52 
box was put in, and the shaft sunk to a further depth of 11 feet. It was thou decided to sink with an iron 
shaft, a description of which I forward to the department, on the 22nd July, 1883. Sinking was resumed 
and the iron shaft pushed through the drift 21 i feet; then they commenced to clean and pump the water 
out, also timber and centre at the same time, but at a distance of G feet from the bottom a boil took place, 
and filled the shaft 13 feet up. The sinking was discontinued for a time, and a 2 ft. lOin. tube pressed 
down in the eastern end of the shaft, with a hydraulic ram, to a depth of 33 feet 8 inches below the iron 
shaft. Owing to the drift boiling from the bottom, with 12 feet of sand in and 30 feet of water, it refused 
to travel with a pressure of 80 tons. A bore was then put down 6 feet below the tube without any change. 
The total depth of drift proved was 64 feet 8 inches. They then put six hydraulic rams on the iron shaft, 
and pressed it down 2 feet 6 inches, when it refused to travel. The company then decided to call for sinking 
of the shaft. A party of contractors undertook to sink it to the bed-rock in four months. They com T 
menced operations on the 17th of March last, by boring out an opening (6 feet x 3 feet) in the west end of the 
shaft and 16 feet from the bottom of same, then put in a water drive a distance of 7 feet. Then they 
decided to sink the west end of the shaft with an iron box, |in. thick, 6 feet by 4 feet in the clear, and 3 feet 
deep, and at the samo time placed a pine tank (capable of holding 600 gals.) in the east end of the shaft to 
pump the water from. While two of the men were forcing down the iron box with the screwjacks, and 
when the iron box was about 5 feet 6 inches from the bottom of the iron shaft, the drift commenced to boil, 
and rose between 7 and 8 feet, or 2 feet above the top of the small shaft, which had been sunk 6 feet 
6 inches. Work then stopped, and they reported to tlio directors of the company that they bad decided to 
abandon their contract. The company then decided to abandon the shaft, after having expended £30,487 in 
sinking and erection of machinery, &c. The company then decided on boring with the diamond drill. The 
first bore was put down 375 feet 6 inches, which proved 42 feet drift not bottomed. The second bore 
bottomed at a depth of 411 feet 9 inches without drift. A site for a new shaft was then selected, and 
operations commenced, and it is now down 120 feet. 
Hydraulic Ram at the Mine of the Madame Berry Company , No. 2.—Mr. 
Inspector Meekison 1ms furnished me with the following report, dated 15th November, 
1884, respecting operations at the Madame Berry No. 2 mine :— 
The sinking of the shaft was stopped when the company struck the drift, and it is to he continued 
through the drift with cast-iron tubes. I weut down the shaft to see the preparations they are making for 
forcing the tubes down with a hydraulic ram. The size of the shaft from surface is 14 feci G inches long 
by 4 feet 6 inches wide, down to where the ram is to be applied, where it is widened out to 11) feet 6 inches 
long, by 9 feet wide, by five sets of timber 12 inches by 10 inches all bolted together. There are two malle¬ 
able iron riveted girders, 19 feet long, fixed under the bottom set of 12-iuch by 10-inch timber ; they are 
3 feet G inches in depth, and 1 foot G inches wide, and weigh 6 tons 15 ewt. each. Under them are fixed two 
cross girders, also malleable iron riveted, 8 feet 10 inches long, 2 feet 4 inches in depth, and 1 foot 6 inches 
wide, weighing 2 tons 10 cwt.each. These are fixed in the east end of the shaft for the first tube. There 
will be three tubes put down, two for winding with, and one for pumping. The ram will be boiled under 
the cross girders and will he stationary, the case of the ram travelling down when the pressure is applied, a 
sufficient distance to allow the 6 feet long tube to he put under the case, when it is run up after pressing 
down one length of tubing. The ram is fixed 40 feet, above the drift, and down above top of drift is fixed a 
wooden frame the size of the tubes, to guide them down plumb, and the top of tube being bolted to the ram, 
will keep that part in its proper position. The girders are to stand a pressure of 300 tons each, and tlio 
tubes are made in four segments, with planed joints and flanges inside, and bolted together, and the joints 
are to be filled with cement. The horizontal joints have turned inside flanges with bolts ; all the materials 
and workmanship are strongly and substantially done, and no expense lias been spared to make the sinking 
of the shafts a success. 
Hicks and Harris' Improved Caisso?i for Sinking in Alluvial Drifts. —This 
box or caisson (invented by John Hicks and Thomas Henry Harris of Ballarat) has 
been designed for tlie purpose of facilitating the sinking and timbering of shafts 
through alluvial drifts. It is constructed of iron and wood, and consists of a rect¬ 
angular box, the sides of which are made up of a number of wrougbt-iron piles and 
whose interior measurement is large enough to admit of the shaft slabs or timber, and 
whose depth is sufficient to allow of men working conveniently therein (say about 
eleven or twelve feet). It lias no top, and its bottom is formed of a series of wooden 
hoards of the same width as the vertical piles, and which boards are seated on ledges 
and fitted on the piles and held down by suitable pins or keys. The two vertical 
piles at each of the four corners are riveted to an angle iron, and in these corner piles 
holes are provided to receive eye-holts to which is secured the ends of the adjustable 
cross tie rods which prevent the vertical piles from opening out or spreading apart 
from one another. Three strong wooden frames are placed inside of the caisson, made 
smaller than the interior measurement of the box, so as to allow of wedges being 
driven to keep the piles forming the sides out to their proper position, and also to 
allow of the frames being easily lowered when the wedges are taken out. The two 
lower frames are suspended on the vertical rods, which are supported at their upper 
end in temporary sets fixed in a suitable position in the shaft above. This rod also 
passes through the uppermost frame, but the frame is seated on the ledges provided 
for said purpose on the vertical piles. Another series of ledges is placed at a 
convenient distance below those last referred to, against which second series the screw- 
