year, it appears that this upper basin of the Roaring Meg has at one time been a lake, which, filled in to the level of the outlet, had then laid over the lacustrine deposit a stratum of coarse river-shingle, which, resting on the false bottom of the lacus- trine series, are the only gravels that are likely to be worth prospect- ing. As this area of unworked ground lies directly in the line of the Upper Blackball and Moonlight Diggings, and has derived its gravels from the same rocks (the Maitai series, impregnated with quartz-reefs), it is fairly reasonable to expect within this, workable deposits of gold. After the Meg leaves the ranges it flows over an alluvial flat to its junction with the lower Moonlight. Healy's Gully owes its modern auriferous deposits probably to the action of the Meg before the stream assumed its present course to join the Moon- light. In the Moonlight Valley the auriferous gravels are mainly derived from the destruction of the surrounding Maitai slates and sandstones. To a small extent gold may have been derived from a development of breccia conglomerate at the base of the coal-bearing series that, from the north-east, reaches into the bed of the creek opposite the town- ship. The valley of this stream, also the valleys of some lesser neigh- bouring creeks, has been famous for the coarse and nuggetty character of the gold found in their alluvial deposits. But in the mode of its occurrence the gold is very patchy, and for long periods the miners work without any return or sufficient reward for their labour. On the whole, however, they are well satisfied with the results, and most of the miners have worked in the near vicinity of where they now are since the first of the rush, or since their arrival at Moonlight. In Garden Gully a great collection of small nuggets and coarse pieces of gold was found at the junction of a small creek coming from McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 29 the west and joining the main stream below the township. This tributary creek scoured out its upper course and projected the detritus over a precipice, where, over a coal-seam, a waterfall was formed ; and, at the foot of the cliff, a shingle-fan, or talus, accumulated. In this modern deposit a mixture of gravel, tree-roots, and vegetable mud a very large quantity of gold was found. This happened some years ago. More recently, a systematic working of the same area has been undertaken, but, up to the present time, without any satis- factory result. Gold-workings are carried on in the valley of Moon- light Creek to and below B.A. Creek; but further down, though there are considerable areas of comparatively promising river-flats, that so far seem to have been very little prospected. Next to Moonlight, following the Grey Valley upwards, is Barker's and Caledonian Creeks. In the first of these the recent alluvial auriferous deposits are derived mainly from high-level terraces and from a development of "Old -man bottom," which from Blackball Creek extends along this side of the Grey Valley as far as the eastern side of Caledonian Creek. The gold-workings in Barker's Creek are not at the present time of great importance. In Caledonian Creek and its tributary, Shellback Creek, a large area of recent alluvium has been turned over, and there is still a considerable population, chiefly Chinamen, engaged in gold-mining within the watershed. The gold in the modern wash is partly derived from " Old-man bottom " forming hills in the middle part of the valley, partly from Maitai slates crossing Shellback Creek near its source, and partly from the breccia conglomerate at the base of the coal-bearing series, which, having a great development farther to the eastward, reaches west, as has been said, into the Moonlight Creek at the township. In Slaty Creek the recent alluvial gold obtained from the bed of the stream has mainly been derived from the conglomerates under the coal, which within this watershed has a very great development. In Black-sand Creek, a tributary branch of Big River, the recent alluvia are confined to a narrow and deep valley among mountains of breccia conglomerate ; and, as the creek does not reach through or beyond these breccia conglomerates, it is evident that the gold in the modern creek-wash has its source in these. Beyond the watershed of Slaty or Big River, the recent alluvial deposits of the Grey Valley and the valley of the Little Grey are not auriferous, or not sufficiently so as to have induced the working of them. The surface shingle of this part is mainly derived from granite and gneiss forming the greater part of the adjoining Paparoa Range ; and it is owing, apparently, to the non-auriferous character of these rocks that on this side of the valley no gold-workings extend beyond the valley of Slaty Creek or Big River. 30 GEOLOGICAL REFOKTK. On the south-east side of the Grey Valley the recent gold-bearing deposits in the valley of Still water Creek and Maori Gully are partly derived from " Old-man bottom " or from glacier deposits, of which ample evidence is furnished by the large erratic boulders found in the gold-workings. Over the Arnold Flat, from Lake Brunner to the Grey River, there is a broad extent of modern river-shingle, but g^ld-working over this is confined to a limited distance along the banks of tht Arnold. The northern side of the Arnold Flat, towards the No Town Hills, is supposed to be gold-bearing in the deep ground ; and the several creeks draining from the hills on to the flat, by the denudation of the gravels of the " Old-man bottom," must have carried forward auri- ferous material now lodged in the beds and lower valleys of those streams, or by such carried forward to the north-eastern margin of the Arnold Flat. From the southern slopes of the No Town Hills to the Big Grey the recent alluvial deposits of every stream, large or small, are gold-bearing, and for the most part have been worked, yielding a rich return to the miner. By far the greater amount of such gold has been derived from the gravels of Pliocene date, which arc here spoken of as " Old-man bottom." A portion of the gold found on the banks of the Ahaura River may, indeed, have been brought from the back-country beyond the area covered by the " Old-man bottom," or washed out of old high-level river- gravels, or directly from auriferous reefs in the schists or unaltered rocks of that part of the district. The amount so carried forward from the back-country can, however, be but small, as the gold-workings along the Ahaura almost cease on passing the south-east boundary of the deposits of " Old- man gravels." The many creeks which owe their gold to deposits of auriferous strata in the Pliocene gravel formation will be mentioned and described in detail in another part of this report. Ill the Valley of the Biff Grey the gravels of the river-bed and the lower river-flats are at the present time being worked for gold, and would be to a greater extent than they are were it not that there are difficulties in bringing water on to the ground where the richer deposits are known to be. This is due to objections raised by owners of freehold sections to the passing of water-races through their lands. Higher up the river-valley that is, above the junction of the Alexander River, and thence through the granite gorge to and along some parts of the Brown Grey, gold has been obtained from the modern gravels of the river-bed, but no continuous workings of consequence have taken place. This is imputed to the difficulty of prospecting, and the distance of the auriferous localities from settlement ; but this may be doubted, as in many other parts of the Coast far greater difficulties in the way of getting forward provisions McKAY. South- West Nelson and Northern Westland. 31 have been overcome; and the failure to prove the Upper Grey Valley a rich goldfield has rather been the lack of payable gold in the alluvial deposits than the impossibility of working these, or the trans- port of provisions to where the gold is said to occur. The above remarks apply also to the Upper Ahaura, and in this latter case even with greater force, since the Upper Ahaura has been from the early days of settlement on the Coast a route of travel to the East Coast, whence sheep and cattle were driven from the pastoral districts of south-east Nelson and northern Canterbury. Little Grey Valley. In Snowy Creek there is a large extent ^f ground, chiefly on the south side of the stream, that comes under this head, and has been worked for gold. Tiie gold-workings extend nearly three miles up from the junction of the creek with the Blackwater. The gold has wholly been derived from the high-level terraces of the Big Grey, formed at a time when this ran at a high level, and when its junction with the Little Grey was where the junction of the Blackwater with the latter stream now is. In the Blackwater the recently-formed and low-lying flats are auriferous for about seven miles above the Greymouth Reef ton Road. The principal workings are confined within the distance to which the " Old-man bottom " extends up the valley, and these beds are there- fore the great source of the gold found in the Blackwater Valley. Above where the gravels of the " Old-man bottom " cease and slate- rock makes its appearance, there is a sudden and marked decrease in the area of the gold-workings, though these yet continue along the banks of the creek to the distance stated. In the Biff River, a tributary of the Blackwater, the alluvial workings have been carried almost to the source of the stream, at and near the Big River Quartz-mine. The source of the gold in these up-stream workings is evidently the Maitai slates, which appear at the surface over this part of the country. In Adamstown Creek the alluvial wash along the bottom of the valley has been almost wholly derived from the gravels of the " Old- man bottom," which form the hills bounding the valley as far as this has yielded payable gold. In the Valley of Antonio's Creek the recent alluvial deposits of the low grounds along tne main streams have been derived principally from the gravels of the "Old-man bottom," but also to a consider- able extent from the slate country towards the source of the creek. The Pliocene gravels do not reach further up the main stream than four miles from the Little Grey Valley ; but above this point there have been extensive gold-workings on the slate bottom, where also 32 GEOLOGICAL EEPORTS. the hills bounding this upper part of the valley are composed of Maitai slate and sandstone. In the smaller tributary streams, more especially those draining from the south, the narrow gully-bottoms have been worked for gold a mile or more distant from the main valley, and in some cases almost to the watershed leading into Adams- town Creek. In Slab Hut Creek there has been a large amount of ground turned over, both above and below the gorge. Above the gorge some of the lesser creeks have been worked to their very sources. The beds of these show the presence of Maitai slates, but on the tops of the hills towards Antonio's Flat the " Old-man bottom " is present, so that both these formations may be a source of gold to the recent alluvial gravels along the course of Slab-hut Creek. East Side of Inangahua Valley. In Devil's Creek and Maori Gully the alluvial gold of the recent gravel deposits is derived partly from the Maitai slates and partly from the " Old-man bottom," also partly from a series of high-level gravels that cap the hills in the vicinity of Merrijigs, and thence extend along the plateau-like ranges towards the source of Big Biver. Extensive mining in these beds has taken place in the creeks men- tioned and their various tributaries. In Soldier's Gully also the recent auriferous gravels of the creek- bed have had their source partly from the Maitai slates and partly from a development of " Old-man bottom " Iving at the source of the creek, on the water-divide between this, Liverpool Bill's Creek, and a tributary of the Devil's Creek. In Rainy Creek, in Lankey's Gully, and along Murray Creek the recent alluvial auriferous deposits have derived their gold partly from the auriferous Maitai slates that occur within the watersheds of these creeks, or and this to a considerable extent from quartzose cements lying at the base of the coal-bearing series. In Painkiller Creek the source of the gold is the same as in the case of Rainy Creek, &c. In Burke's Creek the tailings swept down by the stream from the battery-sites near the source of the creek are being treated for gold. In the Inangahua Valley, below the junction of the two main branches, the gold found in the bed of the river necessarily may have been derived from all or any of the older auriferous rocks occurring in the valley. A few men from time to time work on the beaches above the junction of Boatman's Creek, but no important digging has ever been done on the immediate banks of the Inangahua River. North Branch of the Inangahua. There are two or three creeks that, taking their rise on the front range between the Waitahu McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 33 or north branch of the Inangahua and Boatman's Creek, below Capleston, have along their courses alluvial deposits that have been worked for gold. The high terraces, downs, and hill-slopes drained by these lesser creeks, of which Fryingpau Creek is perhaps the most important, are formed of old high-level deposits, " Old- man bottom," quartz drifts, and conglomerates, under the coal formation or auriferous Maitai slates, and each and all of these different gold-bearing formations probably have yielded auriferous material to the modern gravels along the different creek-beds of this part. In Boatman's Creek, where the area of recent alluvial deposit is even more considerable, all the sources immediately above mentioned have contributed to the auriferous character of the gravels in the creek-bed below Capleston. Unfortunately, below the point where the valley widens, the low grounds along the banks of the creek are likely to prove wet, and the sinking to bottom on the " Old-man gravels " on which the recent deposits rest will be, as a consequence, difficult. In the upper part of Boatman's the gold is derived from Cretaceo-tertiary conglomerates and gueissic rocks. In Little Boatman's Creek the gold is derived from Maitai slates in Specimen Hill, from conglomerates at the base of the coal-bearing series, and from gravels of the " Old-man bottom," all these sources contributing material towards the formation of the recent gravels in the bed of the creek. In Italian Gully and its different branches the main source of the auriferous wash is the slate belt extending along the front ranges between Boatman's and Larry's Creeks. In the lower part of the creek, however, the gravels of the " Old-man bottom" are also a source of supply. In Larry's Creek the main source of the recent gravels in and along the river-bed is the gneissic and mica-schist rocks of the Brunner Mountains, but to a considerable extent gold must have been supplied from hills and plateau table-lands formed of Pliocene gravels, that are present on both sides of the lower valley before the creek enters upon the lower plain formed by the Inangahua River. In. the upper part of Larry's Creek, gold and gold-workings are found right into the heart of the mountain chain in which the several sources of the creek take their rise. In Landing Creek and its several tributaries in the lower part, where gold-workings are first met with, the recent deposits are a mix- ture of the gravels of the " Old-man bottom " and slate rubble from the western slopes of the Brunner Mountains. Further up Little Landing Creek the bottom is " Old-man gravels," and the wash largely composed of the same material. This stream also reaches 3 34 GEOLOGICAL EEPOKTS. back to the slopes of the mountain range, where the auriferous slates are found. Between Landing Creek and Coal Creek there are high grounds covered with auriferous wash, which will have to be considered under another head ; but there are also numerous creeks in this direction the beds of which have been worked for gold. These, and the several creeks that take their rise beyond Coal Creek and fall into the Buller River, have not been particularly examined, but it is well known that the more important of them have been worked for gold, West Side of the Inangahua Valley. At the mouth of Stony Creek, which joins the Inangahua opposite the mouth of Boatman's Creek, there are heavy terraces of gravel in which a little gold has been found. To make this ground pay, hydraulic sluicing must be the means employed. In Fletcher's Creek and some other creeks on this side of the valley gold is found in the recent wash along the beds of the streams, but it does not appear that systematic and remunerative workings have at any time been carried on on this side of the valley of the Inaugahua. From what has been stated it will be apparent that, in most instances, the source of the gold in the beds and alluvial banks of all but the great rivers has been the gravels of the " Old-man bottom," which, it has been shown, is either present in or never far distant from the localities where important workings have been carried on. Coast-line between Greymouth and Westport. Neither in the Seven-mile nor in the Nine-mile Creek can there be said to be any gold-workings in gravels that rightly have to be considered under this head. In the valley of the Ten-mile Creek there have been gold-workings up to the first branch going to the south, while in the north or main branch of the stream prospecting has been carried almost to the source of the creek. The gold found in the Ten-mile Creek is of a coarse description. Part of it is undoubtedly derived from the slates and sandstones in which the upper part of the valley is excavated. Part of it also is undoubtedly derived from the conglomerates at the base of the coal-bearing series, of which more in the proper place. In Baker's Creek, at the southern end of the Seventeen-mile Beach, gold is found, and workings, though to a limited extent, have been carried on near the lower part of the creek. The gold in this stream has, as in the case of the Upper Ten-mile Creek, been derived solely from reefs occurring in the Maitai slate formation. McKAY. South-West Nelson ami Northern Westland. In Fagin's Creek gold is got along the bed of the stream to the foot of the high range iti which the creek takes its rise, nearly oppo- site the source of the Ten-mile Creek. A considerable amount of work has been done along the bed of this creek, but more in the way of prospecting than of systematic working. The gold appears to be patchy, as in Moonlight, and is of such character as indicates the near presence of reefs. Near the point where the creek leaves the hills it has broken through the Barrytown Lead, and here the greater part of the gold must be considered to have been derived from that part of the lead which the action of the creek has carried away. In Granity Creek no gold has yet been found above the point where it is crossed by the Barrytown Lead, and a number of smaller creeks crossed before reaching Canoe Creek are auriferous only be- cause they also have broken through and carried away part of the lead. In Canoe Creek a very considerable amount of gold-workings have been carried on, and most of the gold was obtained from the recent low-level terraces and gravels of the creek-bed. Like the other streams flowing from this part of the Paparoa Range west to the seaboard, it has cut through and in part destroyed the Barrytown Lead. Lawson's and Scott's Creeks, rising on the slopes of Hawera Mountain in like manner, after eroding gold-bearing slates, break through the northern continuation of the Barrytown Lead, and, thus enriched, have no doubt carried a portion of the finer gold to the lower ground and the sea-beach of the present day. Talus formed by Partial Destruction of Barrytown Lead. The Barrytown Lead, between Fagin's Creek and Canoe Creek, partly by the action of the creeks breaking through it and partly by the forma- tion of a talus at the foot of the terrace cliff, has yielded up a con- siderable percentage of its gold, and this now lies buried in or under the more recent accumulations formed as just described, or that have been brought down by the different creeks that intersect the lead. Canoe Creek to Buller River. It is somewhat remarkable that scarcely any of the small rivers between Canoe Creek and the Buller River have yielded payable gold from the recent gravels of their present beds, and this in the face of the fact that many of the high- level terraces have yielded handsomely. Lower Buller Valley. rin the 'Lower Buller itself little or, no gold has been obtained till its sands came within the action of the tide. In the Wftimanyaroa River, above the township, most of the gold- workings are beiug carried on in the recent gravels of the beds and banks of the streams. 'The gold is of a coarse description, and 36 GEOLOGICAL KEPOKTS. probably has been derived from the auriferous Maitai slates that, east of the granite belt, are developed throughout the watershed as the fundamental rock, on which rest the Cretaceo-tertiary or Cre- taceous coal-measures. Butler Valley, from the foot of the Gorge to the Inangahua Junction. Below the junction of the Little Ohika the shingle of the river-bed and of the terrace-banks, where any such are formed, are mainly granite detritus brought down by the Big Ohika or by lesser streams, or mere falls of granite rock from the precipitous mountains on each side of this part of the gorge. There are 110 gold-workings on the beaches of this part of the gorge. At and opposite the Twelve-mile, gold-workings have been and still to some extent are carried on. Above this point, to the " Old Diggings " at Berlin's, a few miners are scattered along the banks of the river, working portions of the banks, but preferably washing on the beaches when the river is low. At and near Berlin's a number of claims are still being worked, all of them situated on what must be regarded as recent deposits by the river. Above Berlin's to the Inangahua Junction there are, at the present time, no workings on the bed or in the immediate banks of the river; but at Grainger's Point, near Coal Creek, one or two claims are being worked on the point, at an elevation considerably above the river, so that properly this has to be considered under a following heading. Butter River, from the Inangahua Junction to the Lyell. Within the past twelve months beach-workings were in operation on the river- beaches opposite the Inangahua Junction. Further up the river a number of river-claims are being worked, and here also is situated the Cock-sparrow dredge. Alluvial flats of moderate width con- tinue up the river to the bridge, a mile and a half from the Lyell Town- ship, and on the northern bank of the river there are also bush-clad terraces reported to be gold-bearing that must be considered as coming under this head. In New Creek, making junction with the Buller below Lyell Bridge, the alluvial deposits of the bed of the creek are mainly derived from the auriferous slates that form the neighbouiing ranges arid hills, but they do not seem to carry much gold. Upper Buller Valley. Buller Gorge, from Lyell Creek to Fern Flat. From the bridge below the Lyell to the mouth of Lyell Creek there are a number of claims working on the east bank of the river, but the water-supply being limited, the present workings are less extensive than the ground available might warrant, though this at best is but a narrow strip McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 37 along the brow of the deeper part of the gorge through which the river flows. Above the junction of Lyell Creek the same character of deposit prevails namely, a ledge on the slope of the range on one or other side of the gorge (usually on the north side), below which, in a narrow channel, the river makes its way. These deposits are mostly worked for gold, but with appliances and such a water- supply, as makes it evident that with improved means far greater returns might be obtained. These deposits, though generally above high flood-mark, are, nevertheless, to be regarded as having been deposited by the river during the modern period. In Lyell Creek the recent alluvial deposits are mostly confined to the bed and immediate banks of the creek, where small flats lie upon one or other side of it. Lyell Creek and some of its tributaries were rich in gold, the greater part of which has been directly liberated to the shingle of the creek from the auriferous slate ranges, along which it finds its way to its junction with the Buller. Part of its gold, however, and certainly that of some of its tributaries, has been derived from older gravel deposits, a remnant of which is preserved on Manuka Flat, a high-level deposit situated between Lyell Creek, the Eight-mile Creek, aud the Buller River. In the Maruia Valley all the narrow flats that lie along each or either bank of the river must be considered as belonging to the series of deposits under consideration. That at and above Castleana's is the largest in extent, and also the highest above the present channel of the river ; but, having regard to the volume and power of the stream, these river-flats are as much due to recent action as are others along the valleys of lesser streams that, holding the same pro- portionate relationship, are undoubtedly regarded as due to the action of the stream, in such times and manner that they are correctly treated of under this head. To the junction of the Warbeck all the deposits along each bank of the Maruia come under this head. Wherever along the banks of the river there are gravels they are gold-bearing. In the Middle Valley, extending from the junction of the Warbeck to the junction of the Alfred River, at the foot of the Cannibal Gorge, the recent deposits of the valley lie along the lower grounds as narrow river-flats as far as Walker's Homestead. Above the junc- tion of Station Creek the low river-flats expand, and at places have a width of two miles. Gold is found on the banks of the river in the lower part of this division of the Maruia Valley, but it does not appear to be present in paying quantities above the junction of Station Creek. In the Warbeck, and a tributary of the Warbeck (the Rappa- hanock), there is some extent of alluvial lands, and notably in the Rappahanock these are gold-bearing, the gold present being derived 38 GEOLOGICAL REPOBTS. from conglomerates belonging to the lower division of the Cretaceo- tertiary rocks., which have a very considerable development in this past of the district. In Station Creek the auriferous alluvia have been worked for gold to a considerable extent, these are in great part derived from gravels of older date, brought down the Maruia Valley by the agency of ice, or by rivers, when this part of the valley formed the basin of an extensive lake; but the gold, it would appear, has been for the most part derived from the conglomerates at the base of the coal-bearing series. In the Alfred River the recent alluvial deposits are the results of the degradation of the schist ranges to the eastward surrounding the sources of the river; the gold is therefore most probably derived from reefs in these rocks. Buller,from Fern Flat to Junction of Mataira. At Fern Flat the banks of the river have been worked for gold, and the Buller dredge is at present placed on a portion of the river-bed immediately opposite the accommodation-house. Higher up the river valley the chief extent of the alluvial flat land lies on the opposite or south side of the river, on both sides of the lower Matakitaki, and constitutes the farming district of Hampden. In Doughboy Creek the outer and lower alluvial area is a part of that already described as due to the action of the Buller above and below the junction of the Matakitaki ; but in the upper valley leading to the Glencairn Saddle, by which the Maruia Valley is reached, the auriferous alluvial gravels are of local origin, probably derived from the conglomerates of coal-bearing series. In the Matakitaki Valley, up to the junction of the Gienroy River, all the gold-workings are situated in the low grounds along the banks of the river, and are consequently in river alluvia of recent date. The river keeps close under the range of hills on the western side of the valley, and the high-level terraces are all on the eastern side, but whether these should, in the lower part of the valley, be separated from the recent deposits may be doubted. All the gold of this part of the Matakitaki Valley must be considered as having been derived from either older gravels above the Gienroy junction, or from the conglomerates of the coal-bearing series. In the Upper Matakitaki the river has cut through very heavy deposits of shingle, that now form high banks on each side of the river. Narrow flats lie along the river-banks at the lower level, and these alone have to be considered at the present time. In the deeper terraces the bottom gravels appear to have been deposited in a lake, the outlet of which has been cut away by the action of the river, In this respect, therefore, the Upper Matakitaki deposits McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 3$ resemble those of the Maruia Valley above the junction of the Warbeck. In the Glenroy Valley there are a number of terrace flats which may be' considered under this head, while along other parts of its course the stream has cut its way through the conglomerates of the coal-bearing series, forming thus a narrow channel not favour- able for the retention of gravels. Further towards the source of the stream the valley \videns, and the alluvial flats along the river are of considerable extent. There are a variety of rocks present in the upper part of the Glenroy watershed, and from the Maitai slates and the schist rocks present some part of the gold found in the valley has without doubt been derived ; but, from the great development of the conglomerates at the base of the Cretaceo-tertiary series, it is presumed that these have yielded the greatest proportion of the gold obtained and yet to be obtained from the alluvial deposits of the valley. (c.) Littoral. These deposits consist of the moving sands and shingle of the tide-way between high- and low-water mark, and the series of but slightly raised beaches that generally lie at the foot of a higher terrace, or bold rocky land, and which do not exceed 25 ft. above sea-level. Such deposits are found along the coast-line from the mouth of the Mikonui to the Hokitika River, and along this part the gold is generally obtained from within, at or near high-water mark ; but towards the mouth of the Hokitika, black- sand deposits, rich in gold, lie at a considerable distance inland from the coast-line ; those on Craig's freehold, on the south side of the river, have yielded during the past three years a large amount of gold. On the North Beach, and thence to the mouth of the Arahura, the. same character of deposit generally prevails viz., lavers of black sand, containing gold, overlain or underlain bv grey sand, the overlying grey sands being often drifted on to the black-sand layer by the action of the winds, which drives inland from the tide-way the lighter sand-grains. Qf such character are the deposits along the coast-line between the Three-mile, north of Hokitika, and the mouth of the Arahura. North of the Arahura the back leads usually rest on or are contained in shingle, as may be seen in the ground worked along the foot of the higher terrace between the Kumara Railway-station and the beach opposite that place. North of the Teremakau to the mouth of the Grey River this is also the general character of the deposits immediately inland of the tide-way. South of Greymouth, as far as the mouth of the New River, these workings are very extensive, and sometimes the amount of gravel removed to reach the gold-bearing stratum ha^ 40 GEOLOGICAL EEPOETS. been considerable. Like conditions prevail north of the Grey River to Point Elizabeth, and on the Seven-mile and Nine-mile Benches. Away from the vicinity of the mouths of the larger rivers, and from an abrupt coast-line, the shingle passes into sands on the low sloping beaches, and the black-sand auriferous deposit under the action of the tide separates into distinct beds. This is the condition of the auriferous deposits on the Seventeen-mile Beach, abreast of Barry town, and of all the beaches up to the Fox River. Nor is it greatly different between the Fox River and Cape Foulwind. North of the Buller the shingly type of beach again makes its appearance, and continues to the Waimangaroa, beyond which for the present it is not necessary to trace this series of deposits. The amount of gold raised from these littoral deposits has been very great, and although "beach-combing " must gradually become less and less remunerative, and the black-sand leads not so easy to work, and possibly also, what are left of them, not so rich in gold ; yet from these deposits there has yet to be won, perhaps, more gold than has hitherto been obtained from them. Dredging of the back leads between the beach and the high ground at the back thereof has not been attended hitherto with a very marked degree of success ; but it is not to be thought of that the ground will remain unworked when the proper machinery for, and the correct methods of, working the ground has been ascertained. At some places these back leads should prove very rich, generally where the accumulation has taken place on the protected side of a bluff or projecting point of land. IA. PLEISTOCKNE. (a.) High-level Old River-channels and Terraces. In the southern part of the district, between Ross and Rimu, it is doubtful whether gravel appearing on and near the road-line between Limestone Creek and the Half-way House, should be regarded as above or below the moraines that form the hilly country between the Totara and Rimu. Rimu Flat is, however, clearly an old channel of the Hokitika River, as has already been stated in another report.* Tunnel Terrace in the Waimea, possibly also Quinn's Terrace opposite Stafford town, and part of Kelly's Terrace, should be referred to the action of the Ara- hura within the Waimea Valley. These, at most places, are possibly rearranged glacier deposits. Along the edge of the Upper Kapitea basin, near Italian Gully and Callaghan's, there are auriferous deposits that should be referred to this period. A large part of the plain, from Kumara to the beach, has been due to the action of the * Report on the Northern Part of Westland : Goldfields and Mining Reports, 1893, p. 162 : McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 41 Teremakau, though immediately under the Dillmanstowu hills the surface may be due to more recent action. In the Greenstone Valley, the old channel of the Teremakau, starting from abreast of the special settlement in the Teremakau Valley and running north to the Duke of Edinburgh Terrace, opposite the Greenstone Township, thence passes again to the east side of the Greenstone Valley, and continues on this side to near the present junction of the Greenstone with the Teremakau, has left along this line a considerable area of high-level river-gravels that, at the present time, are being largely worked for gold. Before the Teremakau River-channel or the Greenstone Valley had been cut down to their present levels, the Teremakau must have wandered over the plains between Kumara and the sea, and at the same time deposited the high-level gravels on its northern bank which are now being worked for gold, from the mouth of the Greenstone and Cape Terrace to and beyond Westbrook, in the direction of Candlelight. A large area of high-level river-gravels extends from the foot of the granite moun- tains to the eastern foot of the high lands surrounding the sources of New River, between the Greenstone Valley and the Big Hohonu River (falling into Lake Brunner). These, however, do not appear to be gold-bearing, being for the most part reasserted glacier moraines, the material of which has been brought here by the Upper Teremakau glacier, which, passing through the gap in the granite mountains, filled the basin of Lake Brunner, and formed a series of moraines on its west and south-west sides. In the Grey Valley, old high-level river-terraces occur on the right bank of the river near to the Brunner Mine and Taylorville, and are at the present time being worked for gold in Sulky Gully. West of Taylorville these grounds reach a height of 440 ft. above sea- level. Above the Brunner Gorge, on the right bank of the river and west side of the valley, gravels of this description occur only as patches, till reaching the valley of Blackball Creek. In Blackball Creek the principal deposit of this description lies between the lower parts of Blackball and Ford's Creek, and extends over the area on which the township is built, and that south-east of Kiusella's, near the point where these streams enter upon the Grey River bed. To the right of the track from Blackball to Moonlight, the Meg Stream has deposited high-level gravels between the upper end of German Gully and Healy's Gully, near the point where the Meg leaves the ranges. In the valley of Moonlight Creek, high-level gravels are present from the terraces at the back of the township, across the head of Garden Gully, and thence extend along the foot of the range in the 4-2 GEOLOGICAL EEPOETS. direction of the mouth of the Meg Gorge. Between the lower part of Slaty Creek and the Grey, below the junction of the Little Grey, it may be inferred that a considerable area of high terrace country should be considered under this head ; but the country has not been explored, for the reason that there are no tracks through it except along the banks of Slaty Creek to Blacksand Creek, and the bare country on the Paparoa Range. The same may be said of a good deal of country lying between the Little Grey and the Paparoa Range. On the opposite south-east side of the Little Grey Valley there are no deposits that may be referred to under this head till passing the Blackwater ; the eastern side of the low grounds of the Little Grey Valley is bounded by high terraces formed by the action of the Big Grey. These terraces are of great area and altitude. They stretch back from the banks of the present river-channel a distance of between four and five miles. The first formed and highest terrace lies to the north-east of the Snowy River, and between Snowy River and the Blackwater; the terrace-gravels rests on "Old-man bottom." They show their distinctness in comparison with the "Old-man bottom " in that they have not vet been denuded and sculptured into sharp ridges and deep gullies, as almost everywhere is the case with the " Old- man gravels." It is true that the Snowy River Valley has been excavated along the line between the fourth and third terrace, and that its tributaries form shingle gulches and gullies extending a short distance into the terrace on each hand ; and on the end of the terraces, fronting the Little Grey Valley, gullies have also been cut into the third terrace. The second and first terraces are much as when first formed. Gold is generally distributed through the material of these terraces, and, as already stated, all the gold obtained from Snowy River has undoubtedly been derived from the third and fourth terraces. On the opposite side of the Big Grey, from Mackley's station and Noble's Township to the Clark River and the foot of the Granite Ranges, gravels of like age and mode of formation stretch between the Big Grey and the Ahaura Rivers. On the south-east side of the Grey Valley a high-level terrace stretches along the foot of the hills formed of " Old-man bottom." This fringing high terrace extends up the main gullies running into the hills formed of " Old-man bottom," as, for instance, along the valley of Duffer's Creek ; further to the south-west these terraces fuse with the broader expanse of the Ahaura Plain that lies between. Orwell Creek and the Ahaura River, and which extends some eight miles back from the Grey River. Between Lake Hochstetter and Bell Hill there is a considerable extent of alluvial ground, which is of younger date than the Pliocene McKAY. South- West Nelson and Northern Westland. 43 gravels of the " Old-man bottom/' yet scarcely due to the action of rivers following their present direction ; these, therefore, must be considered as high-level gravels. The greater part of the Arnold Flat must be considered recent, but on the ridge between Maori Gully and the low grounds along the Arnold there are terraces of gravel that, clearly of river origin, have to be dealt with at this time and under this head. Along the coast, from the- mouth of the Grey to Cape Foulwind, there are no deposits that can be rightly considered or described as " Old high-level river-gravels." On its western side the Buller has cut a series of terraces from the level of Addison's Flat to that of the river at the present time. These are terraces of erosion, not of deposit. Higher up the river, on the same side and on the opposite east side, massive high-level terraces stretch north along the foot of the granite ranges. These high-level terraces extend north along the range to Fairdown. In the Inangahua Valley such terraces are to be met with on the right bank of the Inangahua, near Reef ton, and again between the Waitahu River and Boatman's Creek ; and in the lower valley they form a high terrace between the lower Inangahua and the Buller, below the junction of the Inangahua. It is from the gravels of this high terrace that the gold came that was obtained from the caves and fissures of the limestone. In the Upper Buller, high-level gravels are present on Manuka Flat, between Lyell Creek and the Buller, between the Lyell Township and the Eight-mile. These gravels are at a considerable elevation above the present drainage channels. They appear to be river-gravels, though it has been suggested that they are deposits in the bed of a lake, and this on account of the presence of beds of fine granite sand interbedded with the coarser bouldery wash. The gravels are gold- bearing, but have not proved payable. They should be prospected. Between the Newton and the mouth of the Maruia there are high terraces on the right bank of the Buller which, if water was brought on to them, are likely to develop into profitable workings of consider- aole extent. In the Upper Maruia Valley the high-level terraces south of the moraine stretching across the valley, above the junction of the War- beck, perhaps partly lake deposits, are yet in some sense to be re- garded as river-gravels, and have to be dealt with in this place. They stretch up the valley to the mouth of Station Creek. The gravels of the Bog Saddle have also to be considered. These have been de- posited by the Maruia when it was an affluent of, rather the true source, of the Grey River. In the Matakitaki Valley heavy deposits of auriferous gravel on both sides of the river, above the Glenroy 44 GEOLOGICAL EEPORTS. junction, may be dealt with under this head, though for the matter of that they might be regarded as recent,, seeing that under a con- siderable thickness of these gravels an underlying and evidently un- conformable series is seen, which are yet younger than the gravels of the " Old-man bottom." II. PLEISTOCENE AND YOUNGER PLIOCENE. (a.) Extended Glacier Deposits outside the Limits of the Moun- tains. The hilly country between the lower course of the Hokitika River and the Totara River, west of the Big Swamp and Con- stitution Hill, forms the most extensive, continuous, and connected area of these deposits. Here and generally they consist mainly of angular morainic material, mostly brought from the unaltered Palaeozoic rocks of the higher part of the Southern Alps, but schist to a limited extent, and a fair proportion of granite rocks, are also present, and at some places predominate. Although the general character of these de- posits is angular and subangular pieces of rock of all sizes, rolled gravels do also occur in association with the less rounded material. In this area they have been encroached on by the action of the Totara River, and reduced, over a considerable breadth of flat country on the north side of the river, to the condition of well-rolled gravels. At other places, along the road from Ross to Rimu, gravels appear, but it cannot always be said whether such gravels overlie, are associated with, or underlie the more angular glacier material. Gold-prospecting has been carried on in these beds to a limited extent only, and it must be said that they have been prospected less than they should have been. The great difficulty in developing the field is the lack of an abundant high-pressure water-supply, such as is available for the Kumara field, and there are almost insuperable difficulties in the way of bringing such a supply from any proposed source on to the ground. At Woodstock, on the west side of the Hokitika River, opposite Kanieri Township, at the Kanieri Township, and along the foot of the Mount Misery Range, glacier moraines lie in the low grounds, and near the Kanieri Township these have been worked to some extent after the manner followed at Kumara. At the Kauieri, however, the deposit occurs at too low a level for the successful working and treating of the auriferous material by the processes hitherto in vogue in the district. Below the Kanieri Porks the glacier deposits bend to the eastward, and run along the lower southern slopes of the hills between Kauieri Lake and the Kokatahi Plain. Between the left or main branch of the Kanieri River and the Humphrey's Gully Range glacier moraines are found at a considerable altitude, and thence pass across a saddle in the range into the watershed of the Three-mile Creek, These McKAY. South- West Nelson and Northern Westland. 45 deposits are worked for gold at the Kanieri Forks and in the upper part of the Three-mile Creek. In the Arahura Valley great accumulations of glacier matter lie along the east side of the valley in the second gorge ; and between Island Hill and the eastern end of the Humphrey's Gully Range a vast moraine has accumulated that at one time stretched across the valley, but now this is cut through to a depth of 500 ft. Along the northern side of the Humphrey's Gully Range moraine deposits extend, at a high level, to Humphrey's Gully Claim, and similar deposits can be traced along the range yet further to the north-west. On the north-eastern side of the Arahura, glacier deposits can be traced over almost the whole of the Kawaka Watershed, and round the eastern slopes of the Waimea South Hills, by way of Stony Hill, Duffer's, and Greek's, to Callaghan's, all within the Kapitea water- shed. In the upper basin of the Kapitea and Little Kapitea Creeks almost the entire area of drainage by these streams is occupied by morainic matter, slightly modified over particular areas, or by beds of silt deposited in lakes fed by glacier streams. These moraines and other glacier deposits were, within the Kawaka and Kapitea watersheds, mainly, if not wholly, due to the Arahura glacier, which, finding little or no relief to the south and south-west, pressed with great force to the north-west and north, and in the latter direction came in collision with a portion of the Teremakau glacier. These phenomena of the action of ice in the northern part of West- land during the glacier period have been fully described elsewhere ;* and more than a rapid sketch of the areas covered by these deposits need not be given in this place. The Arahura glacier, driven to the north, was met by one great branch of the Teremakau glacier, and thus the Loop-line Hills are on one side formed of materials brought forward by the Arahura glacier, while on the other, the northern side, the material is due to the action of the Teremakau glacier. Yet the Arahura glacier reached forward into the watershed of the Tere- makau River, a little to the seaward of where was the terminal moraine of the Teremakau glacier. As regards the gold-bearing character of the Arahura moraines there can be little doubt, as otherwise it would be required in some other way to explain the presence of the gold over the entire watersheds of the Arahura River and Kapitea Creek, and part of the Teremakau watershed near Dillmanstown. Perhaps such alternative explanation would be the more reasonable if it considered the gold as being derived from the Pliocene gravels, where they occur in this part of the district, since if gold be denied * Mines Reports, 1893, pp. 163, 164. 46 GEOLOGICAL REPOKTS. to the glacier-drifts, it must also be considered absent from the river-gravels that, having the same source, simply by a little time preceded the deposit of the moraines, such river-gravels being in great part merely glacier matter rounded and carried forward from terminal moraines that in course of time were overridden by the further advance of the glaciers. On the northern side of the Teremakau Valley no moraines appear to have reached further to the westward than within the limits of a line drawn from the mouth of the Greenstone Valley across Fuchsia Creek, where that is crossed by the Greymouth Greenstone Road, and thence by way of Maori Creek (in the New River watershed) to Stillwater and Maori Gully, within the Grey watershed. At all of the places mentioned there is unmistakable evidence of the presence of morainic matter, but slightly if at all modified by the action of running water. How far glaciers reached down the Arnold Valley is not easily determined, but probably to abreast of, or even further west than, the points reached in Stillwater Creek and Maori Gully. No clear evidence of the presence of ice has been detected on the No Town Hills, and it is only to be inferred that the line of furthest ice extension crosses Nelson Creek somewhere above Hatter's Terrace ; nor has the line of limit been clearly made out further to the north till reaching Orweli Creek. Here the presence of ice is unmistakably made clear by the occurrence of vast angular blocks of rock scattered over the tops of the hills between Napoleon Hill and the saddle leading from the left branch of Noble's into the head of Duffers Creek. More to the north every trace of morainic matter in the low ground has been destroyed by the action of the Big Grey, in the formation of the succession of terraces described under the previous heading. Yet, in the different gullies cut into the " Old-man bottom," in Adamstown and Antonio's Creeks, large boulders are found suggestive of the agency of ice as a means of transport from their original matrices and localities to the hill tops, whence they have rolled into the gully bottoms. No modern ice-action appears ever to have taken place in any part of the Paparoa Range, otherwise the morainic material has been carried completely forward into the Grey Valley, so as to come under a reconstructive process by means of running water, or, on the west or coastward side, bodily into the sea. As far as this latter assumption is concerned, as older deposits of a loose or incoherent character are preserved in many places that must have been passed over by ice in its passage to the coast-line, we may assume that no such ice-sheet ever existed. In the Upper Buller Valley the only evidence of . South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 47 glacier action is the moraine stretched across the Manila, seven miles below Walker's Home Station. This is unmistakable in its character the general character of the material, the hummocky outline of the surface, and the large far-transported blocks of rock, still perfectly angular, amply testify to the fact. (b.) River Deposits formed prior to the Advance of the Glaciers. At Ross the deposits in the flat are partly reconstructed glacier material, and partly river-gravels that were deposited prior to the advance of the glaciers. The various alternations of these beds are well seen in the workings of the Ross United Company's Claim, and there can be no doubt that the greater area of the Ross Flat towards the sea contains the like deposits. In the country between the Totara and Rimu it is uncertain if any of the gravels seen along the road-line do underlie the glacier deposits, but along Back Creek, and in the face of the terrace overlooking the low grounds of the Hokitika, it is abundantly demonstrated that river gravels underlie the glacier deposits. These old river gravels are auriferous, and form what is now the principal source of gold in the immediate district. River gravels under the morainic hills are probably present at the western margin of Commissioner's Flat, Kanieri. In the glacier deposits of the Kanieri Forks there are considerable developments of gravel at places ; in other places almost none. In the Arahura, Kawaka, and Kapitea Valleys very little has been done to prove the existence of gravels under the glacier drifts, or, where gravels have been observed, to prove them gold-bearing. It is at Kumara where the river gravels under the moraiuic deposits of the Dill- manstown Hills occur fully displayed, and where they have most extensively been worked. It would appear that these gravels on the Kumara field arc the great source of the gold. They in the various workings pass under the rnorainic hills of Dillmanstown. Over Kumara and Larrikin's Flats these gravels were overlain by others of a similar nature, derived from the denudation of the adjoining glacier deposits, and it was a matter of difficulty to distinguish between the two in vertical section. The distinction was only made clear when it was seen that on the western edge of the morainic hills the glacier material wedged in between the two gravel deposits. The same deposits should be present under the morainic heaps of Hayes Terrace ; and in the Greenstone Valley they appear to be present at Maori Point. Elsewhere in the Greenstone Valley, and over the district south of the Arnold, these gravels have not been noticed. (c.) Marine Gravels containing Black-sand Leads. Like the lit- toral deposits already described, these beds are developed parallel, or 48 GEOLOGICAL EEPOKTS. approximately parallel, to the coast-line. They are not clearly indi- cated as present in the district south-west of the Hokitika River. They are first distinctly met with at the eastern edge of the Big Pad- dock, in the Houhou Lead, at the bottom of the series of gravel;! forming the terrace-flat to the westward. The Houhou Lead yielded a very great amount of gold, but was lost at the southern edge of the Blue Spur Flat, being, in fact, cut away by the action of the Three-mile Creek, as has already been indicated. On the opposite side of the valley it was traced in Scotty's Tor- race, but not by the miners recognised as a continuation of the Houhou Lead, from the fact that the original deposit was much disturbed, or destroyed altogether ; and the gold in and under a thin deposit of gravel was left clinging to the steep slope of Tertiary clays that form Blue Spur. A little further west, where the blue-reef bottom dips rapidly to the seaward, the line of lead remains intact ; and in Simp- son's Claim, opposite the Blue Spur Township, the nature of the material forming the wash can be studied to advantage, there being here heavy beds of black sand mixed with flat beach-stones, and overlain by gravels evidently of marine origin. In Simpson's Claim the golden bands were not remarkably rich; and, for this cause again, it was not gene- ally supposed that this was a continuation of the Houhou Lead, which, nevertheless, undoubtedly it is. The lead was therefore, despite these evidences, considered to stop short on the southern side of the Blue Spur Flat ; but within the past few years it has been traced to the Arahura slope of the Blue Spur, and recent developments in that quarter show that it is very rich in gold, probably richer than at any other point of the line to the southward. The history of what has been done, leading up to and ending in the discoveries recently made, and which have lately been the cause of not a little excitement in mining circles on the West Coast, is as follows : On the north-east side of the Humphrey's Gully Range, south-east of the road from the Arahura crossing to Blue Spur, rich diggings were found on the lower slope of the range, which, east and west of the road-line, were traced into and under the level terrace-lands at the foot of the range. In the extreme west of this line the slope of the ridge does not appear to have been as rich as to the east of the road, and in explanation of this it has been noted that the Houhou Lead was comparatively poor on the point of the Blue Spur, in Simp- son's Claim. Be this as it may, the gold was found rich along the edge of the terrace flat, up to what is now known as Dwyer's freehold, but the auriferous wash dipped rapidly into deep and wet ground, and it was found impossible to follow it further than a vertical depth of McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 49 30 ft. from the surface of the flat. For a number of years the ground was abandoned, and no mining was carried on on the north-east side of the Blue Spur, or along the south-west extremity of the Humphrey's Gully Range. East of the road-line some areas of freehold were acquired between the Blue Spur and what is known as the " Black Bridge/' and latterly Mr. Dwyer acquired a residence area of one acre at the extreme western end of the gold workings on the flat, and subsequently negotiated with the Midland Railway Company for the purchase of forty acres adjoining, on the west and north-west sides of his residence area. In the meantime Mr. Boys, of Blue Spur, from a conviction that rich deposits of gold were still to be found on the terrace flat, commenced putting in an adit from the foot of the lower terrace, near the level of the Arahura, and one mile distant from the ground he intended to prove. Through successive years this work was continued, and in 1892 the face of the drive was stiil fully 300ft. from the point where it was hoped to catch the lead, that could not be followed into the flat on account of water. This adit, which for the greater part of the distance driven was through river gravels, it was hoped, would strike gold other than that to reach which it was started ; but throughout 4,000 ft. of driving the gravels were barren of gold, and at one time it seemed that the work must be abandoned. However, in 1893 the Mines Department granted Mr. Boys a subsidy, which enabled him to continue the work. The same year the writer, who examined the district with reference to its geology, and more particularly with regard to the distribution of the different alluvial gold deposits, expressed the opinion that the ground sought to be proved by Mr. Boys would turn out to be the northern continuation of the Houhou Lead. Meanwhile, throughout the time of its being driven, the adit put in by Mr. Boys gradually drained the ground, and, shortly after the time the tunnel was driven into the lease held by Mr. Boys, shafts could be sunk over the flat to a much greater depth than formerly, and in some cases bottomed, without meeting with water. Mr. William Harcourt, when living at the Arahura Crossing, at times prospected in the small creek crossing the Christchurch Hoki- tika Road at Black Bridge, and obtained a fine sample of gold, cor- responding with that from the lead on the north-east side of the Blue Spur. This clearly had been washed out of an eastern continuation of the lead, probably by the cutting action of the creek at or near the foot of the hill. As soon, therefore, as Mr. Boys drove his tunnel through the ridge of Tertiary clay, and reached the auriferous gravels to the south-east of that, the Harcourt Brothers applied for and were granted extended claims, and at a distance of about 10 chains to the east of Boys' shaft sank and bottomed on gold. A rush then took 4 50 GEOLOGICAL KEPOKTS. place, and several shafts were put down, and, due to the water being drained away by Boys' tunnel, the ground was now comparatively dry. Most of the trial shafts, however, did not find gold to pay, and, for a time, things again became quiet. Finally, Boys struck very rich gold-bearing wash, and R. A. Harcourt negotiated for the privilege of mining under Dwyer's residence area, which right he acquired, and sank a shaft just outside the area, within Boys' claim. This bottomed through washdirt very rich in gold, Mr. Harcourt estimating that the area of the shaft alone yielded 8 oz. of gold. There was now considerable excitement with respect to the 40 acres held by Mr. Dwyer, and the whole of the ground was pegged off under the belief that the land had not been alienated, and was still open for mining purposes. It is understood that the land is to be resumed by the Government shortly. There is little doubt that the lead extends east to or beyond the Black Bridge, and thence dips to the westward, and in this direction is covered up by the more modern gravels of the Arahura Valley. Over the low grounds of the Arahura Valley the lead has been carried away by the river, and it is not likely to be again met with till pass- ing to the north-east of Flowery Creek, where it should again be oresent in and for some distance into the flat west of Ballarat Hill, which is the line of its continuation to the north-east, at or near the level of the Houhou and Blue Spur portions of the lead. On Ballarat Hill the lead was fully developed, but the richer part of this area has now been worked. North-east of this the Waimea has broken through and destroyed the lead, and it is not met with till Scandinavian Hill is reached, although the terraces at the back of Stafford town should afford some indication of it, as being formed of the same marine gravels, which are gold-bearing on the south-west side of the Waimea. As far back as workings have been carried to the eastward, on Ballarat Hill, beds of black sand, partly oxidized and cemented, are found interbedded with the coarser gravels, thns indicating the marine character of the beds. On the continuation north-east of the line of this old raised beach, between German Gully and Sandy Creek, there are a series of ter- races, denominated Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Terrace. These appear to be the line of lead, cut down to various levels by the action of the different streams that are tributaries of German Gully Creek or Sandy Creek. The Lamplough Lead, within the Kapitea watershed, lies on the same line, and is distinctly on a continuation of the Houhou Lead thus far. Further to the north-east, between the Kapitea Creek and the Teremakau River, the line of black-sand old beach deposit has at one McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 51 time been continuous, but in times more recent the action of the Teremakau has either destroyed or covered up the marine beds. Workings along the high terrace banks of the river, and in Drake's Terrace and Hughes's Creek, indicate that here portions of the lead yet remain. Between the Teremakau and Ruthergleu, in the watershed of Saltwater Creek, there seem to be two lines of black-sand leads, either of which may be considered as the direct continuation of the Houhou Lead. Practically, both are continuations of the same lead, which may be said to be of greater breadth here than farther to the south. New River and Saltwater Creek have broken through and almost destroyed the lead, scattering its gold in the more recent gravels now occupying the low grounds of their valleys. Towards Greymouth this line of black-sand deposits is not so well marked, possibly through the action of the Grey River ; but towards Point Elizabeth it is again distinctly and characteristically present on Darkies' Terrace. On the northern side of Point Elizabeth the action of the Seven- mile Creek has destroyed the continuity of the lead, but between the Seven-mile and Nine-mile Creeks it is present as a high terrace of marine gravels which are known to be gold-bearing, and which would ere this have been extensively worked had there been facilities for bringing water on to the ground at a moderate cost. The coast-line is now abrupt and high; consequently, the 200ft. to 300 ft. line is much nearer the tide-way than farther to the south, hence this lead approaches the coast as it is followed towards the north. Between the Ten-mile and the Twelve-mile Creeks (north of Greymcuth) it simply rests on the brow of the cliffs overlooking the sea, or stretches as a narrow terrace at the foot of the steeply rising hills. Between the Twelve-mile Creek and the Fourteen-mile Bluff, since its deposit, this line of black-sand leads has been completely destroyed by the action of the sea in cutting back the coast-line. At Barrytown the lead runs along the lower slopes of the slate ranges between the coast-line and the Grey Valley, and from Baker's Creek to the northern slopes of Hawera, it has been cut through by numerous small streams, so that the auriferous gravels are found only on the points of the spurs intermediate between the different creeks and larger gullies. The average height of the lead at Barrytown is a little over 200 ft. above the sea. It appears to be thoroughly broken, in fact, destroyed altogether, between the Punakaiki River and the mouth of the Fox River. This has been owing to the action of the numerous small streams that find their way from the higher part of the Paparoa Range to the coast-line. Where the rivers are larger, as 52 GEOLOGICAL REPORTS. in the case of the Fox, Nile, and Totara, a greater distance lies between the streams, and thus there is a greater chance of the marine-beds being preserved on the bluffs and high lands intervening. There is, even thus, a probability of areas being between the Punakaiki and the Fox Rivers where these deposits are preserved. One such is said to be on the high ground near Eazorback. North of Brighton and St. Kilda the elevation above the sea of the black-sand leads rapidly increases, till before reaching the Foui\- mile Creek these deposits reach to between 500ft. and 600ft. above the sea. Between the Four-mile and Candlelight the highest point reached by the black-sand deposits is somewhat less, some 450 ft., and this height is practically maintained to Bald Hill, overlooking the Lower Buller Valley. In the neighbourhood of Charleston these deposits are of great extent, and occur at all levels up to that stated, and from them an enormous quantity of gold has been obtained. The " Back Lead" at Charleston lies along the foot of the limestone range between the Nile River and the Four-mile Creek. Along this line the ironsands have oxidized to some extent, and cements have thus formed, necessi- tating the use of crushing machinery to again liberate the gold. But the gold is not thus completely set free, and a considerable percentage finds its way with the tailings into the creeks, where, as it progresses along the different tail-race channels, it is gradually liberated from contact with the ironsands, and, as free gold, is caught on tables called " fly-catchers," placed in the channel to intercept the gold. There are large areas of black-sand and gravel deposits in the Charleston district that are as yet untouched, but all of them lie to the west of the limestone range. East of the limestone range, between that and the foot of the Paparoa Mountains, lies a depression lower than the country to the west, yet over this there are no black-sand deposits. This fact may be explained by supposing that the marine sands have been removed by the more energetic denudation of the eastern low-lying lands, or by the inequality of elevation affecting the areas east and west of the limestone. The first of these suggestions, from the evidence met with north of the Totara River, would seem to be the correct one, since on the high terrace at the back (east) of Addison's Flat the black-sand deposits are yet preserved. To the north of the Buller the higher level of the terraces between the granite range and the coastal plain is also to be considered a continuation of the high-level black-sand lead. This series of old raised beach deposits in the beginning has been spoken of as the Houhou Lead ; but it will now be evident that such local designation fails entirely to indicate the true character and the great importance of the deposit ; and in future it will be best McKAY. Smith-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 53 to speak of this as " Marine beds of Pliocene age," the different auriferous parts of which might still retain their local designation, as " Houhou Lead/' " Lamplough Lead/' "Darkies' Terrace/' &c. So far as this report is concerned, the deposits under consideration may be said to terminate at Fairdown, on the lower slopes of Mount Rochfort, where extensive works are at present being carried on for the proper development of these deposits, the success of which will probably lead to future and even more extensive undertakings. III. LOWER PLIOCENE AND UPPER MIOCENE. Formerly the higher and lower parts of these beds were considered as distinct from each other; but it must be confessed that it is not always easy to distinguish between the gravels referred to under one or other heads. In some localities there appears evidence that the conditions under which the higher beds were deposited approached those of a glacier period, there being in some localities large erratic boulders, and sometimes heavy deposits of what appears as angular morainic material of large size ; and at places such evidences of glacier action appear at the top of a local development of the beds, at others as the lowest member of such local development. The lower part of this great series of gravels does not exhibit brecciated or angular tnaterial of great size. Angular material of any size is present to a very limited extent only. With these differences it has to be con- sidered how far the upper arid lower parts of these gravels are uncon- formable to each other. The evidence of unconformity is strongest in the district between the Big Grey and the Ahaura, and especially in the neighbourhood of Napoleon Hill. In Napoleon Hill the un- conformity is by many miners declared to be very marked, and the upper gravels are said to lie in what resembles an old river-bed, exca- vated in the underlying " Old-man bottom." Some facts thus favouring the division of the beds, and it being the opinion of many that there is a distinct and very marked separation between the higher and lower parts, they will be here described accordingly that is, as a double series. (a.) Humphrey's Gully Reds. In the higher part of Mont d'Or, at Ross, there is, at the head of Sailor's Gully, clear evidence of glacier drift occurring in the higher part of the " Old-man bottom," as developed at that place ; the same thing is seen on the north-west and south-west faces of the hill, which has been cut into on three sides by gold-workings. These glacier drifts are thought not to be gold-bearing, but this has yet to be definitely ascertained. In Humphrey's Gully Range, near the Humphrey's Sluicing Claim, angular brecciated material lies at the bottom of the gravel series, and to some extent is interbedded with the underlying sandy 54 GEOLOGICAL REPORTS. clays. The same glacier-looking deposit is largely developed beyond German Gully in the steep bluff that there overlooks the Arahura River. At this point the whole bluff is composed of a species of "till" or less clayey brecciated material. There may also in Humphrey's Gully Range be the presence of the lower beds of this series ; but, as the upper series is very thick, and the lower not dis- criminated, it has been considered that only the upper or Humphrey's Gully beds are present. In Donegal Creek, six miles from Kumara, on the road to Christchurch, there is a considerable thickness of coarse well-washed gravels that have been referred to this upper part of the series, and the same gravels again appear one mile and a half nearer Kumara, there showing in the road -cuttings. North of the Teremakau this higher part of the series has not, apart from the lower beds, been discriminated. Within the northern part of "Westland these beds, at Ross, are important as gold-bearing gravels both in Mont d'Or and in the Ross 'United Claim, because it can hardly be doubted that some of the many gold-bearing strata in the latter claim represent this upper series of Older Pliocene or Upper Miocene gravels, seeing that gold- bearing layers rest directly on the " Old-man bottom " in the com- pany's ground, and probably throughout the greater extent of Ross Flat. In the Humphrey's Gully Company's Claim, and probably throughout the extent of the same gravels in the Humphrey's Gully Range, these gravels are gold-bearing, and, on account of the facilities for getting away large quantities of the wash, are likely to reward enterprise for a long series of years to come. In the Grey Valley the higher beds of these, the higher beds of the series, are developed on the tops of the hills on the northern side of Nelson Creek, opposite Hatter's Terrace, and thence it is likely that a line of the same gravels will be found to have extended, with a breadth of from one to one and a half miles, across the various creeks and larger streams flowing north-west to the Grey, for the whole length of this particular block of hilly country formed of Older Pliocene or Upper Miocene gravels. The younger and richly auri- ferous part of the series is found on the ridge of hills on the left or south-west side of Orwell Creek, and, crossing this, occurs to the north-east, forming the whole area of the higher part of Napoleon Hill. North of Napoleon Hill, the main or south branch of Noble's Creek has cut these gravels away, and laid bare, along its valley and lower slopes of the adjoining hills, the underlying and less auriferous series. Also, the hill-tops to the north-west and north of Napoleon Hill retain areas of the same rich gravels ; but the beds since deposit have been more elevated towards the north-east than in the south- McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 55 west part, and thus towards the Big Grey the areas of the remaining patches of the higher beds are less. In the Little Grey and Inangahua Valleys these higher beds of the Older Pliocene or Upper Miocene gravels appear to be absent at least have not been discriminated. Possibly the gravels capping the higher part of Merrijigs Hill may be properly regarded as belonging to this part of the series. (b.) " Old-man Bottom." These beds have a wider area of dis- tribution than the Humphrey's Gully gravels. They extend from the Township of Ross along the front hills, forming the lower western slopes of the mass of Mount Greenland, and, at the same time, cap the auriferous slates forming the higher part of that mountain. They are not elsewhere seen on the southern side of the Hokitika Valley, but appear in the eastern tributaries of the Kanieri River, and form the lower or south-eastern part of the gravel portion of the Humphrey's Gully Range. They appear at Fox's and Stony Hill, at Duffer's and Greek's Creeks, and generally over the higher parts of the Waimea Hills to the heads of German Gully, Maori Gully, and the right-hand branches of the Waimea, south-west of Callaghan's Hill. The lower beds appear along both banks of the Greenstone below the township ; and at Maori Point they form an isolated conical hill, that on account of its greater elevation has never been overspread by glacier detritus or river-gravels of more modern date. They are largely developed from Cameron's Terrace across Fuchsia Creek, and along the range of which Marsden Hill forms the western part. They are or have been spread over almost the whole of the New River area, and between the south continuation of the Cobden limestone and the sea they have, between the Saltwater Creek and Greymouth, a very considerable development. These gravels constitute the fundamental rocks that underlie the younger and more superficial deposits in the No Town Hills, and the broad belt of country thence stretching to the Big Grey shows these gravels bounded by younger rocks to the north-west and the south- east. Along the south-east side of the Little Grey Valley they form a strip of country, from three to four miles wide, that, commencing within the Blackwater and Big River watershed, thence extends to Slab-hut Creek. Beyond this, the same beds are largely developed on the watershed between the source of the Little Grey and the Inangahua, below Reefton, and in the valley of Devil's Creek, and along the east side of the Inangahua Valley, from the upper part of Fryingpan Creek to and beyond Landing Creek and Coal Creek, on the same line, extended in the direction of the Buller above the Inangahua Junction. 56 GEOLOGICAL EEPORTS. At one or two places in the Inangahua Valley gold-workings are carried on in these rocks, but though their auriferous character cannot be denied, they are not rich enough to have afforded hitherto payable workings at many places. The concentrates of these gravels have made a great number of creek and valley bottoms famous for the amount of gold found in them, and there are hopes that when large supplies of water can be brought to operate upon these gravels they will pay to work at many places, and at some places pay well. (c.) Brown Sands. These beds are seen on the southern banks of the Hokitika, below the bridge at Kanieri Township and in the Greenstone Valley, in the Twelve-mile Creek (No Town Creek), and in the banks of the Ahaura, at and above the township. Elsewhere they appear to be absent. These sands sometimes contain scattered pebbles and bands of pebbly conglomerates, and in the Greenstone Valley thick beds of rather coarse granite conglomerate. Near Maori Point they have a considerable thickness. IV.-LowER MIOCENE. (a.) Blue Fossiliferous Sands and Marhj Clays. These beds are found in the southern part of the district, along the western slope of Mount Greenland, from the Mikonui to the Totara Rivers, and between Donnelly's Creek and the Totara form a range about 1,000ft. above sea-level. They are to a considerable extent developed along the northern side of the Kanieri Valley, and the south-eastern slopes of the Humphrey's Gully Range and Mount McKay. Throughout the Waimea district they are developed from Fox's to Staffordtown, and from Ballarat Hill to Kapitea Creek. They, at Kumara, show as the bottom on which rests the lower gravels that underlie the river gravels under the glacier deposits. And they appear in Donegal Creek, six miles to the eastward, and generally on the southern bank of the Teremakau, between the Greenstone Bridge and the sea. From the mouth of Teremakau to the sources of New River, and from Maori Point on the Greenstone to Stillwater Creek in the Grey Valley, these beds form the floor on which rests the various gravels and glacier deposits that appear on the surface. Between the limestone ranges and the coast-line they stretch north to the mouth of the Grey River, and in the Grey Valley are met with under the " Old-man gravels " of the No Town Hills. Further to the north-east, in the Grey and Inangahua Valleys, they are not known. On the coast between the Grey and the Buller they lie as a long narrow strip between the limestone range or plateau and the foot of the Paparoa Mountains, till passing to the northward of Charleston and the Nile River they reach close to the coast-line, and at the mouth of the Totara River they underlie the black-sand beds McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 57 and other gravel deposits to the foot of the granite mountains seven miles distant. Between Cape Foulwind and the end of the cliffs towards West- port they show in section, and exhibit strata in some places aboimding in fossils. North of the Buller the same beds are not clearly dis- played, except it may be in one particular creek on the Buller Road, between the foot of the gorge and Westport. VI. CRETACEO-TERTIARY AND CRETACEOUS. (a.) Upper Beds. Usually the upper beds of the Cretaceo-tertiary series have been described as embracing the Grey Marls, Weka Pass limestone, and Amuri limestone, including also the marly strata that underlie the horizon of the Amuri limestone, and rest upon the Concre- tionary Greensands or the saurian beds. On the West Coast the upper- most member of the series is absent, and the Weka Pass stone also is not characteristically represented, the Cobden limestone showing more of the lithological character of the Amuri limestone, while at the same time its more abundant fossil fauna may indicate more the period of the W~eka Pass stone. The dark foraminiferous marly clays that underlie the Cobden limestone must, with the limestone, be regarded as representing on the West Coast the upper part of the series. Lime- stones of this age and character are said to occur on the left bank of Donnelly's Creek, at Ross. Limestone also is present at Camelback Hill, on the Kokatahi Plain, and the line of limestone south of Greymouth is continued across the New River below Marsden, almost to the banks of the Teremakau. North of the Grey River the Cobden limestone underlain by the black marls, extends to Point Elizabeth and the Seven-mile Creek. Beyond this no limestone or underlying marls are present till reaching the north end of the Seventeen-mile Beach, where, in the hills of Razorback, the limestone begins and is continuous along the coast, with a depth of a few miles inland, to the Fox and Nile Rivers, and the Little Totara River. In the Buller and Inangahua Valleys this limestone is developed to a large ex- tent along the west side of the Inangahua Valley, from one mile and a half below the junction to a point between Fletcher's and Stony Creek, opposite the junction of Boatman's with the Inangahua. On the opposite eastern side of the Inangahua a small area of lime- stone of the same character and age is met with between Little Boatman's Creek and Italian Gully. Limestone of the same age and character is found in the Upper Buller Valley, as deeply involved strata, between the Newton River and Fern Flat, and an extensive area of limestone occupies the higher part of the range between the -Maruia and the Matakitaki Rivers. 58 GEOLOGICAL REPORTS. (b.) Middle Beds. These consist of greensands, soft yellow or brown sandstones, limestones, sandstones, &c., below which are are grits, with shales and coal-seams, that constitute the more important part of the formation. In the southern part of the district there is a small area of these rocks in Camelback Hill, near the banks of the Hokitika River, and again in the Valley of Coal Creek, a tributary of the Kanieri River. On the southern side of the Lower Grey Valley the axis of the range between the Brunner Gorge and the northern sources of New River has on each side of it a development of coal-bearing rocks, but these as yet have been but imperfectly explored for coal-seams. The coal- field north of the Grey is an important development of these rocks. The higher part and west slopes of the Mount Davy Range is th& most important coal-bearing district in the region of the Grey Valley. The workable seams vary from 5 ft. to 16 ft. in thickness on the Mount Davy Range, and dip west at moderate angles. In the Seven-mile Creek the dips in the more important outcrops is inward toward the mountain range. Towards the sources of the Nine-mile, and of the south branch of the Ten-mile, the coal and beds associated are very much disturbed, and often are seen standing at high angles. Between the northern end of Mount Davy and the conical peak at the sources of the south branch of the Ten-mile, and of the right-hand branch of Ford's Creek, the coal-measures form the mountain range, and are continuous from the coast-line to the Grey Valley, at the mouth of Blackball Creek. In the Grey Valley, above the Brunner Gorge, a narrow strip of coal-bearing rocks runs along the north-west side of the valley and the lower slopes of the Mount Davy Range to the right-hand branch of Ford's Creek. This is separated from the coal rocks on the higher part of Mount Davy Range by a belt of slate, that gradually gets narrower as it is followed to the north-east, till in the watershed of Ford's Creek it wedges out altogether. The Black- ball Coalfield embraces in part the watersheds of Ford's Creek, and of Coal Creek, a tributary of the Blackball, and, as stated above, is con- nected with the coal-bearing area on the coast, through the saddle between Mount Davy and Ford's Peak. There is in the Moonlight Valley, in Garden Gully, a thick deposit of brown coal which rests upon auriferous slates, while the section does not show what the overlying rocks are. At the crossing of Moon- light Creek, on the way to the township, the associated rocks are seen, and consist of soft grey sandstones dipping at a considerable angle up-stream, or to the north-east. The same rocks are also well de- veloped further down the Moonlight Valley. They are quite uncon- formable to the gravels on the high terraces, and the " Old-man bottom " with which these soft sandstones come in contact ; but at McKAY. South-West Nelson and Nortliern Westland. 59 the same time neither the strata associated nor the coal itself agrees well with the rocks and coal-seams of the other parts of the coal-field. Brown coal is found as thin seams in Slaty Creek, and again in the upper part of the Little Grey Valley, on the lower slopes of the Paparoa Range. Along the sides of the Inangahua Valley coal-seams are found, and are worked at many places on the east side of the valley from Boatman's to Merrijigs. The coal-measures in the Inangahua Valley are shales and quartz grits, passing upwards into sandstone. In the Upper Buller Valley, coal-seams of considerable thickness are worked in the vicinity of Longford and in the Upper Maruia. Above and opposite Station Creek there is a 30 ft. seam of brown coal. South of the Buller River a narrow coal-field runs along the foot of the Paparoa Mountains, from the Nile Valley to Bullock Creek, and on the coast-line in the same district are largely developed the brown coals of Charleston, and of Brighton at the mouth of the Fox River. In the valley of the Fox River, between the limestone range and the foot of the higher mountains, anthracite of most excellent quality is found. (c.} Lower Beds. These consist mainly of conglomerates, or more angular and larger-sized breccia conglomerates, which are of interest and importance mainly on account of their being auriferous at many places, and at some places stanniferous or tin-bearing. The tin found at the Ten-mile, north of Greymouth, probably is derived from waste of the conglomerates at the base of the coal-bearing series. Con- glomerates and breccia conglomerates stretch along the lower slope of Mount Davy, and quartz conglomerates, present on the higher part of the range more towards the north, have apparently yielded to the watershed of Ford's Creek the greater amount of the gold found in it. The lower of these beds, as developed between Moonlight and the left-hand branch of Slaty Creek (Big River), are of great thickness, and formed of exceedingly coarse material. They extend over a very considerable area, and constitute strata reaching in places from 1,500 ft. to 2,000 ft. in thickness. From Slaty they stretch across the water-divide into the head-waters of the Punakiki River. In Black-sand Creek the concentrates from these breccia conglomerates yield gold, and the bed and banks of the stream have been worked for about one mile. The gold thus obtained does not appear to have paid wages to the men engaged in the work, and at the present time no one is working in Black-sand Creek. In Slaty Creek proper, a considerable amount of gold-washing in the recent alluvial of the creek-bed has been done. The source of the gold in this is either gneissic granite or the breccia conglomerates at the base of the coal- bearing series. 60 GEOLOGICAL REPORTS. Between the gorge of Slaty Creek and three miles farther up Big River, a number of small creeks rise on the eastern slopes of the conglomerate range, and in one or two gullies patches of rich gold- bearing alluvial wash were found. Mr. Johnstone, of Slaty Creek, obtained gold to a considerable amount from one of the smaller gullies indicated. It is doubtful how far these breccia conglomerates extend up the Little Grey Valley, as beyond Rough River the recent Pleistocene deposits derived from the higher and central parts of Paparoa Moun- tains overlie and obscure them should they be present. On the coast-line south of the Buller River they are met with at Charleston and Brighton, and at the first mentioned place are seen exposed along the shore-cliff in Constance Bay. Here the material of which they are composed is largely of local origin. At Brighton they form a remarkable pyramidal rock at the mouth of the Fox River, but do not appear to be developed further inland, where the base of the coal-bearing series rests against the granites forming the lower slopes of the Paparoa Range. In the Buller Valley, between the Ohikaiti (Little Ohika) and Grainger's Point, near Coal Creek, they have a great development, and form lofty ranges of mountains on each side of the valley. They extend for six or seven miles up the Black water, and also a consider- able distance back on the northern side of the gorge. In Hawk's Crag they form a high vertical cliff, along the face of which the Westport Reefton coach road has been cut. In this part they do not appear to be generally gold-bearing, though what little gold has been obtained from the Blackwater appears to have been derived from them. Thin seams of bituminous coal appear in these rocks near Hawk's Crag. On the west side of the Inangahua Valley a patch of such conglomerate appears at the source of Fletcher's Creek. On the east side of the Inangahua Valley these conglomerates and breccia conglomerates are found nearly continuous from the Buller River to the Inangahua River, opposite the junction of Rainy Creek. In Boatman's Creek, at Capleston, well-rounded rather coarse quartz gravels represent these beds, and, of the same character, like deposits extend along the front range to the north branch of the Inangahua River. At Painkiller, and in the upper part of Murray Creek, and thence covering the older rocks, and forming the higher part of the range between the north and south branches of the Inangahua, these beds extend back eastwards to the foot of the granite mountains. In the upper part of Boatman's Creek there is a remarkable development of these rocks, mainly consisting of granite, though other rocks are also present. Here the material seems to be of glacier origin, a large McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 61 proportion of the granite masses exceeding 6 ft. in diameter, and many reaching to 10 ft. and 12 ft. through. The general bulk of the deposit at this place is completely angular, and, though transported for some distance, not in the least water- worn. In the upper part of Murray Creek, and in Lankey's Gully, these beds are auriferous, so much so that, with the application of skill and proper appliances, they should be made to pay for working. Some attempts to work these cements, where they are known to be gold- bearing, have, it is true, been discontinued, mainly owing to the great hardness of the material to be dealt with; and, in the case of the Lankey's Gully cement claim, on account of the gold being, for the most part, confined to the first foot of cemeut resting on the under- lying rock. In the Upper Buller Valley, there is a great development of gravels in connection with the lower division of the Cretaceo-tertiary series. These gravels are found in the valley of the Mangles, up which they extend to the Blue Duck Creek, to which point very coarse gold is got in the alluvial deposits of the river-bed, and in those of Blue Duck Creek itself. Beyond this point, i.e., higher up the Mangles Valley, the gold is much finer in grain, and it is also much less in quantity. In the Matakitaki Valley, there can be little doubt that the bulk of the gold found in the bed of the river, and along its banks, has been derived from the denudation of the gravel cements occurring towards the base of the Cretaceo-tertiary series, or resting directly on the gneissic granites. In the Glenroy and in the Upper Maruia, between Thompson's and Station Creek, there is a great development of these beds. They are known to be auriferous in Station Creek ; on the Rappahannock Stream, and along the Glenroy River. There is a probability of these beds being largely worked at no distant date. X. TRIASSIC. (a.) Beds in the Upper Teremakau Valley, resembling the jasper oid and diabasic beds of the Selwyn Gorge, Canterbury. These beds lie outside the district mapped to illustrate this report, and they have already been sufficiently noticed in a previous report.* XII. CARBONIFEROUS. (a.) Maitai Series. Westland Formation of Haast. In the southern part of the district this formation is found in Mount Green- land, between the Mikonui and Totara Rivers, and in Constitution Hill, between the Totara and Hokitika Rivers. A small area of the same rocks also is said to occur in the Kanieri watershed. They form also a broad belt of country and all the higher mountains along * Goldfields and Mining Reports, 1893, p. 171. GEOLOGICAL REPOBTS. the east and west coasts of the island ; and in the report immediately above referred to they have been described with sufficient detail as far as the source of the Tere- makau River. Further to the north-east they have not yet been closely examined along the higher mountains of the main range. These rocks form the central axis of the range, extending from Mount Buckley, on the south side of the Brunner Gorge, to the western sources of New River. In this part they have not been explored, although liable to contain auriferous quartz-reefs and other metallic minerals, as do the continuation of the same line of rocks on the opposite side of the Grey Valley, along the middle slopes of the Mount Davy Range. This latter, or the Langdon's area of Maitai slates, extends from the southern slopes of Bald Hill as a gradually narrowing exposure, to the watershed of the right-hand branch of Ford's Creek, where it is terminated. Within the watershed of Langdon's Creek an anti- mony lode and a line of quartz-reef, with several parallel leaders of quartz, have been discovered, and have been prospected more or less continuously for the past twenty years. Recently fresh developments have taken place, and rich discoveries have been made in the Victory Claim, owned by Messrs. Curtis, they having touched upon a small reef containing some very rich stone. In the Lower Blackball, slate makes its appearance near the town- ship, and the boundary-line between this and the coal-rocks follows the right bank of the stream closely to Smoke- Ho Hill, and thence, disregarding a broken area of coal-country, is projected more to the north-east. Beyond this the boundary-line of the slates goes west to the top of the range in Ford's Peak, and thence follows a sinuous yet general direction to the coast-line near the Twelve-mile. From Ford's Peak to the source of the Moonlight, the Paparoa Range is composed of Maitai slates and sandstones, if a small granite area at Barry town be excepted. Throughout, the rocks are generally similar in the different locali- ties, though at places sandstones predominate, as for instance between the Twelve-mile Creek and the Fourteen-mile Bluff. In this southern part of the Paparoa Range there are six or seven distinct lines of quartz-reefs, with accompanying leaders or veins. All of them have an east and west direction, and, as a rule, dip to the north. One massive outcrop runs along the north-east side of the right-hand upper branch of the Blackball Creek, and passes thence into the watershed of the Ten-mile Creek ; but, though the rocks are clearly exposed, this massive reef, 30 ft. to 40 ft. in width, does not, in this direction, appear to " live down " to any great depth. In the contrary direc- tion it can be traced across the different gullies a distance of from McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 63 -one mile and three-quarters to two miles. North-east of this, another line of reef crosses the range between the Meg and southern branch of the Moonlight, another in the line of Canoe Creek and the middle branch of the Moonlight, and yet another in the left-hand branch of the Moonlight, at the extremity of the slate area. The Minerva Reef lies in the outer eastern range, that runs from the lower gorge of the Blackball to the Moonlight Township. Another, and considerably the largest, of the isolated areas of the Maitai auriferous rocks begins on the south side of the upper part of the Snowy River, and constitutes a very considerable area of out cropping slates along the south-east side of the Little Grey Valley to the Upper Inangahua. Towards the southern end of this area the Big River Mine is situated, while more to the north clusters of quartz- reefs and mines surround Merryjigs, and occur in the upper part of the valley of Devil's Creek. North of the Inangahua, between Reefton and the mouth of Lankey's Gully, the breadth of the auriferous formation is con- siderably lessened, and does not in this part exceed three miles, while north of Larry's Creek the slate belt flanking the granite range is inconsiderable in breadth, and on the banks of the Buller is less than half a mile. East of Reefton, and between the two branches of the Inangahua River, a comparatively small area of these rocks contains a great number of auriferous quartz-reefs, and lodes containing antimony and other minerals. Second only to the Reefton area is that of Boatman's Creek, while a third, that of Larry's, is in a less developed condition. North of the Buller River a small area of slates outcrop along the gorge of the Waimangaroa River, the surface rocks immediately to the south being coal-measures, but beneath the coal-measures the Waimangaroa slates are evidently connected with the area forming the bulk of Mount William, and thence extending south-west across the Buller at the Little Ohika. More to the eastward an extensive area of these rocks lies along the north side of the Buller Valley, between the Inangahua Junction and Lyell Creek. This extends north to and beyond the Mokihinui, but in this direction the northern part of this slate area has not been much explored. The Red Queen and other reefs further down the Mohikinui occur in rocks of a schistose character, and are, therefore, not to be considered in this connection. In the south-eastern part of the area quartz-reefs occur in Mack- ley's, or the Orikaka Creek, but these have as yet only been noted by explorers, and no attempt has been made to ascertain if they are auriferous, or to develop them. More to the east, in the vallev of 64 GEOLOGICAL KEPOBTS. New Creek, gold-bearing reefs occur in these beds, and are being worked ; while within the watershed of Lyell Creek there has been considerable mining on several reefs for many years. A small area of these Maitai rocks appears on the south side of the Buller, at and below the junction of the Inangahua, and here also the rocks are impregnated with quartz-veins. At the very junction, dykes of granite have been intruded into the slates, and in the same manner, but on a much larger scale, granite intrusions are seen in the lower part of Lyell Creek, and along the Buller Gorge above the Lyell to the Eight-mile Creek. Between the Glenroy and the Upper Matakitaki a small area of rocks is referred by Mr. Cox to the Maitai series, but recently these beds have not been examined. XIII. DEVONIAN. (a.) Reefton Series. These rocks occur between Boatman's, at Capleston, and the source of Rainy Creek, and, generally speaking, lie to the east of the auriferous belt in this part of the Inangahua Valley. The formation consists of blue slates, limestones, and cherts, and has its best and most characteristic exposures and sections in Lankey's Gully, and along the south branch of the Inangahua to Garvie's Creek. The limestones are also particularly finely displayed along the right bank of the Waitahu, or north branch of the Ina- ngahua. No quartz-reefs have yet been discovered in these rocks, and they appear to be devoid of useful minerals, except limestone. (b.) Te Anau Series. These rocks are confined to the Upper Matakitaki and Glenroy Valleys. The rocks consist of coarsely agglomerated red and green breccias, masses of which are to be met with in the coarse alluvial gravels of the Horse Terrace, and else- where in the Matakitaki Valley. Mr. Cox describes these beds as being in the Upper Glenroy associated with serpentine. METAMORPHIC. Mica Schists. Upper, Middle, and Lower Schists. From the Mikouui to the northern slopes of Mount Alexander and Bell Hill, the triple series of schists have been distinguished, traced, and described.* North-east of the Ahaura the same rocks form a series of ranges, flanking the higher mountains of the main ranges more to the east. They are continued across the sources of the Big Grey into the Upper Buller, and to the north-east they terminate within the Matakitaki water- shed. Associated with the lower beds there is an extensive develop- * Goldfields and Mining Reports, 1893, p. 172. M.cK**.South'Wmt Nelson and Northern Wesiland. 65 merit of crystalline limestone, which forms an isolated moiintain on the left bank of the Maruia, at the junction of the Alfred, and nearly opposite the Bog Saddle leading into the valley of the Brown Grey. These are overlain by dark mica-schists, which by Cox are called " carbon schists," these being followed by " black calcareous mica- schist." In the southern part of the district these beds pass upwards into a dark-coloured semi-metamorphic slate, probably of Devonian age. Bands and belts of mica-schist occur amongst the gneissic and granitic rocks of the Victoria and Brunner Mountains on the east side of the Inangahua Valley, and of the Paparoa Mountains on the west side of the valley. These, however, will be described as part of the gneissic series with which they occur interbedded. Quartz reefs occur in these beds, but none are being worked for gold within the area dealt with in this report. Gneissic Schists. (a.) Crystalline Schists und Metamorphic Granite. This for- mation, as developed and displayed within the northern district of Westland, has already been described.* What are practically the same rocks are continued to the north-east throughout the length of the district presently under consideration. At the source of the Inangahua the continuation of the larger connected area of these rocks turns in direction to the north, and continues in a broad belt along the Victoria and Brunner Mountains to th.e gorge of the Buller, at the Lyell. The great bulk of the rocks in these moun- tains is gneissic and granitic, but mica-schists are at places largely developed, as, for instance, at the upper forks of Larry's Creek, and at some places on the Maruia slope of the mountains, where it is reported there are considerable areas of slate rock ; from which it is to be inferred that the mica-schist is the rock meant, though not indicated. In the Paparoa Mountains these rocks, especially in the southern part, are mostly gneissic even granitic gneiss being of rare occur- rence. In the valley of Rough River there are some rather important bands of mica-schist. Towards the central northern higher part of the range the rocks are more granitic ; but north of the Nile Valley to the Buller Gorge the western slopes of the range are to a large extent schistose, a large percentage of these rocks in the Totara Valley being of a schistose character and often charac- teristic mica-schist. The isolated areas that appear on the coast-line from Cape Foulwind to the Razorback have their chief developments at Cape Foulwind, between the Nile and Fox Rivers, in the Charleston * Goldfields and Mining Reports, 1893, p. 173. 66 GEOLOGICAL EEPORTS. District ; and there are one or two outcrops of less extent farther to the south. At Cape Foul wind the bulk of the rock is porphyritic granitoid gneiss, often a simple gneiss. At Charleston, the rocks are gneiss and mica-schist, and further south of the same general character. Although an extensive examination of these rocks was made during the past season in the region of the Paparoa Mountains, they do not appear to yield minerals of a valuable description, and, in fact, appeared to be remarkably barren of metallic minerals, or of vein stuff generally. In the Victoria and Brunner Mountains there is possibly a greater hope of finding metallic or mineral riches of some kind ; but, even amongst these mountains, prospecting from Larry's, from Boat- man's, and from Reefton has not resulted in the discovery of any- thing particularly noteworthy.* PLUTONIC. Massive and Intrusive Granites. In northern Westland such rocks are found along the western margin of the granite crystalline rocks, while in the Paparoa Mountains they are confined to an isolated patch at Barrytown, and a number of veins of coarse-grained granite exposed in the Buller (Lower) Gorge. In the Victoria and Brunner Mountains, especially on their eastern slopes, intrusive granites extend along the range, and cross the Buller River between the Lyell and Fern Flat. These are well shown in many sections between the Lyell Township and the junction of the Maruia with the Buller. The granite rocks in the Upper Matakitaki were not closely studied, nor those that lie on the east side of the Maruia Valley, and form the basement-rocks of the range between the middle part of that valley and that of the Matakitaki. No minerals of value have been discovered in these rocks. Mas- sive quartz-reefs are said to occur in the Greer stone Mountains, and one is noted on the map of Westland as occurring on the higher part of Turiwhate. This outcrop of quartz is said to be of great * Recent discoveries on the Victoria Mountains confirm the view here taken as to the greater mineral wealth of these compared with that of the Paparoa Mountains. McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 67 DESCEIPTION OF DIFFERENT BLOCKS OF LAND EESEEVED FOB MINING PURPOSES.* NELSON. Block I. This embraces an area of 5,000 acres. It extends along the coast-line from a point three miles east of the Buller River at its mouth, to the Waimangaroa River, a distance of six miles. The average width of the block is about one mile and a quarter. The surface is a gentle slope from the ranges inland to the sea. The reserve may be divided into the following areas : (1) The beach within tide-mark, and as far inland as affected by great storms ; (2) the low coastal plain and " pakihi " country ; (3) the Waimanga- roa River-bed and its valley, for two miles back from the mouth of the river ; and (4) the high-level terraces stretching along the foot of the Mount Rochfort Range, and the south-east boundary of the block. (1.) Gold-mining, in the form known as "beach-combing," and as workings in black-sand deposits at higher levels, has been carried on along the whole sea- frontage of the reserve. As the gold-bearing sands accumulate on different parts of the beach, there, as a conse- quence, the gold- workings are for the time being located. During April, May, and June, 1895, most of the miners within the block were located on the beach, immediately south-west of the mouth of the Waimangaroa River. The land is generally extremely poor, and over the " pakihi" unfit for cultivation, and scarcely of any value for grazing purposes. Along the banks of the Waimangaroa, and within a narrow belt close to high-water mark, it is of better quality, and over these areas settlement to some extent is possible. As a rule, however, what land is capable of being utilised as farming- or grazing-lands has already been alienated. The source of the gold is partly what is carried into the sea by the Buller River and swept northward along the coast-line, and partly what is washed out of the older deposits in shore, the sea now encroaching upon deposits formerly laid down by it. (2.) The open swampy plain called " pakihi " has to be regarded as formed by the action of the sea, and, along certain lines on this, gold-bearing gravels or auriferous black- sand deposits may be ex- pected to occur. Due to an impervious substratum of cemented gravel, the water accumulating on the " pakihis " renders them swampy, totally unfit for settlement, and difficult to prospect for gold. As regards gold-mining, the conditions here are similar to what are * From the joint report by Messrs. Gordon and McKay on the Mining Reserves within the northern district of Westland and the Buller and Grey Valleys, Nelson. Mines Reports, 1896. C.-9. 68 GEOLOGICAL EEPOKTS. met with on Addison's Flat, where gold-mining is extensively carried on. (3.) The Waimangaroa River-bed and valley yields gold-bearing gravels that are at the present being worked with satisfactory results. The most of the claims are perhaps higher up the valley than the boundary of Block No. 1, but seaward of the Wellington Mine a con- siderable number of miners are engaged in claims on the banks of the river. (4.) The high terrace flanking the western base of the Mount Rochfort Range, if actually within it, may be considered as the most valuable part of the reserve. Along this line runs the high-level raised beach which further south has yielded very great quantities of gold, and which here has been worked to a considerable extent ; but to an extent much short of what might have been had better and more abundant water-supplies been available. Extensive works are at present in course of construction at Fairdown for the purpose of obtaining the fall necessary to work a portion of the high terrace where gold-mining has been carried on for a long series of years. This company has fair prospects of success, and will probably be the initiative of a series of such undertakings at various places along the line of terraces to the Buller River. Over the " pakihis " mining would have to be carried on by means of elevators. Block II. This in outline forms a parallelogram, and has a frontage on the coast-line, commencing at a point two miles and a quarter south of Cape Foulwind. The frontage of the block extends south along the coast-line two miles and a half, and in depth inland for six miles, the back boundary reaching to Bald Hill, at the north- eastern corner of Addison's Flat. The area comprises 10,000 acres. Towards the coast-line the country is covered with bush, and east of Wilson's Lead there is a low range also covered with forest ; but the greater part of the area is swampy " pakihi " country that can main- tain nothing but rushes and semi-aquatic plants, and is therefore totally unfit for cultivation. The block may be divided into three areas, the better to facilitate a description of it. There are : (1) the coastward region ; (2) the open " pakihi," with bush along the low ground of the north tributary of the Okari River ; (3) the succession of terraces to the Buller River, two to four miles from its mouth. (1.) Beyond the rocky coast immediately south of Cape Foulwind the sandy beach, commencing within the boundaries of the block, extends the whole frontage to and beyond the mouth of the Totara River. Gold is obtained by " beach-combing " on the coast-line, but immediately inland of that the thick and tangled character of the bush prevents the efficient exploration of the different black-sand leads and the continuation of the coarser auriferous deposits that are McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 69 known to be present in the next block to the south. This is the only area within the block in which there are any patches of land that could be cultivated, but these are totally unimportant, the better lands of the limestone hills lying towards Cape Foulwind being out- side the block. (2.) The " pakihis " are generally swampy, and, where dry, the surface is constituted of low elevations formed of black sand, which form ridges and mounds, or low and broad but only slight elevations above the general nearly dead flat of the plain. The " pakihi " plain has a gentle slope to the south-west and south. The rocks present are lines and isolated patches of auriferous black sand, and coarser granity gravels that also contain payable deposits of gold. Along the higher grounds of the east end of this area there are heavy and extensive deposits of black sand, which would probably pay to work were it possible, short of great expense, to bring a sufficient hydraulic- head water-supply on to the ground. As matters are, a promising field lies untouched ; the only workings on this area being Wilson's Lead on the west side of the bush-clad ridge already mentioned. This lead is continued to the north, and is worked in Bradshaw's Terrace, within less than a mile of the beach between Cape Foulwind and the mouth of the Buller. Could water under pressure be brought on to this central part of the block there can be little doubt that gold would be worked at many places now either abandoned or unopened. (3.) This comprises the eastern end of the block, and consists of the two higher of the series of terraces that have been cut by the Buller from the level of the north-eastern part of Addison's Flat. On the hierher of these terraces there is clearly an old channel of the Buller River, and at a lower level gold-workings (now abandoned) have been carried on. The gold was said to be in the surface gravels only, but with a powerful water-supply results would have been dif- ferent, and the general body of the stuff to a moderate depth might have been made to pay. Over this part the surface of the ground is not so marshy, except towards the south-west side of the terrace flats; but, for all that, the soils are exceedingly poor, the dry stony ground growing only a stunted variety of manuka scrub. The miners located on this block are on or in the neighbourhood of Wilson's Lead and Bradshaw's Terrace, which should have been included in this or a separate reserve. One favourable feature, as furthering the interests of mining over this and the adjoining blocks, is that the depth of wash, black sand, or granite shingle, as the case may be, is not inordinately great, and the bottom, consisting of blue Tertiary sands, or sandy clay, is easily reached in all ordinarv workings. 70 GEOLOGICAL EEPOKTS. Block HI. This block lies immediately to the south of Block II., and is of equal area viz., 10,000 acres. It has a frontage on the coast-line of three miles, and extends back to the eastward a distance ef six miles at the north and south extremities of the back line, but in the middle of the block the distance from the beach to the boundary- line is only four miles. This is due to the fact that a portion (the north-western corner of the south-western extension) of the Buller Coal Reserve occupies part of the rectangular area that would be in- cluded inside the maximum measurements. This triangular area of coal reserve extends west to the forks of the Okari River, near where that is crossed by the Westport Charleston Road. The Okari River, with its tributaries, Dirty Mary's Creek and Mountain Creek, drain the block, and form convenient channels for the discharge of tailings into them and the carrying away of silt and the fine tailings from the various claims working within the boundaries of the block. The surface of the block is a gently-sloping plain from the foot of the Big Terrace, along a line between Bald Hill and the point of the terrace half a mile south of the Shamrock Claim to the sea. The heights along this line vary from 140 ft. to 100ft., and constitute the amount of fall across Addison's Flat to the sea. The surface is totally barren, and, from appearances at the present time, utterly irreclaimable. Despite the drainage-channels cut across and into the "pakihi" by the Okari River and its various tributaries, within a few chains of the brow of the depressions within which these run, the ground becomes swampy, and generally in wet weather so boggy as to be impassable on foot. Even where comparative dry and hard ground is met with, the vege- tation is akin to that found on the softer grounds, except where low black-sand ridges rise a few feet above the general level. On these, and along the banks of the different streams, moderate-sized forest trees break the dull uniformity of the swampy plain. The character of the vegetation over the forestless " pakihis " retains the rain-water, and, acting like a sponge, prevents its escape down declivities over which it could easily find its way into the water-channels; but, thus held it encourages the growth of the semi-aquatic plants, which retain more water, and the dead parts of the vegetation are prevented, partly by the water, and partly by their own nature and constitution, from decom- posing into humus capable of fostering the growth of plants of a higher class. Even where drained and attempted to be cultivated as gardens, &c., the soil appears wholly a tangled mass of tough fibrous stems and roots, that nothing but fire seems capable of reducing to powder. Extensive gold-mining is carried on within this block. This may be best described by taking the block in three areas : (1) The coast- line ; (2) the " pakihis "; and (3) the lead along the foot of the high McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 71 terrace bounding Addison's Flat on the east side. The high terrace east of Addison's Flat, extending from the Buller to the Totara Valley, has not been reserved for mining purposes ; but it is desirable that, if necessary, this should be done. Had this terrace afforded good agricultural ground or pasturage it had probably have been alienated, and difficulties with respect to the passage of water-races across private lands would have resulted. (1.) On the coast-line " beach-combing " is, even at the present time, conducted so successfully that a considerable number, forming a colony of Shetlanders, have settled down near the mouth of the Totara River, and gain their living by gold-mining on and near the beach. (2.) Seaward of the principal lead 011 Addison's Flat, and east of the Westport Charleston Road, there are at least three lines of black-sand deposit, in which auriferous workings are being carried on, and several large claims working the grey or granite shingle on the main bottom of blue Miocene clay. The grey shingle appears to be auriferous at points irregularly scattered over the flat, while the black- sand deposits, except towards the north-east, take more a linear direc- tion, and must be considered as marking a line of equal elevation in relation to a rising coast-line and emergent land. A number of im- portant claims are being worked by the owners or companies con- cerned, and these but indicate what the possibilities in the future are. All opinions are one on this subject viz., that the gold is there, and awaits but the development of the means of its profitable extraction, which is confidently anticipated. (3.) The principal lead on Addison's Flat lies along the foot of the terrace limiting the flat on its eastern side. It has been and is stil] being worked continuously from Bald Hill, at the entrance into the Buller watershed, to the end of the Shamrock Lease, where the Totara watershed is entered upon. Dirty Mary's Creek and Mountain Creek have broken through and partly destroyed the lead where, in their present courses, they cross its line at the surface ; bnit it may be safely anticipated that where the " blue bottom " lies at a lower level than the scouring action of these creeks have reached to, the deeper and more western part of the lead yet remains under the modern surf ace- shingle or beds of these creeks. This lead was formed during a depression of the land, prior to which the high-level terrace at the back extended sea- wards to the coast-line. The action of the sea gradually cut this westward portion of the big terrace away, till from Bald Hill to Cro- ninville was the shore-line, backed by a line of cliffs 300 ft. in height, except where the Totara debouched into the sea towards the southern end of the line. But a time came when the land emerged at a 72 GEOLOGICAL EEPORTS. greater rate than the sea could cut down and remove material from the face or foot of the great gravel cliff; and then the deposit of Addison's Lead began. Piled at the foot of the high shingle-cliff were massive boulders fallen from the face, and now resting on the " blue bottom " which formed the lower part of the cliff, the action being exactly similar to what is now going on between Cape Foulwind and the mouth of the Buller River. A variable depth of material was thus piled up at the foot of the terrace cliff, amongst which were layers of sea-formed gravel, and beds, seldom far continued, of black sand. Further out from the foot of the cliff, and over the greater breadth of the " pakihi," a pavement of coarse shingle and large boulders had been left during the encroachment of the sea upon the land. The spaces between these, as by the retreat of the sea they successively came to be on the shore-line, were filled in and covered up by layers of finer gravel and black sand, and where for any con- siderable time the land was stationary, there accumulated lines of black sand on the surface. When emergence was more rapid the black sand was deposited, interbedded with the finer shingle. To- wards- the north end of the lead the black sands form thick beds, covering up the coarser granite shingle and boulders underlying. Near the Township of Addison's the black sands form thinner layers, inclined to the horizon, and overlapping each other. Most of the claims along this line have had to drive long tunnels, usually exceeding 2,000 feet in length, in order to get drainage, and fall for the finer tailings. In many of the claims the coarser material is elevated and stacked by means of water- balance arrangements, and vast quantities of the coarser shingle are so disposed of. At the northern end of the line a hydraulic (" blow-up ") elevating-plant was at one time in use, but this has been discontinued, and of this class the Shamrock plant at the other end of the line is the only one in use. On Piper's Flat a stamper- battery is used for crushing the partly-cemented black sand, and over the north-eastern part of the block such means will have to be gene- rally adopted for the extraction of the' gold. There is a fair supply of water on the field, brought from the main source of the Totara River or from smaller streams rising in the granite range to the east, or from dams on the higher terrace, or on Addison's Flat itself ; but, evidently, much larger supplies of water could be utilised with profit, and a scheme is mooted and strongly advocated at the present time, in conformity with which it is proposed to bring a large supply of water from the Big Ohika River. This would be a work of great cost and no little difficulty, but the proposal and the advocacy of the scheme shows unmistakably the confidence the miners have in the extent and permanency of the field. McKAY, South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 73 Block IV. This lies immediately to the south of Block III., and contains an area of 8,500 acres. It has a sea-frontage of about three miles. The reserve extends up the Nile River to the Limestone Gorge two miles and a half from the mouth of the river. The inland south- east boundary has been determined by a line drawn from the eastern end of the south boundary of Block III. to the point indicated on the Nile River. The surface of this block is varied, both as regards the physical features and the quality of the land. Towards the north it has the character of Block III., and consists of open pakihi lands, which towards the middle part are, if possible, more barren, unapproachable, and uninviting than Block III. generally is. Towards the east and along the south-east line the ground is harder, but equally as barren as the other parts are. Towards the estuary of the Okari and Totara Rivers there is a low bush-clad ridge, the higher levels of which are formed of black sand. On the north side of the North or Big Totara there are some terraces standing above the general level that have been left during the cutting-down of the yet higher terrace on the level of the east and northern parts of the block. The valley of the Big Totara is fringed with bush, and towards the mouth of the river, where it forms with the Okari a tidal estuary, there are some better lands occupied as farms. Between the Totara and the Little Totara there is a high terrace, having the level of the southern part of Addison's Flat. Towards the sea this is bush-clad, but eastward of the Westport Charleston Road it is again open rush- covered " pakihi " to the foot of the highest terrace, which, corres- ponding with the high terrace at the back of Addison's Flat, is covered with bush. Croninville Diggings are situated on the lower " pakihi " flat at the foot of this high wooded terrace. In the valley of the Little Totara there are some good lands below the road-line to Charleston, and towards the mouth of the river, but they are limited in extent, and have been acquired as freeholds. Between the Little Totara and the lower part of the Nile Valley, in the north and south line, and between the limestone range and the sea, lies Brown's Terrace. This is heavily covered with timber, and the soil is of moderate quality, and but for the presence of heavy beds of ironsand the influence of drainage and debris from the lime- stone range at the back of it had insured soil of good quality. From the mouth of the Nile to the mouth of the Totara and Okari Rivers " beach-combing " is carried on by the Shetlanders, and near the northern boundary a claim is being opened out in the forest-clad ridge of black sand that has already been mentioned. One party is also working west of the road-line, on the high terrace between which the two Totaras run ; but the Shamrock Claim and the Croninville Diggings are the most important in the parts of the 74 GEOLOGICAL EEPOKTS. block away from the coast-line. Brown's Terrace has not yet been developed. On this are extensive deposits of black sand but there will be considerable cost in bringing water on to the ground. Various proposals have been made, but as yet nothing definite has been undertaken. So far as prospected, the black-sand deposits, though likely to pay if properly worked, are yet of rather low grades. The works of the Shamrock Company, holding their claim at the southern end of Addison's Lead, are the most complete and extensive within the block. These include a hydraulic elevator, having in the pipes a pressure of 350 ft. from the top of the high terrace to the eastward. The material is elevated to a height of 54 ft. from the bottom of the working-face. The coarser material is shot off on a screen-table, and the lighter material, with the gold, is passed over tables, from which the finer tailings escape into the sludge-channel. The company at one time proposed driving a tunnel about a mile in length, in order to drain from the main bottom in the claim, by which it was hoped a considerable saving in water-power would be effected, and the claim worked at a less cost than at present. This scheme has, for the present, been laid aside, the present method being considered equally effective at not greater cost. Between the Shamrock Claim and Croninville the lead has, since its formation, been buried underneath a great shingle-fan formed by the Totara River. Afterwards, by the action of the same river, this has been cut through, arid in part carried away, and a series of descending terraces have been formed, which are three to the level of the river. The lead between the Shamrock and Croninville was thus first covered up and then destroyed by the action of the Totara. It is likely, however, that the auriferous lead will be traced for some distance under the fan of the Totara, where from the north it passes under it. Block V. This has from the mouth of the Nile a frontage along the coast of eight miles, and an average width of two miles and a half. The area of the block is 9,600 acres. The centre coast-line is bold, and rocky highlands up to 700 ft. immediately overlook the sea in the southern part, while the limestone range, fully 1,000 ft. above the sea-level, runs along the back boundary throughout its entire length. Between these two lines of higher land there is in the northern part lower lands, forming terraces and flats along the left bank of the Nile River ; and, by a succession of terraces, rising one above the other, the ground towards the south, before entering the watershed of the Four-mile Creek, has attained to a height of fully 400 ft. above the sea, while to the south of the Four-mile, broken terraces, with black-sand deposits, can be traced to a height of fully 600 ft. above the sea. In Constance Bay, and at the mouth of the Candlelight McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 75 Creek, these deposits reach sea-level. Except, it may be, along the foot of the limestone ranges the northern part is very poor as regards the quality of the soils ; and, where the best soils are namely, along the valley of the Four-mile Creek the areas are so limited that they scarcely merit notice in considering the general quality of the land within the reserves. Over the whole area west of the limestone mining has been carried on, and the district included within this block was at one time the most famous of all the West Coast goldfields. Large quantities of gold were got from the black-sand and beach deposits of Constance Bay. At the higher level, near the Township of Charleston, black-sand deposits, underlain by granity wash, were also very rich in gold, and have been worked over an extensive area towards Candlelight Creek. The principal workings are now situated along the western base of the limestone range, where there are heavy deposits of black sand rich in gold, but for the most part oxidized, so as to form a ferruginous or dark-purple cement that requires to be milled before the gold can be set free ; but, however carefully the operation may be conducted, it is at all times imperfectly accomplished, and the sand tailings passing along the different channels liberate more gold, which is recovered by ripples, blanket- tables, or other means placed so as to intercept the gold. There is still a considerable population engaged in mining at Charleston; but, on the working-out of the richer ground, unless parties were in possession of water-rights such as would enable them to work poorer ground, they were forced to leave the district, and thus the population has gradually diminished to what possesses, and is sufficient to manage and apply the water that can be conserved on, or is already brought on to the ground. On the Back Lead there are at the present time nine milling- plants for the reduction of black-sand cement. Many more might be employed in different parts of the field. Of late, prospecting for deep leads under the coal-measures has been proposed, and the Mining Association of Charleston has taken active steps for the furtherance of this laudable purpose. The gravels, proposed to be tested, show in the face of the terrace inland of Con- stance Bay, and could easily be proved at that place. There is thus a possibility of a revival of mining at Charleston. Auriferous quartz- reefs are liable to occur in the gneissic rocks of the coast-line, but the quartz is of a type not generally considered auriferous. The plateau between Candlelight and the Four-mile is covered with deposits of black sand, but very little appears to have been done in the way of prospecting there. The table-land affords many favourable sites for the collection of water, and to this end it is to a considerable extent utilised. 76 GEOLOGICAL EEPOBTS. In the Four-mile Creek, and thence 011 the high lands to the south boundary of the block, there is little mining going on at the present time, principally owing to the difficulty of getting water on to the ground ; the rich patches payable for cradling being worked out. Block VI. This extends from the southern boundary of Block V. south-west along the coast, a distance of seven miles, and has at the northern end a width of three miles and a quarter, while at the southern extremity its width is less than a mile. The total area of the block is 5,600 acres. Its surface, except a small area at the mouth of the Fox River, and thence extending north as a narrow strip to the rock beach at St. Kilda, is broken and rugged ; the south end of the gneissic high lands of the coast being within the northern limits of the block, while along the south-east boundary the limestone range extends to the Fox River, south-west of which a broken limestone plateau, interrupted by a single granitic boss, ex- tends to the southern limit of the block. The gold obtained on this block comes chiefly from black-sand and other sea-beach deposits, the more important workings being from Welshman's Terrace, north to the high-level black-sand leads of St. Kilda, and south to the Seal Rocks, as " beach-combings," on the shore of Woodpecker Bay. Further to the south gold-workings are confined to the moving sands between low- and high-water mark, or to such more stable deposits as have accumulated between the present high-water mark and the foot of the cliffs. There are few important works as aids to mining on this block. The land, where it is found level, is of better quality than more to the north, but the area on which settlement is possible for agricultural or pastoral purposes is either too small, or so covered with dense and heavy bush that the clearing of it would prove very costly. Block VII. This is constituted by a parallel strip along each side of the Buller River, from the junction of the Ohika-iti, or Little Ohika, to and opposite to the Eight-mile Creek in the gorge of the Buller, above the Lyell Township. The total area of the reserve is 8,900 acres. It contains some small areas of good arable or pastoral lands, mostly on the south bank of the river; but these have already been alienated from the Crown, and now for the most part are occu- pied as grazing lands. The long narrow strip along the Buller River that this reserve embraces, will for clearness and convenience be de- scribed under the following heads : (1) Little Ohika to Granger's Point ; (2) Grainger's Point to the junction of the Inangahua ; (3) from the Inangahua Junction to the Lyell Township; and (4) from the Lyell Township east, through the Buller Gorge to the boundaiy of the block. McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 77 Little Ohika to Grainger's Point. Between the Little Ohika and G-rainger's Point the Buller River runs through a deep gorge, the sides of which are exceedingly rugged and abrupt. In this part, therefore, there are but few localities where alluvial deposits can accumulate or have accumulated above ordinary flood-mark, or where shingle-beds are formed between high- and low- water mark, under conditions favourable for mining for gold. At the Twelve-mile (Powell's) there is a moderate-sized area of alluvial ground on the south bank of the river, and the river-bed on this part might also be dredged for gold. On the opposite or northern bank there is also a thick accumulation of alluvial deposit, and evidences of considerable workings, now discontinued. On the south side also a considerable .extent of the alluvial banks of the river has been turned over ; but in the bed of the river no evidences of work done have been preserved. The next point where gold-mining might be carried on is imme- diately below Hawk's Crag, where a large beach is formed on the south side of the stream. This has partly been supplied from material brought down by a large-sized creek here making junction with the Buller ; but to a very large extent the gravels are brought down from higher lands up the valley by the Buller, and should therefore be auriferous. Some old workings lie on the higher banks at this place, but these are now overgrown by a fresh growth of scrub. Above Hawk's Crag there should be gold-workings on the banks and south beaches of the river, and at the junction of the Blackwater also ; but, in the latter locality, so great is the quantity of shingle brought down the Blackwater that shingle from this source must for a time predominate, and so far the Blackwater has not proved a gold-bearing river. Here, therefore, conditions are not so favourable for mining. Between the Blackwater and Lovell's Point there is a considerable length, and more than an ordinary breadth, of alluvial bank to the river on its south side, and here, both on the higher bank and on the shingle banks of the river, are gold -workings. A miner working 011 this part of the river stated that he could easily make 10s. per day when the river was moderately low. Above Lovell's Point to Berlin's the south bank of the river has an alluvial deposit of from 2 to 5 chains in width. Part of this is occupied as garden cultivations or grass lands, and part of it is being mined upon. On the opposite or north bank of the river there is also a moderate extent of alluvial lands, and a number of claims that from the early days of mining on the Buller River have been worked on the bank of the river, and are still being worked. Some of the reaches on the river between Lovell's Point and Grainger's Point are 78 GEOLOGICAL EEPORTS. suitable and promising localities for the establishment of dredging plants on the river. At Grainger's Point the river is confined to a narrow gorge, and consequently rushes through this with considerable force. Alluvial deposits on the immediate banks of the river are here absent, but at the upper end of the gorge high-level river-gravels have been formed, resting against the range on the south side at fully 100 ft. above ordinary flood-level. Grainger's Point to the Junction of the Inangahua. Above Grainger's Point the Buller Valley widens considerably, and be- tween the road and the river lies a somewhat extensive area of flat land partly swamp, to some extent drained and reclaimed, and partly bush-covered lands along the immediate bank of the river. The western end and middle part of this is known as Walker's Swamp, or Farm (Rocklands). Above Mr. Walker's homestead the breadth of the low grounds rapidly becomes less, till two miles and a half from the Inangahua Junction the river runs close under the lime- stone range, which here terminates in high cliffs, along the narrow space between which and the river the Westport Reefton Nelson Road has been formed. On the northern side of the river there are also low grounds, forming partly the banks of the Buller River and partly the lower valley of the Orikaka or Mackley's Creek. No information respecting gold-mining on this section of the Buller Valley was obtained, but it does seem probable that dredging on the river between Grainger's Point and the Limestone Bluff, where the river is again confined to a gorge, could be profitably carried on at many places. From the limestone spur to the Inangahua Junction but little gold-mining has been done on the south bank of the river, but on the northern side a moderate-sized creek (Welshman's) here makes junction, and from the valley of this a considerable quantity of gold has been obtained. From the Inangahua Junction to the Lyell Township. In this part of the Buller Valley there is a moderate breadth of low alluvial lands along the south bank of the river, part of which must be considered as belonging to the Inangahua Valley, the Buller River in reality breaking across the northern end of the depression along which the Inangahua flows. Less than three miles from the Inangahua Junc- tion the Buller Valley is distinctly marked, and the alluvial lands along its banks are due to its action during times of high flood, or when running at a higher level than at the present time. Gold- workings are carried on on the banks of the river to some extent, principally near Junker's Hotel ; but this part of the valley is im- portant chiefly on account of the auriferous character of the bed of the river. One dredge only, the " Cock-sparrow," is at present at McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 79 work on the river, and as of late this has been very successful there, it is probable that shortly others will be built to exploit the gold from other parts of the river-bed. On the northern bank of the river there is a fringe of high terrace-lands over which gold is sup- posed to be present, but at the present it is undeveloped. In the upper part of this section, below the Buller Bridge, the alluvial flats along the banks of the river are for the most part cultivated and in English grasses. From the bridge across the river to the junction of Lyell Creek the south-west bank of the gorge, which here begins, is very abrupt, and no gravels are retained. Such as are in this part of the valley lie on the opposite or north-east bank. Here a number of claims are at work, but the works are on a small scale, the water-supply being limited. From the Junction of Lyell Creek, East, through the Gorge to Boundary of the Block. At many places in this gorge there are on both banks of the river alluvial workings, which are at so consider- able a height above the river that very little water is available for mining purposes. Small catch-water races have, therefore, to be brought on to the points, patches, or fringing terraces, from whatever source is most convenient or where water can be obtained. The result is that at most places mining is carried on with a totally in- sufficient supply of water, and ground is thus worked, it is presumed, so as to pay small wages, that otherwise should be made to pay hand- somely. Block VIII. This block extends to the eastern boundary of Block VII., along both banks of the Buller River to the junction of the Mataira and Matakitaki Rivers. Like the previous block, it takes in but a narrow strip along each bank of the river, the alluvial banks of which have been hitherto the great source of gold in this part of the Buller district. The area of the block is 4,320 acres. The gorge of the river continues to the lower end of Pern Flat, but there are a few places at which there are small alluvial flats : as, for instance, at Newton Hotel, the junction of the Maruia, &c. There are also between the Newton River and Fern Flat some high-level terraces, covered to a considerable depth with river-shingle, which are known to be gold-bearing, but on to which no water-supply can be or has yet been brought. At the mouth of the Maruia the terraces on the south side of the river have been worked extensively, and are still being worked, accord- ing to the measure of the water-supply, for gold. At Fern Flat the river-banks, on the northern side principally, have been worked, and a dredge, the " Buller Dredge," moored to the bank, is here at work in the bed of the river. From this point to the east limit of the 80 GEOLOGICAL EEPOBTS. block there should be several localities offering facilities for dredging the river-bed, but in the meantime little or no mining is being carried on. On the north side of the valley the Buller flows under high banks till the Mataira Valley opens out, and on the south side the comparatively extensive alluvial plain, east and west of the junction of the Matakitaki, stretches from Doughboy Creek to Long Ford. Block IX. This extends between New Creek and the Eight-mile Creek, up the Buller Gorge from the Lyell Township. Its length east and west is five miles, and its breadth irregular. The block comprises an area of 9,800 acres. Within it lie the rich alluvial diggings of Lyell Creek, famous for its " patches" and the coarse character of its gold. The area west of Lyell Creek is rugged and mountainous, utterly unfit for agricultural or for grazing purposes. To the east of Lyell Creek, and lying between the middle part of that, the Buller Gorge and the Eight-mile Creek, is a high alluvial plateau known as Manuka Flat. This is covered with an alluvial deposit which is known to be gold-bearing, and to some extent payable. Gold has not yet been found so abundantly as to lead to extensive workings, but all agree that the flat has not been sufficiently prospected. The prospecting of this flat was stimulated by the finding of rich gold high up on the slope from Lyell Creek to the flat. This gold was supposed to have broken away from the edge of the flat, and it must be confessed that this was probably the case. How far it was concentrated in its passage down the slope towards Lyell Creek is another matter, which future enterprise must determine. In Lyell Creek itself the alluvial gold-workings are con- fined within the limits of a very narrow valley, at many places extremely gorgy, and practically a gorge throughout. Quartz-mining is now and will be the most important form of gold-mining. There are in the valley of Lyell Creek some old- established mines notably the United Alpine and the Low-level Extended Companies ; the former has been a prominent mine for the past twenty years. The Low-level Tunnel must be mentioned in this place, as a work of great importance to mining in the district. In the New Creek district the different mines are not yet fully equipped, and the initiatory prospecting stage has yet to be passed, but, as an area for auriferous quartz-mining, its prospects are similar to those of the Lyell Creek, the rocks being the same, and continuous between these places. Block XXV. This extends along both banks of the Maruia, a distance of thirteen miles from the southern boundary of Block VIII. The average width of the block is one mile, and the total area 8,320 acres. The surface is constituted by steep mountain slopes on each McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 81 side of a narrow valley. The whole area is heavily timbered, except where there have been some clearings made by man. The level lands in this part of the valley are very limited, and are confined to the east or right-hand bank of the river. There are a few miners scattered along the bank of the river, and probably their number would be increased were freer communications to be had with the more settled districts of the Buller Valley. Land fit for settlement is of very limited extent, and it is just such lands the alluvial flat& along the banks of the river that are required for mining purposes. Where not too gorgy, dredging for gold might be carried on in the bed of the river itself. Payable gold, but nothing remarkably rich, seems to' be got along the river-banks at almost any point where gravel or finer shingle has accumulated. Block XXVI. This block also extends along the Maruia, a distance of thirteen miles, and has the same average width as Block XXV., and its area is the same namely, 8,320 acres. For the first five miles, following the river upwards, the mountains are close to the river on the east side of the valley, but on the west side there are some flat lands between the river and the ranges which towards the lower end of the block may be distant half- to three- quarters of a mile. Between five miles and nine miles the river valley is more confined and gorgy, and for about two miles is difficult to pass even on foot. In this part of the valley a number of miners are settled, and were the cost of provision less than it is, there can be no doubt but that a considerable population would be engaged in gold-mining along the banks of the river. A good track requires to be made along the whole length of the valley, from the Buller to the Maruia Plains, where it would join the track over the range to the Matakitaki. Above the gorge the Maruia is joined by the Warbeck, coming from the east. At the mouth of this small stream some gold-mining is at present being carried on, and higher up along the banks of the river to the gravel gorge of the old glacier moraine stretched across the valley a mile above the junction of the Warbeck. Above this the river runs along the foot of a high terrace on its left bank, and it has some flats at a lower level, principally on the left bank. Block XXVII. This forms an area of about three miles square, and contains 6,250 acres. It extends across the Maruia River from a mile up Station Creek to the foot of the granite mountains, on the opposite side of the river. At one time thirty to forty miners were working in Station Creek, but at the present time no work is being done on this stream. As part of the Maruia Plains, the land within this block, although fully averaging in quality the whole plain, cannot be classed as good grazing land. The climate is cold 82 GEOLOGICAL EEPOKTS. in winter, and vegetation is completely checked from April to October. Block XXVIII. This extends along the upper valley of the Maruia from the boundary of Block XXVII., for a distance of thirteen miles, with an average width of one mile and a quarter. The area of the block is 8,320 acres. For the most part the land is flat, river-bed, poor shingle-bed, or grassy flats of better quality bordering the river, or bush-clad mountain slopes, where these con- fine the valley and the river to a width of a few chains or a quarter of a mile. The country away from the river-flats is bush-clad. Some parts of the banks of the river are good grass lands, but the bulk of the stony plain bears but a struggling grass vegetation of tussock. Above the junction of the Alford the river valley becomes a ravine between two mountain ranges of mica-schist. Gold is known to exist on the hill-slopes on the left side of the valley, and a number of miners are at present working on the Alford, but these are outside the limits of the block. Block XXIX. This extends along both banks, but principally along the eastern bank, of the Matakitaki River to Horse Flat, one mile above the junction of the Glenroy with the Matakitaki. The total length is twenty-one miles, the average breadth half a mile, and the area 3,400 acres. On the west side of the valley, to the junction of the Glenroy, the range descends abruptly to the level of the river, and there are thus no flat lands of any considerable extent on that side of the valley. On the opposite or east side of the valley a variable breadth of flat bush-covered land extends twelve miles up the river. Beyond this the hills form high slopes, overlooking the river on both sides of the valley, and to the junction of the Glenroy the extent of flat terrace-land is much more limited. In the lower part of the valley there is a considerable extent of flat terrace-land, but this is mostly covered -with birch bush, an exclusive growth of which indicates very poor land. These lands, wherever of any value, have already been taken up, and are for the most part occupied. From the ford and bend in the river below the junction of the Glenroy River, to the south boundary of the block, the level lands of limited extent form high terraces on both banks of the river. Their value as agricultural lands is very little, and they are mostly being worked for gold. The gold-workings in the Matakitaki Valley are chiefly along the banks of the river and on the lower river-flats. There is generally a poor supply of water, and all the water that can readily be brought from the range on the east side of the valley has already been utilised. Were a more abundant supply of water available, there would be an increase in the number of miners and a corresponding McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 83 increase of the gold production of the district. The miners state that almost anywhere payable gold deposits can be found on the banks of the Matakitaki, from Hampden to the junction of the Glenroy. A dredge, the " Matakitaki Dredge/' is at work on the river, and employs a number of hands in this form of gold-mining. Block XXX. This block is of small extent; it is four miles in length, and, extending along each side of the Doughboy Creek, con- tains an area of 2,560 acres. Tbe lower part of it lies within the Buller Valley, on the south side of the river, from the head of Fern Flat to Long Ford. Beyond this the creek enters the hills, and for a time the valley is narrow, but it soon again opens out to a moderate width, and narrow flats extend along this upper part, along which gold -mining has been carried on for some considerable time. The lower lands outside the hills only are of any value ; these have, however, been alienated, and are in the possession of private individuals. The upper part of the valley is surrounded by mountains formed of the rocks of the coal-bearing series, and it is thus a matter of importance to determine the immediate as well as the original or primary source of the gold found in this part of Doughboy Creek. From the upper part of the valley a low saddle gives access to the lower part of the Maruia Valley, and from this direction or from the Upper Buller the auriferous gravels may have come. There is, however, another source whence the gold in this valley may have been derived namely, the conglomerates at or near the bottom of the coal-bearing series. This matter need not be dwelt on here, as some further reference will have to be made to it in speaking generally of the source of the gold in the Upper Buller Valley, more especially of the Mata- kitaki, Mangles, and Maruia Valleys. At one time 200 miners were located within the area of this block. Block XXXI. This extends five miles and a half along the lower part of the Glenroy River, and its area is 800 acres. For the last one and a half or two miles the Glenroy River has its course in a deep gorge excavated in granite, but on entering the Matakitaki Valley rocks of the coal-bearing series are found near its junction with the Matakitaki. Beyond the granite range the valley widens somewhat, and here the river has cut a narrow channel in con- glomerate rocks and sandstone belonging to the coal-bearing series. Beyond this again the valley yet further expands, and open flat lands are found along the banks of the stream. Yet higher up the river the conglomerates of the coal -bearing series are repeated, and thence extend into the Maruia watershed. Towards the source of the river, and beyond the limits of the block, there are a variety of rocks serpentines belonging to the Maitai series, and Devonian 84 GEOLOGICAL EEPOKTS. breccias and slates, and mica-schists. These latter may possibly be the source of part of the gold found in the valley of the Glenroy, but it is evident that the greater part has been derived from the conglomerate, in connection with the coal-bearing series, as described in the first part of this report. The prospecting of these conglomerates is a matter that, in the interest of mining in the Upper Buller district, should not be de- layed ; for it is evident that not in the Glenroy River alone, but that over the whole area drained by the Maruia, Matakitaki, Glenroy, and the Mangles, they have been a great, if not the chief, source of gold to the recent alluviums worked for gold in the lower grounds of these valleys. It has been noted that in the Matakitaki, Glenroy, and the Mangles, where these conglomerates cease and are not found higher up the valley, there also is the finish of the coarser and richer deposits of gold ; the gold found higher up the valleys being fine and by no means as abundant as where, and below where, the conglomerates begin. This is specially the case in the Mangles Valley, where the conglomerates terminate at or near the junction of Blue Duck Creek ; the coarse and richer gold deposits follow that for some distance, till the conglomerates trending away to the westward ; in Blue Duck Creek the gold is less or absent towards the source of the creek. Block LI. This is the most northerly of the blocks of land re- served for gold-mining purposes in the Inangahua Valley. It is of irregular shape, but rudely a triangle in outline, the blunted apex of which nearly reaches the Westport Reefton Road, between Larry's and Landing Creeks. The boundary follows the right bank of Larry's Creek to the heights overlooking the second or main forks of that stream. Thence the south-east boundary is part of a line between Trig. H H and Trig. G, the north-eastern trig, being the corner of the block in that direction. From thence the line runs nearly due west to where it crosses Landing Creek. It embraces an area of 9,900 acres, and has two principal streams Landing and Coal Creeks running through it, each of which has many tributaries that are of importance in connection with the gold-producing quality of the gravels in -these or the larger streams. Little Landing Creek has been extensively worked for gold, which appears to be derived from two if not three different sources. Between Landing Creek and Coal Creek there is a high plateau or table-land, over which a considerable amount of working for gold has been carried on, and over all the higher lands, where alluvial deposits are within this block, large sluicing claims might be worked with profit. The back part of the block reaches across the Cretaceo-tertiary coal-bearing belt on to the auriferous slates of Carboniferous age, and within this part there is a probability of reefs being found in continuation of those found on McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 85 Larry's Creek. Then there are the quartz cements at the base of the coal-bearing series, which here have not been prospected, and which should be prospected both here and elsewhere much more than has been done. In front of the coal-bearing series, that is, to the westward, lies a very considerable development of older Pliocene gravels (" Old-man bottom ") . These rocks extend to within a quarter of a mile of the road-line, and form a plateau or table-land deeply cut into by gullies, or sculptured into hills of a nearly uniform height. These rocks are gold-bearing, and although within this block no claims are being worked in them, there cannot be a doubt that, with a good water-supply, they could at places be made to pay for working. The Chinamen working in the bed of Little Landing Creek admitted that perhaps more than a colour of gold could be found in these older Pliocene gravels, that there form the bottom on which the recent gravels of the creek-bed rest. More to the north, between Landing Creek and Coal Creek, there is a table-land recently ex- plored by Mr. Caples, of Reef ton. Over this there have been workings of very considerable extent. These workings are now old, the place having been abandoned by European miners for some time. With a sufficient water-supply much of this ground might again be worked, and also an extended area of ground too poor to work in the first instance. At the present time Chinamen only are working on the block. The mountain slopes, and the areas over which the coal-rocks and " Old-man bottom " are found, constitute land having poor soils, and are not suitable for settlement. In the valleys of the main creeks, and over a narrow belt east of the road-line, the land is of better quality ; but settlement here and in many of the lesser valleys would interfere with or bar mining operations that in the future are likely to be carried on in the different formations and horizons, from the slates of the mountain range to the most recent gravels of the creek- beds. Block LIII. This is of irregular outline, and towards the west embraces, first, the country east of the main road between Larry's Creek and Boatman's ; and, secondly, excluding an area of freehold land extending along the south-west side of Boatman's, a consider- able area lying between Boatman's Creek and the Waitahu or north branch of the Inangahua River. The back boundary is formed by part of the line Trig. H H to Trig. G, and part of the line from Trig. G to Trig. N. The total area is 9,000 acres. Naturally the block is divisible into two parts : first, that lying between Larry's and Boatman's Creeks ; and, second, that between Boatman's Creek and the north branch of the Inaugahua. Over that part between Larry's 86 GEOLOGICAL EEPOKTS. and Boatman's Creeks there are extensive gold-workings in Little Boatman's Creek, Burke's Creek, Ryan's Creek, and Italian Gully, more especially i n the latter. In Italian Gully the main area of workings are continuous for about a mile along the valley, and are workings in recent mountain wash brought down from the range to the east, which consists of slates and sandstones of Carboniferous age, referable to the Maitai series of the New Zealand Geological Survey. Thus there is evidence that between Specimen Hill and the different quartz-claims at Larry's the auriferous slates are continuous on the range. They are seen to extend across Italian Gully to the western part of the slate area at Larry's ; between which two places the slates are seen to be directly overlain by the older Pliocene gravels forming the " Old-man bottom." Below the junction of Burke's Creek with that of Italian Gully the gold-workings are on " Old-man bottom." The rocks in Burke's Creek are partly limestones, sandstones, coal-measures, and the conglomerates underlying the last-mentioned, resting on the auriferous slates of Specimen Hill, and, with the next succeeding member of the coal-bearing series, are overlain" by the gravels of the " Old-man bottom." On the tops of the spurs between Burke's Creek and Boatman's Creek, and the lower part of Italian Gully and Boatman's Creek, there is reported to be gold-bearing gravels. These may be a rewash of the " Old-man bottom," or may be strata more auriferous than is commonly the case interbedded therewith ; probably the latter is the case. In the upper part of Burke's Creek heavy beds of gravel, forming part of the Older Pliocene series, have been mined in Howell's Claim, and a very deep face is there exposed which has been extensively worked. Little Boatman's has been worked from the slopes of Specimen Hill to or almost to its junction with the main branch of Boatman's. Mainly its gold has been derived from the adjoining auriferous slates to the eastward, many rich reefs lying in that direction, though these have not been traced through the spur into the valley of Little Boatman's, nor at lower levels under it. Rich specimens are, however, met with in the creek, and one large block of quartz lying in the creek-bed was found so impregnated with gold that a great part of it has been removed as specimen-stone. On the north side of the valley of the main branch of Boatman's Creek alluvial gold workings at low levels have apparently been exhausted, but on the higher slope of the hill, at the back of the township (Capleston), rich gold has been found in the lower beds of the " Old- man bottom." And, from information afforded by Mr. Rodgers, of the Crown Hotel, Capleston, it appears that along the contact be- tween the " Old-man gravels " and the coal-rocks, the lower part McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 87 of the auriferous band gave gold at the rate of 1 dwt. to the dish, and the upper part of the rate of 1 dwt. to the ton. It may be assumed that the deposit will extend considerably along the contact of the two rocks under the higher part of the range, striking towards Howell's Claim on the one hand and south-west across Boatman's Creek on the other hand, and, gradually dipping westward, should pass below the water-line of the main valley. This lower auriferous band in the " Old -man bottom " will again have to be noticed in dealing with the other, or south-west, division of the block. There are other and higher bands of the " Old-man bottom " that are known to be auriferous, one of which has been tested on the south-west side of the creek. This, from its strike and dip, would correspond from its position, on the north side of the creek, with the horizon and locality where gold, on the authority of Mr. John Gallagher, is said to occur on the top of the spur between Boatman's and Burke's Creek. At Capleston, the slate-rock makes its appearance in the bed of the creek, and underlying the coal-rocks, extends north and south, and forms the range of higher hills to the northward, and the western slope of the range between Boatman's Creek and the north branch of the Inangahua. The core of this range to the south-west is formed of Devonian rocks. One mile and a half to two miles above Capleston the slates pass under rocks belonging to the coal-bearing series, and towards the middle part of this belt of slate the chief quartz-mines of the Boatman's district are situated. The Just-in- Time, the Fiery Cross, the Welcome, and many other claims of lesser note are situated in this part of the slate belt. These have all at one time or another, and each in their turn, been famous gold-yielding mines. Nothing more need be said in justification of the area over which they extend being withdrawn from sale and reserved for mining purposes. Towards the source of Boatman's Creek the conglomerates at the base of the coal-measures are likely to prove auriferous ; but, although a good deal of prospecting has been done in this part of the district, the idea of testing the cements at the base of the coal-bearing series is novel to the miners, and hitherto attention has been directed wholly to the recent wash in the creek-beds. On the south-west portion of the block alluvial diggings alone exist. The slates of the auriferous series extend from Boatman's Creek to the Waiatahu, or north branch of the Inangahua, opposite the Sir Charles Russell battery ; but up to the present time auriferous quartz-reefs have not been found in this area of the slates. Resting on these follow the conglomerates and quartz cements, or coarse or fine sandstones of the coal-bearing series. These are or should be SS GEOLOGICAL REPOBTS. gold-bearing, since the same beds are auriferous at no great distance to the south-east. The Pliocene gravels, or " Old-man bottom," next follow, and are known to be auriferous. There are also, towards the north-west, terraces of early Recent or of Pleistocene date, probably also auriferous. A tributary of Boatman's Creek drains part of this portion of the block west of the slate range, and its modern gravels have derived gold principally through the cutting down of the " Old-man bottom," out also in part from the older formations lying farther to the east- ward. Fryingpau Creek, more to the south-west, has, however, been the chief seat of alluvial mining in this part of the block, and has undoubtedly derived its gold from all the sources here enumerated, the early Recent, or Pleistocene terraces excepted. Along the hill-sides bounding the valley of Boatman's Creek the " Old-man bottom " is developed between the disappearance of the coal-bearing series at Capleston and the creek mentioned a mile and a quarter further down the valley. The lower beds of the Pliocene gravels, as on the opposite side of the valley, are on this side auriferous ; and along the junction between these and the coal-rocks rich coarse alluvial gold was found. This was worked out in the beds of the small creek without leading to the prospecting of the underlying Older Pliocene gravels, from which the gold in the creek had been immediately derived. Some distance further down the valley a claim has been opened out, and partly worked, on Mr. Boardman's farm. This is so clearly in an auriferous band of the Older Pliocene gravels that it is thus of peculiar interest and importance. The average result as yet obtained is 5 dwt. of gold to the ton of gravel put through the boxes. Mr. Boardman works the ground himself when water is to be had. Work can only be done in wet weather, or when an old prospecting drive has sufficient water in it to supplement that collected on the surface. Block LIV. This embraces the Reefton mining area between the two branches of the Inangahua from the Town of Reefton to the source of Murray Creek, and from the battery-site of the Sir Charles Russell Mine to the mouth of Lankey's Gully. The block contains 7,000 acres, and is throughout of a mountainous character. Its agricultural or even its pastoral capabilities need not, therefore, be considered. It was the early great centre of quartz-mining in the Reefton district, and is still in the premier position in that respect. It would, there- fore, be superfluous to at length describe a block the proceeds and capabilities of which are so well known. It is only necessary to mention the fact that, along the south-east boundary of the block, along Lankey's Gully and the upper part of Murray Creek, cement workings in quartz gravels at the base of the coal-bearing series is a McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 89 promising phase of gold-mining, which has possibilities along the range between the two branches of the Inangahua as far as Garvie's Creek. That the Lankey's Gully Cement Company's operations failed to be remunerative merely goes to show that the right place, or the right method of working the cements, was not hit upon or adopted. These cements extend over parts of the proposed reserves, Blocks LVIII. and LX., and are also largely developed on Block LV., which also should have been a proclaimed reserve. Block LIX. This lies south of the Inangahua River, from Reef- ton to Rainy Creek Junction, and, with the exception of some inconsiderable flats on the left bank of the Inangahua, and a small area of level land in the lower part of the valley of Devil's Creek, the area of the block is decidedly mountainous. It is of irregular figure, and comprises an area of 10,000 acres. The land is therefore unsuited and unfit for either agricultural or pastoral purposes, and, being covered with bush, would scarcely pay to clear, as the abrupt slopes would not retain the soil; and the flatter lands are of very inferior quality, these latter being generally covered with mountain pine, growing on a poor swampy and peaty soil. Valuable mines are situated on this block, the principal of which are the Globe, the Progress, Sir Francis Drake, the Cumberland, and in Rainy Creek, the Inkerman. Alluvial mining has also been, to a very considerable extent, carried on along the valley of Devil's Creek, Soldier's Gully, and Maori Gully, and on the higher lands around Merrijigs. At the head of Soldier's Gully, and between the middle part of Devil's Creek and Reefton, there are heavy deposits of Pliocene gravels that have been extensively worked, and sluicing operations are still being carried on. In Maori Gully, work is still being carried on in the lower part of, the creek, and towards its source and around Merrijigs there are a number of workings in high-level gravels, respecting which the exact age and manner of deposit might be matter for debate. Patches of " Old-man bottom " appear in the valley of Maori Gully, and to the neighbourhood of these the present gold-workings appear to cling. There is also, between Maori Gully and the upper part of Slab-hut Creek, a sort of table-land, covered with gravels that are promising, but do not appear to have been sufficiently prospected. Block LXI. This lies to the south-east of Block LIX., and stretches along the south-western bank of the Inangahua River, a distance of ten miles, with an average breadth of about two miles and a half. Its area is 10,000 acres. The whole is mountainous, and fit only for mining purposes. There are several quartz-mines on the block, the most important of which is the Golden Lead and Merrijigs Claims, the surface portion of the lodes in which have been worked to a considerable extent. A low-level adit is being driven 90 GEOLOGICAL EEPOBTS. from Deep Creek into the Golden Lead, which, it is expected, will cut other reefs besides those already found, and the latter at lower levels. In this part of the district the rocks, though belonging to the Maitai series, are, at least where the quartz-veins usually occur, mainly sandstones ; and the lodes, so-called, are thin leaders of gold- bearing quartz, which, varying from 1 in. to 3 in. in thickness, are rich enough in the precious metal to make the working of them remunera- tive. The south-eastern part of the block is probably occupied by part of the granite area surrounding the source of the Inangahua River, but to the limit of the Maitai rocks in this direction, round the sources of the Big River, there are prospects of a continuation of these thin but very rich leaders of quartz in the more arenaceous rocks of the Maitai series. Coal is developed over a considerable extent of this block, and will yet prove of great value in connection with the working of mines known and to be discovered ; as where wood only is depended upon for steam-raising purposes large areas are soon stripped of their forest growth. Block LXII. This extends along the south-east side of the Little Grey Valley, from Slab-hut Creek to Big River, a distance of fully seven miles. The greatest width of the block is three miles, and the area it contains is 10,000 acres. The block may be characterized as broken and hilly country, physically not suited to agriculture, and, as regards the quality of the soil, this, except along the banks of the more important streams, is of very poor quality. In the lower part of Slab-hut Creek a considerable amount of gold-working has been carried on, now principally by Chinamen. Beyond the gorge in the upper part of the watershed, the low grounds of the creek valley, and many of the tributary streams, have been worked. The fundamental rock is Maitai slate, overlain on the high lands by the gravels of the "Old-man bottom." Quartz-reefs are likely to be found in the older rocks, and masses of reef-quartz are not infrequent in the wash of the various creeks. In the valley of Antonio's Flat and creek of that name the low grounds show shingle, partly derived from the destruction of the Maitai slates, which is the prevailing rock higher up than the forks of the creek, at the upper end of Antonio's Flat ; but from this point downwards to the junction of the stream with the Little Grey the material, carried into the main water-channel by the action of lesser contributory streams, is wholly derived from the Older Pliocene gravels, which are present on both sides of this part of the valley, to the exclusion of any other rock. Along the many lesser gullies cut back into the gravel hills gold-working is being carried on almost to the water-partings leading into the adjacent watersheds to the north- McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 91 east and south-west. In the upper part of the valley the main workings lie along the right branch of the creek, the bed of the creek and the lower slopes of the hills being slate-rock, while the tops of the hills are formed of the gravels of the " Old-man bottom." Both of these rocks may, therefore, have been a source of gold to the gravels of the creek-bed . There appears to be an air of decadence in raining throughout the whole of the valley of Antonio's Flat, while the work done shows that it must at one time have been a prosperous and a nourishing place. This state of things, as shall immediately be shown, may shortly change when enterprise undertakes the pro- specting of the deep ground on the middle and upper parts of Antonio's Flat, or prospectors have found out that large sluicing- claims can be worked to profit in the gravels of the " Old-man bottom." At Adamstown, the creek draining the valley joins the Little Grey a little below the Mawheraiti Railway-station, where there were for- merly workings of considerable extent, which, like those in the valley of Antonio's Flat, were confined to the side gullies or those parts of the main valley where bottom could easily be reached. Lately, how- ever, enterprising miners Chinamen and Europeans alike have attempted the deeper ground, and this, as regards both classes of miners, with encouraging and satisfactory results. The Chinamen, in large parties, strip the ground from the underlying gold-bearing wash, which may be 16 ft. to 20 ft. below the surface. The European prefers to sink shafts, and drive out as much of the wash as can be safely won. The consequences are that what lately might have been claimed to be a worked-out and deserted gully is now on the fair road to a greater degree of prosperity than formerly the mining population in it enjoyed. The southern portion of the block terminating on Big River is high-terrace lands or hills formed of " Old-man bottom," intersected by gullies, all of which are liable to contain gold-bearing deposits, but of which the particulars have not been ascertained. The prin- cipal workings in this valley, the lower part of it, lie along the Black- water, and, strictly speaking, these have to be considered when dealing with the next adjacent to the southward. Block LXHI. This lies to the south-east of Block LXIL, and is wholly rugged, hilly*, or mountainous country. The block forms an irregular square, the greatest length of any of the sides of which is six miles. The block contains 10,000 acres. It comprises within it the upper portions of the valleys of Slab-hut Creek and Antonio's Flat Creek, and Big River runs across its south-western end. Along the north-west boundary, and for some distance into the block, the rocks on the spurs are Older Pliocene gravels, underlain by Maitai 92 GEOLOGICAL EEPOBTS. slates, exposed at first along the beds and sides of the gullies, and finally on the crests of the ridges. The eastern and south-eastern parts include a plateau-like mountain-top, covered with stunted pine- trees, favouring a wet and boggy soil and subsoil. Little of this part of the block has been explored, but a road to the Big River Mine is being so improved that explorations will in future be carried on with greater ease. The mining population within the block are chiefly in the valley of Antonio's Flat, and towards the source of Slab-hut Creek and around Merrijigs, Merrijigs Hill occupying the eastern corner of the block. Through this, from Block LIX., extends the belt of sandstone, with the small but rich leaders of auriferous quartz, that have been mentioned as occurring in the Golden Lead Mine. On the western slopes of Merrijigs Hill there are heavy deposits of gravel, which in working them for gold are being sluiced on a moderately extensive scale. Block LXV. This lies between Big River and the Big Grey, from the Greymouth Reefton Road and railway-crossing to four miles up the Grey Valley. Snowy Creek and Blackwater (a tributary of Big River) are the principal streams that intersect the block. The surface over the north-east part is hilly and broken to the Blackwater, and on the south-west side of Blackwater, hilly country, formed of Older Pliocene gravels ("Old-man bottom"), continues perhaps half the distance towards Snowy Creek. This portion of the block, except in the Valley of Big River and the lower part of the Blackwater, is without lands fit for settlement. Along Big River the low-lying lands have been already acquired and held in freehold by private individuals, while the lower part of Blackwater is largely taken up by alluvial mines in active operation. Between Snowy Creek and the Big Grey there is a succession of broad terraces, by which descent is made to the level of the river. The first two or higher terraces are covered with forest, while the last two to the river-flat are for the most part clear of forest. The two highest terraces are of great extent, and, overlooked from a distance, appear as though their area would be splendidly adapted for farms and settlement. Experiments in this direction have proved utter failures on the lower and open terraces ; and the higher terraces, birch-covered, are held to be even less en- couraging for settlement than the second terrace .proved to be. Gold has been largely mined in the valley-bottom of the Black- water, and along the immediate lower hill-slopes bounding the valley, but the Older Pliocene gravels that have yielded most of this gold lie comparatively untouched and unprospected. In Snowy Creek, in like manner, for the first three miles from where it opens on to the lower valley of Big River,, workings are general along the creek-banks McKAY. Smith-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 93 and the flat ground between the watercourse and the high river-terrace to the south-west. There has, however, been no regular and syste- matic working of the ground, and it is evident that, with a good supply of water under hydraulic head, such as might be afforded by or obtained from the neighbouring terraces, the whole of the valley- bottom would pay for hydraulic sluicing. Some few of the gullies, cut back into the south-west terrace, have been worked ; but on the whole, from an examination of the workings, Snowy Creek has been incompletely worked, but will probably yet again be worked when the required water-supply is brought on to the ground. The workings are for the most part comparatively shallow, hence the ease with which the ground has been turned over in search of the richer patches of gold. On the banks of the Big Grey, towards the south-east comer of the block, the beaches and low banks along the river are auriferous, and as reported would pay for working, but the water requisite for this purpose has to be brought across private lands, and, as the owners object, this cannot be done. Hence only two men, or two parties, are working on this part of the block. Block LXVI. This lies to the south-east of Block LXV., and i partly on each side, but mainly on the north-east side of the Big Grey. It is of irregular figure, but roughly a parallelogram, each of the sides of which are about five miles in length. The block has an area of 9,000 acres. The source of the Black water lies within the block, and part of the course of Snowy Creek is through it. It crosses the Big Grey above Mackley's, and includes part of the high open terrace- land on the south-west bank of the river. On the northern side of the river the block immediately away from the river-banks is wholly covered with forest, mostly birch. Gold-workings within the bounds of this block have been very limited, and, for the most part, confined to workings along the river, and some prospecting along the more ac- cessible creeks and gullies. On the north-east side of the river the land is of the same quality as over the greater part of Block LXV., only towards the east it is higher and more sterile still. The lesser area on the south-west bank of the river is open terrace land, covered with native grass or low scrub, and may be considered second-class pastoral land. Block LXIX. This block lies to the south-west of Big Grey, but, except at one point, unreserved or freehold lands exclude it from having frontage on this river, or to the Grey River below the junction, the Big Grey, and the Mawheraiti or Little Grey. Its figure is irregular. The greatest length of the block, south-east and north- west, is seven miles ; and its greatest breadth, in the opposite direc- tion, three miles and a half. Its area comprises 9,000 acres. Through- 94 GEOLOGICAL EEPOKTS. out, except in the south-east part, it is formed of broken hilly country of considerable elevation. Towards the east it includes part of the terrace plain that, north-west of the granite mountains, lies between the Big Grey and the Ahaura Rivers. Two principal streams drain the block : the Wai puna, falling into the Big Grey, drains the central and more rugged parts ; while the upper part of Duffer's Creek and of its tributary, Half-ounce Creek, drain the north-western part. The only land that can be considered of any value for agricultural or pastoral occupation is the eastern part of the block round the source of Waipuna Creek, and a narrow strip of land along the left bank of Half-ounce Creek. The Waipuna area is a hard, stony, high-level terrace, fit for pastoral purposes only. The area along Half-ounce Creek is a narrow strip along the left bank of the creek, under and on both sides of which mining is being carried on, for the purposes of which this land is necessary. There is therefore no land fit or available for settlement within the block. The principal mining operations are carried on in the watershed of Waipuna Creek, Noble's Creek (both branches of it), and Mosquito Creek, these being wholly within the block. The lower Waipuna is confined to a narrow channel in a deep gorge, and the bed of this, though auriferous, cannot readily be worked. The Waipuna Gold- . mining Company drove a tunnel from the middle part of the gorge through the intervening spur to the river-bed, but this did not serve the purpose for which it was intended and the bed of the Waipuna, from the junction of Noble's downwards, has yet to be worked. Considerable workings have been at and near the junction of Noble's Creek with the Waipuua, and both branches of Noble's Creek itself have been worked almost to their very sources. The gold in most cases is found in the first terrace above the creek-bed, and mainly it lies along the right bank of the creek. From the terraces on both sides of the creek to the foot of Napoleon Hill, and from Wellington Terrace at the foot of Napoleon Hill, a very great amount of gold has been raised. A few claims are working at higher levels on the left bank of the main branch of Noble's. In the left-hand branch workings seem mainly to affect the right-hand side of the valley, and the reason of this appears to be that on this side the greater elevations have near their summits heavy deposits of coarser gravel than forms the bulk of the hills, which also seems to be much more auriferous than the middle and lowest exposed parts of the " Old-man bottom," as developed in this part of the Grey Valley. These high-level gravels form the top of Napoleon Hill, and some of the higher ridges in the direction of the upper part of Half-ounce Creek, the source of Duffer's Creek, and the head of the left-hand McKAY. South-West Nelson and. Northern Westland. 95 branch of Noble's, and often contain huge angular blocks of stone which seem to indicate the agency of glaciers as being concerned in their aggregation and deposit. The popular idea among miners is that the gravels of Napoleon Hill are the deposits of an old river, the bed of which is preserved in the higher part of the hill, the lead in which fills this old channel from bank to bank. This question need not be discussed in this place : it is enough to say that the gravels are auriferous, and that they are distinguishable from the middle part of the Pliocene gravels on which they rest. They gradually decline to loAver levels, as they are followed from north-east to south-west, as far as the south-west bank of the Ahaura River, beyond which the same beds (the higher parts of those forming the " Old-man bottom ") pitch to the north, and thus it is shown that no one river could have deposited the beds in the two localities, unless since deposition the deposits have been disturbed, inclined, and elevated, which, to some extent, they have been. These beds are worked in the head, Duffer's Creek, in Napoleon Hill, also in the ridge of hills between Orwell Creek and the Ahaura River ; and they have unquestionably yielded, it might be safely said, the sum-total of the gold that has been found in the higher parts of Mosquito Creek, the several branches of Noble's, Duffer's, and Orwell Creeks ; the recent alluviums along the beds and valleys of these several creeks being clearly due to no other agency or action than the denudation of the Pliocene hills formed of these gravels, which are here grouped under the general term of Older Pliocene or " Old man bottom." In Half-ounce Creek the gold found in the terrace along its left bank might possibly be referred to the same source as that in the terraces bounding the low grounds of the Grey Valley, east of Totara Flat. These have resulted from the action of the Grey River, and belong to the left side of the valley of Duffer's Creek ; they extend and unite with the lower part of the terrace stretching along Half-ounce Creek, so as to appear as one. This merely shows that the valley of Duffer's Creek was partly excavated at the time when the outer ter- races along the Grey Valley were being formed. Duffer's Creek Gold-mining Company's works are the most im- portant on this block at the present time. With greater supply of water there may be many such claims, even more prosperous, estab- lished. Block LXX. This block lies between Duffer's Creek and the Ahaura River, above the township of that name. It is of irregular outline ; its greatest length south-west and north-east being about five miles, and its greatest breadth about three miles. It comprises an area of 6,500 acres, the greater part of which is covered with bush, the Ahaura Plain being excluded from the reserve. Towards 96 GEOLOGICAL EEPORTS. the north-east, or between Orwell Creek and Duffer's, the surface of the block is formed of hills composed of the same material and of like character to that which, it has been said, characterise the greater part of Block LXIX. In like manner, the area of flat lands in this part of the block is exceedingly small, and of no consequence whatever. Along the middle part or Orwell Creek, and thence to the Ahaura River, the upper levels of the Ahaura Plain are flat slightly -terraced lands, having soils of a light and stony character. Towards the river this is thickly bush-clad, and by a succession of two or three descending terraces, also bush-clad, the level of the river is reached. Along this part the Ahaura River runs in a deep gorge, between the terraces on this block and the hills on the south-west side of the river, to where it enters on the main valley of the Grey River at the Ahaura Township. It may be contended that these level lands along the northern bank of the Ahaura River are of value for settle- ment, but as nothing in the way of settlement is being done on the contiguous open lands outside the reserve whether freehold or not the contention seems very doubtful. Recent developments have gone to prove the existence of gold in the succession of terraces that rise one after the other on the north- east bank of the Ahaura, and as all of these, even the broader and higher terrace-plain extending to and across Orwell Creek, have been formed by the Ahaura River, similar gold deposits are probable over the whole area of these flat lands. Also, where Orwell Creek de- bouches from the hilly country towards its source it must have carried gold, with the other products of denudation, on to the surface of the plain, originally formed by the action of the Ahaura River ; and it is fair to assume that over part of its course along the north-east margin of the plain paying gold-deposits will be found, the auriferous deposits being augmented by what has been brought down by the smaller tributary-streams draining from the hilly country to the north- east. Several gullies have been worked in hilly country, the gold necessarily being derived from the gravels of the " Old man bottom " in the hills referred to. The new rush on the banks of the Ahaura River is at present giving encouraging results, and several importanj works are in progress, which are intended for the development ot this new find. Block LXXI. This lies to the south-east of Block LXX., and to the south of Block LXIX. It stretches for eight miles along the north-east bank of the Ahaura River, and has an average width of two miles and a half. The block includes an area of 9,000 acres. It includes the important district of the upper part of Orwell Creek, and towards the south-east, part of the terrace-plain described as extending east of Napoleon Hill, and lying between the Big Grey McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 97 and Ahaura Rivers. Along the Ahaura River there is a continuation of the terrace-plain described under Block LXX. This is backed by hills of Older Pliocene gravel, separating this part of the Ahaura Plain from the valley of the upper part of Orwell Creek. From the point where it enters the hills the whole upper valley of Orwell Creek is gold-bearing, and alluvial mines are being worked through- out the whole length of this part of its course and that of its various tributaries. The recent alluvial deposits of the creek-beds have been derived from the waste of the surrounding hills, composed entirely of " Old man bottom," thus showing most conclusively the auriferous character of that deposit. It is true that the higher part of this deposit, the so-called " old river-bed " of Napoleon Hill, has yielded the greater part of the metaliferous wealth that has been taken from the recent wash deposited in the low grounds, but it is also true that, at many places besides Napoleon Hill itself, these gravels are rich enough to pay for working in the original and unconcentrated deposit, and have, as a matter of fact, been unknowingly so worked ; as, for instance, opposite the north-west base of Napoleon Hill, on the south-west side of the valley of Orwell Creek, where the dip of the beds brings them nearly to the creek-level, and at various heights in other parts of the block. The existence of these gravels will enable the continuance of mining in the valley of Orwell Creek long after all the accessible recently-formed deposits of the creek-valley have been worked out. Block LXXIV. This lies between the lower Ahaura and the lower part of Nelson Creek, below Hatter's Terrace, and has a frontage of five miles to the Grey Valley. The block contains an area of 8,800 acres*, and is divided into two nearly equal parts by Callaghan's Creek, which runs nearly parallel to the lower course of the Ahaura. The flat and arable lands within the block lie along the right bank of the lower part of Nelson Creek to the point where the Ahaura Nelson Creek Road enters the valley, and occupy the lower valley of Callaghan's Creek ; and there is also a small area of level and low-lying land on the south-west bank of the Ahaura River, at the northern corner of the block. Most, if not all, of these lands have been alienated, and are held by private individuals ; the lands in Nelson Creek Valley and along Red Jack's being, for the most part, improved and in grass. There is also a broad terrace, timber- covered, along the north-western part and frontage of the block, but this, in relation to the whole, is of limited extent. The existence of these freehold lands within this and other blocks to the north-east have been a great bar and detriment to the progress of mining, and large sums have been paid by the Government to those in possession of riparian rights in the way of compensation and settlement of 7 98 GEOLOGICAL EEPORTS. claims for future damage. All the other parts of the block are an assemblage of gravel hills, with exceedingly abrupt slopes and steep narrow gullies or simple watercourses between, and are nowhere fit to be profitably utilised as agricultural or pastoral farms. Fair soil there may be along the low grounds of some of the larger gullies, but, generally, the country is too steep to retain the soil were the bush cleared. Mining is carried on in several of the smaller creeks falling into the Ahaura River, in the line of the south-west extension of the Napoleon Hill lead, and in Callaghan's, on approximately the same line, and lower down the valley. In Callaghan's, where the gold- bearing wash of the low ground has been wholly derived from the immediately adjacent hills, there appears to be ample employment for the miners, with their present supply of water, for many years to come. In Nelson Creek the lower terrace flat on the right bank of the stream, from the crossing below Hatter's Terrace to where the hill-spurs cut it out, has been extensively worked ; and the hill- slopes at the upper end of this flat are at the present time being worked on as extensive a scale as the water-supply available will permit. The ground and workings on the range-slope here indicate the presence of the auriferous higher part of the Older Pliocene- gravels that stretch south-west from Napoleon Hill, and are con- sidered to be distinct from the finer-grained middle and lower parts of the " Old man bottom." Gow's Creek has its lower course through this block, but for the most part it lies within the con- tiguous Block (LXXV.). Block LXXV. This lies to the south-east of Block LXXIV., and extends from the eastern boundary of that block "along Nelson Creek to Lake Hochstetter. This block has but a small frontage (one mile) to the Ahaura. It includes an area of 8,600 acres, and may be said to be wholly hilly land unfit for cultivation. The principal gold- workings on this block are along the valley of Gow's Creek, and near its junction between it and Nelson Creek. In the lower and middle parts of the Valley of Gow's Creek the whole of the low grounds have been worked over. Towards the source of the creek there are yet considerable areas that will have to be worked. The Nelson Creek water-race, taken from Lake Hochstetter, runs along the side of the range on the northern side of the valley, but it is not high enough to command the auriferous gravels that, as the equivalents of the Napoleon Hill gravels, are said to occupy the top of the ridge between Gow's Creek and the source of Callaghan's Creek. These gravels were identified, and are largely developed on the track over the range from the Hatter's Terrace to the middle workings in Callaghan's. . . South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 99 Block LXXVII. This lies between the lower part of Nelson Creek and No Town Creek (the Twelve-mile Creek), and has a front- age to the Grey Valley of four miles, and extends back to the south- east nearly four miles. The block includes an area of 7,500 acres. Towards the Grey Valley the front part is formed of the high terrace that on the south-east side of it fringes the Grey Valley. These terraces are covered with bush, birch prevailing ; the soil, as usual in such cases, is poor in quality. If cleared and sown down in English grasses these during the second and third season gradually die off and disappear. Less than a mile back into the block the Older Pliocene gravels begin, and form the whole of the other parts of the block, except the lower flat lands along the Twelve-mile, where they are con- siderable, only from one to three miles up the creek from the main road. Red Jack's, Kangaroo, Sunday, and Wyndham Creeks are the only other considerable creeks that drain the block, and along these, especially the first named, the only areas of low-lying alluvial land are found. These, however, though considerable in the case of Red Jack's Creek, form but a small proportion of the total area of the block. Gold-mining is carried on principally in the beds and alluvial banks of the streams bounding or intersecting the block, also to some extent in the high outer terrace formed by the action of the Grey River. Mining in the lower part of No Town Creek is confined to the south-west side of the valley, the hill-slopes on the opposite side being exceedingly abrupt. Near the eastern side of the block the principal workings are on the opposite side of the main valley, near the junction of the first large creek below the Township of No Town. Block LXXIX. This lies to the south-east of Block LXXVII., and has a greatest length of six miles, with an average breadth of three miles. The block contains an area of 10,000 acres. Dead Man's Creek and the left-hand branch of Red Jack's take their rise in this block. The surface is hilly, and the rocks present are exclusively the gravels of the " Old-man bottom," underlain by a soft-brown sandstone, which also shows along the banks of Nelson Creek. From these gravels the recent alluvial deposits found along the beds of the different creeks have been derived. Block LXXX. This lies to the south-west of Block LXXIX. Its greatest length north-west and south-east is four miles and a half, and its greatest breadth four miles. The block contains 10,000 acres. No Town Creek (the upper part of the Twelve-mile, with its various branches) drains the greater part of the block ; Candlelight and some smaller creeks draining the south-west slopes of the No Town Hills towards, and to, the Arnold. The whole of the block is hilly, broken 100 GEOLOGICAL EEPORTS. country, and not likely to be soon required for other purposes than mining. The chief mining has been carried on along No Town Creek, from the north-west boundary of the block to some distance above the township, and along several branch creeks coming * -om the south-west. Candlelight Creek also has yielded a large amount of gold. At the present time there is a considerable number of miners on the block, though the great extent of the former workings make it appear as though the miners were few, the men being scattered over a wide area and in many gullies. The gravels of the " Old-man bottom " and the brown sands underlying are here seen to be under- lain by blue sandy clay, such as is met with in the Arnold and New River districts, which shows that, while from the Big Grey to the Ahaura the plunge of the gravel formation is to the south-west, be- tween Hatter's Terrace in Nelson Creek and No Town the dip is reversed, and here for the first time the marine Miocene beds make their appearance ; consequently, the higher auriferous beds of Napo- leon Hill are likely to be found only on the tops of the higher of the No Town Hills, and here also will be afforded an opportunity of testing the lower beds of the Older Pliocene bottom, which it has been shown are auriferous in the Inangahua Valley. Block LXXXI. This lies to the north-west of Block LXXX., and occupies the space between the lower part of the Twelve-mile Creek and the Arnold River. Its area is 4,500 acres. Part of the Arnold Flat is included in this block, but the greater area is occupied by the north-western end of the No Town Hills. These, together with the confluent terraces of the Grey and Arnold Rivers, constitute the whole of the block. The land over the lower grounds might be improved, and sawmilling, followed by settlement, is likely to be the means of clearing the forest from this part of the block, and the bringing of the lands under grass or cultivation. Mining in this block is limited, and mainly carried on in the hilly part within the valley of Candlelight Creek. Much speculation has been indulged in with respect to the auriferous character of the Arnold Flat. Here it is intended to clearly lay down the opinion that the higher margins of the flat along the foot of the No Town Hills are likely to prove gold-bearing. This assumption is based on the fact that the No Town Hills have been largely denuded by ordinary creek-action since the Arnold Flat was formed, and thus, over the eastern part of it, a fresh, and to some extent an auriferous deposit has been laid down. The prospecting of these younger beds thus forms a legitimate undertaking, and a matter that should be attended to. On the other hand, how far it is warrantable or even advisable to undertake deep-sinking, with the view of passing through the series of gravels that form the Arnold Flat, is a matter respecting McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern. Westland. 101 which there is diversity of opinion. And they may be right who hold the view that the Arnold Flat is composed of shingle originally brought down from the Upper Teremakau Valley by ice, and after- wards distributed to its present position, and, reasserted by the action of the Teremakau, at that time an affluent of the Grey, or by a volume of water much greater than that which the Arnold now carries to the sea. According to either of these views it would not be a hopeful undertaking to sink deep shafts on the Arnold Flat, except at the very base of the No Town Hills, where already a shaft has been unk to a depth of about 100 ft. from the surface. According to Mr. McDonald gold was got at the furthest depth reached, but not enough to pay for working, under circumstances that would have compelled the ''driving-out" of the wash. Mr. McDonald is, how- ever, hopeful that good payable gold exists on the Arnold Flat in the vicinity of where the prospecting-works were carried on by him. Block LXXXV. This lies along the coast-line from the mouth of the Grey River north of Port Elizabeth and the Seven-mile Creek. In this direction the block has a length of four miles and a half, and from the crest of the limestone range to the sea a bread tli of one mile, one half of which is raised beach and terrace, and the other, the steep slope of the limestone range, thickly covered with bush. The area of the block is 3,000 acres. Towards the south the raised beaches and terrace lie at a low level in relation to the sea, but on Darkie's Terrace and at Port Elizabeth marine deposits reach to at least 100 ft. above the level of the tide. The hill-slopes at the foot, and the limestone-slopes themselves, grow good grass when cleared of the bush and scrub, but the greater area of the available parts of the block consist of raised beaches, on which there is little or no soil. Gold-workings were formerly extensively carried on on the beach between high- and low-water mark, but the beaches from repeated workings have for a time been rendered poor, and the mining now going on is mainly along the inner raised beach, where various hydraulic or steam elevating-plants are being worked. Towards the northern end of the block lies Darkies' Terrace, which for a long time maintained the reputation of being very rich in gold. In this is represented the high-level black-sand leads of the northern part of Westland, from the Hauhau Lead, near Kanieri, to north of Rutherglen. Here, in Darkies' Terrace, the level above the sea is somewhat less than further to the north or to the south ; but, looking at the outlines of the end of the Cobden Range, as seen from the south side of the Grey River, it appears as though a plain of marine denudation had been cut at a higher level than Darkies' Terrace, and on this it is possible that auriferous deposits are preserved. This, however, would be as much too high as Darkies' 102 GEOLOGICAL REPORTS. Terrace is too low to correspond with the ordinary average level of the inland black-sand leads. At the mouth of the Seven-mile Creek, on the south side, there is a terrace-flat which is intermediate in height between the present beach and the higher auriferous level of Darkies' Terrace. With improved appliances and means of working, gold-mining on the first raised beach may be long and prospei'ously conducted within the limits of this reserve. Block LXXXI. This block extends along the north-west bank of the Grey River, from the south-east corner of the Grey Coalfield Reserve, a distance of four miles and a-half. The western boundary from the point indicated, runs north along the Mount Davy Range, a distance of seven miles, to Trig. K at the source of the Seven-mile Creek, the north-eastern boundary converging on the same point. The block comprises an area of 8,000 acres, all the land within it, with the exception of a narrow strip along the Grey River, being either steep hill-slope or mountainous; Langdon's Farm is, however, excluded from the block. Across the middle part of the block a belt of Maitai slate extends in a north-east direction. In this, within the water- shed of Langdon's Creek, are a series of reefs and leaders of quartz, carrying gold and antimony ore. The lodes run nearly east and west, or acioss the north-east and south-west extension of the slate- belt, and, consequently, nearly straight up and down the face of the range and so continue till at higher levels the formation in which they occur is overlain by the lower beds of the coal-bearing series that, in Bald Hill and in Mount Sewell, consist of conglomerates, probably auriferous. Down the slope of the range the same rocks continue till the slates again disappear by being brought in contact with the higher beds of the coal-bearing series along a line of fault which strikes along the lower middle slope of the Mount Davy Range, through this, and into the next block to the north-east. Working or prospecting of the antimony and of an adjoining quartz reef, has long been discontinued ; but the prospecting of some quartz reefs in the Julian Claim, 400 ft. to 500 ft. lower down the range, has been persistently carried on, in the hope that what were reckoned favour- able indications, and the occurrence of some choice specimens, would lead to a paying reef. During the present year the Messrs. Curtis found a rich leader or small reef not far from the Julian boundary, and on this being further prospected stone of a rich description was found at a lower level, and there is hope that quartz-mining for gold may develop to considerable importance over the whole area of slate. Active steps are being taken to test the value of the find. On the higher part of the range conglomerates form the base of the coal-measures. These conglomerates are sometimes coarse (usually McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 103 the lower beds) and sometimes they are wholly composed of well- rounded quartz pebbles, cemented hard into a rock mass. These beds, as they are auriferous at other places, in all likelihood are so here ; but none of the miners seem to have tried them. On the lower slope of the range there is an accumulation of coarse mountain-wash con- taining much debris from the slate-belt, as well as a considerable per- centage of the rocks of the lower part of the coal-bearing series. It is in this mountain-wash that the principal alluvial gold-workings are now and have been for many years past situated. Gold is also found along the banks of the Grey River, and sometimes the prospects obtained appear to be excellent, but somehow no one seems to system- atically set to work along this part of the river. There is the possibility that in the near future many mines may be located on this block. At the present time there are not many miners at work. Block LXXXV1L This lies to the north-east of Block LXXXVL, and has but a small frontage to the Grey River (about a mile). The north-eastern boundary of Block LXXXVL forms the south-west of this. The north boundary runs east and west from the north-west angle of Block LXXXVL to Healy's Saddle, between the Upper Black- ball Creek and the Roaring Meg Creek, from which the east boundary runs south to the Grey River at the mouth of Blackball Creek. The area of the block comprises 7,000 acres, and by far the greater portion rugged broken country, a large part of it being mountainous up to 3,000 ft. and over. The block, however, contains a valuable coal- field the Blackball Coalfield. The only flat lands within the block lie within the lower parts of Blackball and Ford's Creek, and between the foot of Kinsella's Peak and the Grey River. The main area between Blackball Creek and Ford's Creek is in part occupied by the Blackball Township, while the rest of the Terrace Flat to Kinsella's is still under bush. Along the right bank of the left branch of Ford's Creek there are some open terrace lands, but the soil is poor, and the area is mostly covered by gold- workings, races, dams, &c. The Black- ball coal-leases extend over the whole of the gold-workings within the watershed of Ford's Creek, except between the south-east boundary of the lease and the Grey River. The most extensive diggings are those within the valley of the left branch of Ford's Creek. These do not lie along the bed of the creek, but on a terrace 100 ft. to 150 ft. above the level of the creek. As the coal-bearing series forms the bottom on which the auriferous gravels rest there are no slates within the watershed. The wash consists of Maitai slates and sandstone from the slate range towards the head of Coal Creek and the upper Blackball, mixed with a large percentage of breccia-conglomerates derived from the base of the coal-bearing series. Along the right branch of Ford's Creek (Soldiers' Creek) the gold is 104 GEOLOGICAL EEPOBTS. chiefly confined to the lower levels and the first high terrace on one or other bank of the stream. The gold must have been mainly derived from the breccia-conglomerate at the base of the coal-bearing series, or from the pebbly quartz grits that overlie. Opposite the mouth of the Blackball Coal-mine, during the past year, a small rush took place to where gold was found in the clayey subsoil of the hill-slopes on the western side of the creek. Over 100 oz. of gold was obtained at, or quite close to the surface in the course of a fortnight or three weeks, principally by inexperienced gold-miners from the coal-mine, boys and even women being amongst the number engaged in digging. This comparatively rich patch had escaped detection ever since the commencement of the rush to the Grey Valley the Blackball being opened early during the rush. Immediately below the Coal-mine begins the deep gravel-terrace that has been extensively mined opposite the junction of the two branches of Ford's Creek. This extends north to the Blackball Creek,, and the auriferous gravels underlie the township and terrace flat to Kinsella's accommodation-house. The ground is partly worked by hydraulic sluicing, and partly driven out, both methods of working still continuing to afford fair wages. The wash is coarse and full of disseminated iron-oxide, which does not seem to have resulted from the oxidation of pyrites in the wash, or to have been brought from the surface by water, but is rather due to the decomposition of the green slates of the Maitai series that form the great bulk of the wash. This iron-oxide, by coating and filling cavities, affects the value, or rather the selling qualities of the gold. But the gold of Ford's Creek also contains copper which reduces its value in some cases to 3 9s. per ounce. Where this cupriferous gold comes from is a problem that till now has not been solved. In the Upper Blackball is the Minerva quartz reef, which until recently was worked and yielded a return that might warrant further prospecting of the mine. The alluvial claims in the Upper Blackball extend from the forks downwards about a mile. The workings at the present time are mainly on the right bank of the stream, and consist of sluicing-claims that apparently deal with old creek-gravels, overridden by slope deposit from the adjoining hill-slopes, which at frequent intervals form heavy talus-fans, between the foot of the range and the present channel of the creek. The gold in the Upper Blackball seems to come from the head of the right-hand branch of the creek, little gold being traceable in the eastern branch. On the mountain range, between the Blackball and the Ten-mile Creek, there are a number of quartz reefs that should be prospected more than has been done. One massive reef in particular appears to McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 105 have yielded most of the gold found in the upper part of Blackball Creek. Block LXXXVIIL This block has a frontage on the Grey River, between the mouth of the Blackball and Moonlight Creeks, a distance of six miles. The western boundary extends north a dis- tance of four miles. The total area of the block is 9,000 acres. It includes nearly the whole of the Meg Watershed, and that of Moon- light Creek below the junction of Garden Gully. Except a small pro- portion of the whole that lies along the banks of Moonlight and Meg Creeks, the land on this block is high-lying and generally worthless. Gold-mining is carried on in German Gully, and along the left bank of the lower part of Blackball Creek, in Healy's Gully, and between the head of this and German Gully. In German Gully the gold in part is obtained from the gravels of the " Old man bottom," which on a line of disturbance is faulted, and in contact along a vertical junction with the Maitai slates of the neighbouring range. A water-race is being cut from the gorge of the Meg to bring water on to the higher giound, between the head of Healy's and German Gullies. There can be little doubt that a good deal of gold will be obtained from the downs between the Grey River and the foot of the range to the north-west ; but very little prospecting has been done over this part of the block. Along Moonlight Creek the only gold-workings are in the northern part of the block, B.A. Creek and Fitzherbert Terrace being the sites of the principal workings. Block LXXXIX. This has a frontage to the Grey River of three miles and a half, or from the mouth of Moonlight Creek to that of Slaty or Big River. From the mouth of Moonlight Creek the block extends due north a distance of seven miles, with an average width of two miles and a half.' The block contains an area of 8,500 acres. Within the block there is a strip of land along the banks of the Grey River extending back to the road-line that, cleared of the bush on it, will probably prove fairly good land ; and there is also a strip along the right bank of Slaty to the junction of Slaty and Big River which has for the most part been alienated, and is already partly cleared and in grass. Johnston's Farm lies on the north side of Slaty Creek between that and Big River. This is the farthest north freehold, hills rising into mountains lying immediately to the north-west. In the valley of Caledonian Creek there are some good lands no great distance up from the road-line. Further up the creek high stony terraces and broken hills formed of " Old man bottom " form the rocks within the middle part of its valley. 106 GEOLOGICAL EEPORTS. Gold-workings are carried on in Baxter's Creek, lying between Moonlight and Caledonian Creek, in Slaty, and other smaller creeks ; but the number of European miners is small. There are some thirty Chinamen engaged within the valley of Caledonian Creek. In this valley it is more than possible that the " Old man bottom " will at places afford gold in such quantities as will enable the working of these gravels on a large scale. Block XCI1I. This block is one of a group of four lying between the Punakaiki River and the Ten-mile Creek, north of Grey- mouth, having a frontage to the coast-line of two miles and a half, and is of irregular outline ; it extends inland to and includes the source of the Ten-mile Creek. This and Baker's Creek are the only streams of any consequence within the block. Its area is 9,000 acres. There are no lands fit for settlement within the block, the whole of it being, though not reaching greater heights than 3,600 ft., excessively hilly. Gold-mining is carried on on the beach at and near high-water mark, and one man is supposed to be working in the upper part of the Ten-mile. The Upper Ten-mile is not easily reached by prospectors, more especially from the coastward side ; and hence it is that a valley, within which there are great possibilities as regards quartz reefs, cement at the base of the coal-measures, and alluvial of recent date in the beds and banks of the creeks, has not been sufficiently prospected. The Upper Ten-mile and the north- west source of the Blackball, both their valleys and the surrounding ranges, should be carefully prospected for gold-bearing reefs. Block XCIV. This lies immediately to the north of Block XCIII. It has a frontage to the sea of fully three miles, and along its north boundary it extends inland for seven miles. The south-eastern boundary-line is somewhat irregular. The block contains an area of 7,500 acres. For about a mile back along the coast-line the ground is low and swampy. All the other parts of the .block are mountain- ous, and there are no lands fit for settlement except immediately aback of the beach, where there is but a narrow strip, or along the foot of the hills, where a slightly broader belt of improvable land is met with. Mining on this block is chiefly developed along the foot or lower slopes of the front hills, the Barrytown Lead extending north and south throughout the block. Gold is also worked in Fagan's Creek, in which valley rich specimens and patches of gold are found. It is strange that no gold has ever been found in Granity Creek. The next considerable stream to the north, Canoe Creek, has been ex- tensively worked, and its gold, partly derived from the reefs in the range between its upper part and the sources of Moonlight Creek, and partly from the destruction of the Barrytown Lead, has, where more McKAY. South-West Nelson and Northern Westland. 107 accessible, been worked out. The lower part of Canoe Creek, how- ever, lies in the next block to the north, Block XCV. The beach throughout the frontage of the block is gold-bearing, and, although repeated washings have gradually diminished the percentage of gold to be found in the black sand, there are still a number of miners engaged in this special form of gold-mining. The Barrytown Lead is an old raised beach corresponding to the 200ft. level black-sand leads to the north towards Westport, and south as far as the Hauhau lead, near Kanieri. At Barrytown the lead consists mainly of moderately coarse granite shingle, &c., and black sand is no distinguishing feature of it ; but that it is of marine origin and corresponds with the black-sand deposits to the north and south is beyond doubt. A great deal of gold has been obtained from this lead, and good wages are still being made by those having water- rights and holding ground on the lead. Many of the miners, however, believe that the swampy plain between the foot of the hills and the sea is rich in gold, and rich because it is thought that the creeks, breaking through the lead at different points, scattered a great deal of gold over the adjacent flat. This being evident, many of the miners think that were they assisted to bring in a tail-race or sludge channel there would be a revival of mining at Barrytown, and a return of the old days. There can be no doubt that a great deal of gold washed out of a once continuous terrace has been carried on to the low grounds of the swampy tract between the front hills and the sea ; yet, though this may be admitted, it has not been shown that the operation of the carrying forward of the gold has not resulted in a dispersal rather than in a concentration of the precious metal. There are many reefs in the back or inland parts of the block, and these give every indication of being gold-bearing, and they should be prospected more than they have been. Block XCV. This lies on the coast-line immediately to the north of Block XCIV. It has a frontage to the sea-coast of rather more than three miles, and extends inland, or east, from the coast four miles. The block has an area of 7,500 acres. From the beach for a mile and a half, or back to the foot of the hills, the ground is swampy. Though possibly this part might be drained, any improve- ment of this kind would be effected at great cost. These remarks apply with equal force to the block immediately to the south. The area of the block east of the foot of the hills is generally mountainous. Gold-workings are at the present time confined to the north con- tinuation of the Barrytown Lead, and now and again one or two parties on the present beach. There is a good deal of speculation amongst the miners respecting the cutting of the tail-race proposed to intersect the swamp between the hills and the beach, it being an 108 GEOLOGICAL REPOBTS. ^ impression na\ , a firm belief amongst them that the greater part of the gold once held in the Barrytown Lead is lodged in the swamp. This, without question, is to a certain extent true, but whether all that is anticipated as the result of this work would be realized may be doubted ; since it is possible, and even probable, that the re- arranged auriferous gravels mixed with other creek gravels will prove less concentrated as regards the gold than the original deposit in the Barrytown Lead. Block XCVI. This lies immediately to the east of Block XCV. Its length is three miles and a quarter north and south, and its ex- treme measurement in an east and west direction is four miles. The area of the block is equal to 6,500 acres. The whole surface is excessively mountainous, and rugged in the extreme. There are no lands fit for settlement. A large part of the area shows Maitai slates at the surface, consequently reefs and creek gold may be found over the greater part of it ; but such are the difficulties of prospecting that but few people, it can be said, have any acquaintance with the block. The north-east part lies within the limits of a coalfield, extending from the head of Bullock Creek, across the mountains, to the Grey Valley Watershed, as has already been described. (" Geological Report on the Grey," and " Buller Valleys and the Paparoa Range " : See " Mining Reports, 1895. ") There is no settled population, miners or others, on this block at the present time. The geological map accompanying includes the area of Northern Westland, examined during 1893, and as it stands represents the district of Northern Westland and the greater part of the Grey and Buller Valleys in the Nelson Provincial District. It also shows the areas reserved for mining purposes within the same districts, as those were prior to The arbitration on the claims made by the Midland Railway Company. The map and sections therefore illustrate this, and the foregoing report on the Northern District of Westland. 18th August, 1897. ALEXANDER McKAY. By Authority : JOHN MACKAY, Government Printer, Wellington. 1897. so.