drying, a double handling would be necessitated before sending it to the bricking machine. If, however, the slime could be allowed time to dry sufficiently in the trucks, bricking by machinery would probably be preferable. Rather more than 10 per cent. of smalls is made in handling the lumps in and out of the railway trucks, and this is, as already noted, worked up with water in a pug mill at the sintering works, and used partly for covering the heaps with slime to exclude an excessive amount of air. The balance is thrown out and cut into bricks, as already described. At the heaps the lumps are at present being thrown from one man to another to reach their destination in the heap, but the sidings have been laid out in duplicate with a view to enabling traveling cranes to be used on the line next the heap, the lumps to be loaded primarily into wooden skips fitting the trucks. It is probable, however, that the lumps will require to be handled out of the skips into their place in the heap, as the brittle nature of the material may be found to render automatic tipping impracticable. A considerable saving in labor would nevertheless accompany the use of cranes, which would likewise be advantageous in loading the sintered material. In order to reduce the inconvenience arising from fumes, length is very desirable in siding accommodation, so that heap building may be carried on at a sufficient distance from the burning kilns. It is for the same reason preferable to build in a large tonnage at one time, lighting the heaps altogether. As the heaps burn about two weeks only, long intervals intervene, during which the fumes are absent. In the experimental stages of slime roasting, fuel, chiefly wood, was used in quantities up to 5 per cent., and was placed on the ground at the bottom of the heap, where also a number of flues, loosely built bricks, were placed for the circulation of air. The amount of fuel used has, however, been gradually reduced, until the present practice of placing no fuel whatever in the bottom was arrived at; but instead less than 1 per cent. of wood is now burned in small enlargements of the flues, under the outer portion of the pile, and placed about 12 ft. apart at the centers. This is found to be sufficient to start the roasting operation within 24 hours of lighting, after which no further fuel is necessary. As regards the dimensions of the heaps, the width found most suitable is 22 ft. at the base, the sides sloping up rather flatter than one to one, with a flat section on top reaching about 7 ft. in hight. As there is always about 6 in. of the outer crust imperfectly roasted, it is advisable to make the length as great as possible, thus minimizing the surface exposed. The company is building heaps up to 2000 ft. long.