2,6 
Mines and Mineral Statistics. 
the last ten or twelve years. The principal line of reef now 
working is the Ahetoria. ~ Upon this four companies are steadily 
at work, the chief of these being tlie AVilliams and the North 
AYilliams. The outcrop of this reef was found very near the 
crest of the lofty hill which overhangs the town of Adejong on 
the north, and it has been sunk upon to a depth of 530 teet. 
No water has been encountered beyond ordinary surface soakage 
that can be kept down easily without jjumping. G-ood stone is 
now being obtained at this depth, and I saw some good stone 
sent up from the bottom of the shaft of the AYilliams Company 
that would probably go five or six ounces to the ton. I w'as 
however more especially pleased at seeing in the North Williams 
the first approacli to a systematic nuxle of working the reefs. In 
this reef the stone is atoped into trucks, the trucks are run along 
the galleries on to cages, are scJit uji without shifting the stone, 
are run from tlic cage on to tramways, from which they ti]) their 
loads into the heaps for which tlicy are intended. The hill on 
which the shafts are situated is very precipitous, and tlio crushing 
machines being worked by water powei’, lie at the foot of the hill 
in close proximity to the creek. There is thus some difliculty in 
making a tramway from the shafts to the mill, but in the case of 
the AYilliams Company this has to some extent been met by the 
construction of a tramway fi’om the mill to the more precipitous 
part of the hill, down which it is proposed to deliver the stone 
by a shoot. The Noadh AVilliams Company have taken up a dam 
and a race site, and intend shortly to erect crusliing machinery 
of their own in such a position as to allow of a tram to be run to 
it. The eight-hour system has been introduced here, aaid the 
men consequently work three shifts in the twenty-four hours, the 
■work being continuous night and day. The yield from the stone 
throughout, since these reefs were 'first opened, lias averaged a 
very little under I ozs. to the ton, tliough at present the stone 
brouglit to grass barely comes up to the average. A gentleman 
who is very intimately connected with gold-mining in the district, 
and has an interest in looking after tlie pay sheets of the various 
companies, lias informed me that from the number of men em- 
ployed, if the gold sent by Escort from Adelong falls below 700 
ozs., mining in that district does not pay, that being about the 
amount required to cover wages expenses. I believe my informant 
to be pcrlectly trustworthy, but it would require a longer experi- 
ence of the held than I possess to pass any opinion of my own 
upon the subject. The main alluvial workings upon the Adelong 
Creek are now cai’ried on at Shepherd’s Town and Graham’s 
Town, the tormcr throe and the latter five miles from Adelong, 
on the road to Gundagai, The Graham’s Town workings are 
turning out a very good amount of gold. There are some ten 
claims taken up upon a rich patch of ground which was opened 
