open
pit sinking was no longer feasible even for the richest claim-holders.
About four million cubic yards of reef had been hauled at a cost of
nearly £ 2,000,000, yet there was no check
to the reef falls and slides. At the close of the year the Inspector
of Mines reported that " only about fifty claims had been regularly
worked during the past year." The field for the operation of individual
claim-holders was decisively closed. The only hope for the mine was in
the prosecution of deep and extensive underground works by the
combination of claims in hands able to conduct such operations success-fully.
In
advance of such an undertaking the yield of the mine was fortunately
sustained by an expert makeshift. Mr. Edward Jones, a trained mining
engineer, had been one of the leading contractors for the removal of
reef, and had given close study to the problem of the continuance of
the extraction of blue ground. Through his design and insistent
confidence, in spite of all doubts and sneers, a shaft was sunk through
the mass of fallen reef at the bottom of the deepest part of the mine
by lowering a square timber frame and shovelling out the loose rock
from the inside of the enclosure. The frame was constructed in sections
on the plan of a coffer dam, adding section to section from the top
until a stout timber shaft passed entirely through the broken shale and
entered the underlying blue ground. The shaft was then read-
