348 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION C. 



to increase the output in very little more than 12 months 

 from 45 tons to the above. Up to this time it was all uphill 

 work, as the improvements in the different faces were very 

 slow, and the hopes of the Brown Face had not been reahsed 

 then ; but this event was close at hand, with the result that 

 the output of the mine reached 250 tons for the first time in 

 August, ] 877 ; and I may confidently say, never in the 

 history of tin mining- has this quantity been produced per 

 month with such limited appliances as we had at our 

 command at that time. Shortly after that I started new 

 dressing-sheds, still keeping the old ones at work. 



At the mine everything went on well ; the number of 

 sluices had been increased from 4 to 30, and afterwards to 

 32 ; reservoirs built for water storage purposes, &c. ; and, 

 although we had at that period to all appearances an 

 enormous supply of washdu't, I knew that it could not last 

 for ever, and therefore it was necessary to provide ways and 

 means for any change of this kind, so, with the consent of 

 my directors, I erected additional crushing power, in the form 

 of a 15-head battery, on the upper floor, which was com- 

 pleted and started to work on the 10th September, 1879. 

 Later on this was supplemented by a 40-head battery at the 

 bottom of the Waratah Falls, and just below the former 

 sheds. The preparatory works in connection with Avhat is 

 now called the 60-head battery was by no means a small 

 job. The ground had to be cleared and excavated, and then 

 it was necessary to face the whole of the cutting or parts 

 excavated with a substantial wall set in cement, so as to form 

 a support for the upper sheds and the precipitous basalt cliff' 

 running all along the river, which is in reality only a floating- 

 rock resting upon clay. The foundation of this wall is in 

 places six teet and over in thickness. 



The whole of this additional machinery was not finished 

 too soon, as before I could start the 40-head battery some 

 difficuhy was experienced to keep up our fixed output. But 

 this was not all, for with additional crushing power we 

 required also additional water power, and by this time we 

 had already found that the River Waratah was not large and 

 constant enough to supply all the powei- required, and it 

 became therefore necessary to look round from where to 

 secure the additional supply required. I consulted with my 

 directors about ways and means, and, after a lengthy consul- 

 tation about steam v. water and an examination of the 

 surrounding" country, it was at last decided to give my pet 



