Shafts. — There are two shafts, each 22 feet in finished diameter, and a staple pit.

The north shaft, which was commenced on January 25th, 1910, has reached a depth of 280 feet, the first 60 feet being boulder-clay, and the remainder strong broken limestone. The shaft is lined for a depth of 160 feet with 18-inch concrete walling, and for a further depth of 93 feet with cast-iron tubbing. The delivery drift is at a depth of 147 feet, being 15 feet above water-level.

The south shaft, which was commenced on October 31st, 1909, has reached a depth of 258 feet. The strata, shaft-linings, and drift-levels are identical with those in the north shaft, with the exception that the cast-iron tubbing only reaches a depth of 230 feet. In this shaft heavy feeders of water were encountered at a depth of 250 feet.

The staple pit, which is 9 feet in diameter and 180 feet deep, is used for drawing material deposited in the delivery drifts and catch-pit, as shown ia the sketch, and for supplying water to a three-throw electric pump, which delivers to the works and village.

Boilers. — Steam is supplied from six Lancashire boilers, 32 feet long and 9¼ feet in diameter, working at a pressure of 170 pounds per square inch, each boiler being fitted with a super-heater. The water-softener, which is capable of treating 10,000 gallons of water per hour, is supplied with steam from an exhaust main, which obtains its supply from the south pit pumping-engines and the boiler feed-pumps.

Sinking-plant. — This consists at each pit of a sinking engine, two ground crab-engines, each with a pair of drums, a 30-ton main crab-engine, and a light jack engine. A Schiele fan supplies both shafts with air.

Pumping-plant. — There are four sets of 30½-inch bucket-lifting pumps in each shaft, hung in pains on the ground crab-engines, so as to balance each other. The dry spears, of 14-inch square pitch-pine, are carried down the shafts for a distance of 117 feet, at which point they are clamped with an oak spear to the wet spears, which are also of pitch-pine, 12 inches square. The ground spears, which carry the pumps, are again of pitch-pine, 11 by 8 inches, and are hung from the ground crabs with 1 5/8-inch flattened-strand non-twisting ropes. All the spears are in lengths of 36 feet. The pumps deliver into the drifts (as shown in the sketch), the shaft entrances of which are 24 feet in height and 12 feet in width, and this allows of their being lowered 18 feet before it becomes necessary to add a length to the rising-main. At present, with the sinkers at work, 13,625 gallons of water per minute are being pumped from the two pits.

Pumping-engines. — Each pair of pumps is worked by a tandem compound engine, with cylinders 21 inches and 36 inches in diameter respectively by 5 feet stroke, and a fly-wheel weighing 14 tons. The engine is provided with helical gearing, having a ratio of 3 to 1; and driving-discs on the second motion shaft, with three crank-pin holes, enable the stroke of the buckets to be altered to 4, 5, or 6 feet, when necessary.

Concrete-mixing Plant. — This plant consists of two crushers and a half-yard Ransome mixer, driven by a vertical engine, together with a haulage-engine for drawing material up from the beach.