UP till about six years ago, an ore-pass on the South Mine, Broken Hill, N.S.W., was constructed in one of two ways: in the timbered stopes, of a square-set lined on the outside with 10-in. x 2-in. oregon, and inside with 10-in. x 2-in. stringy-bark ; and, in the open stopes, of 6-ft. 10-in. x 10-in. oregon, joggled 2 in. both on upper and under side so as to form a cribbing, with 2-in. openings between each piece when put together. The sketches (Fig. 1) illustrate the designs. As anyone can imagine, neither design could be relied upon as a permanent provision. In the square-set chute the lining boards cut out rapidly, especially where the use of side-tip trucks caused excessive local wear, and they also came off frequently, through failure of the spikes. Repairs were common, therefore, in consequence. Even where 10-in. x 4-in. stringy-bark liners were used in place of 10-in. x 2-in. the troubles did not vanish, although they were minimized. In the open stopes, on account of the softness of the oregon, and the horizontality of the grain, the wear was very pronounced, and unless the ore-chutes were placed very closely together they failed when the back had reached a height of 50 ft. or 60 ft. from the sill.