Miscellaneous.

It is no exaggeration to say that iron exists in boundless profusion, also coal and lime. In a volume published in 1879, by Mr W. N. Blair, C.E., on the Building Materials of Otago, the various occurrences of iron ore are referred to and compared with similar ores of other countries. By a series of comparisons Mr. Blair shows that the European ores vary from 23 to 70 per cent., and the New Zealand from 35 to 70 per cent. He (Mr. Blair) has seen iron made in Victoria from New Zealand ore, and considered it superior to Lowmoor. In New Zealand there is a deposit of bog ore, estimated to contain 53,000,000 tons of ore. There is only one deposit of true black band yet discovered, and the extent of the field is 12 square miles, with a field of coal at hand, estimated by Dr. Hector to contain 50,000,000 tons. Captain Hutton in his Geology of Otago, page 118, says, "Very good clay iron ore exists near Tokomairiro, and as limestone and coals are both found in the immediate neighbourhood, and a railway runs through the district, the conditions are very favourable for an iron foundry, providing the ore can be obtained in sufficient quantities." The question of quantity has not yet been determined. While capital cannot be got to work such valuable ores as copper, antimony, &c., there is not much hope of iron smelting being tried for some time to come, especially in the face of the disastrous attempt to operate on the Taranaki iron sand, although had the same amount of capital and perseverance been directed towards the smelting of any of the ordinary ores, we might not have been at present importing a single ton of iron. In the Colony of Victoria, where the circumstances are not nearly so favourable, they produce their own iron for ordinary castings.

The marble deposits of the Province are also described by Mr. Blair. At page 26 he says, "Mr. Pyke has forwarded from the Dunstan District samples of beautiful white marble, the slabs of which are quite translucent like alabaster."

Although I have only dealt with Otago, it is not the only Province where minerals exist, as Westland, Nelson, Auckland, and the island of Kawau have mineral bearing rocks, and with the constantly increasing demand for metals, they cannot remain long unnoticed. Hitherto the Government has not given sufficient encouragement for their development.

The Geological Department, under the able management of Dr. Hector, has done good work with the small means at its disposal, but we cannot look for much improvement until the representatives of mining districts agree to work harmoniously together for the common cause, and insist on the portfolio of Minister of Mines being held by one of themselves, and not, as at present, by a farmer, who is no doubt very anxious to act justly, and has done more than many of his predecessors; still his training and natural sympathies are not favourable to the miners.

It is true that we have a School of Mines, with its Professor of Mineralogy, established at great cost, but through some hard and fast arrangements made by the Government or the University Council, the services of the professor are certainly not utilized to the full advantage. When the Mining Conference, held in Clyde in 1874, agreed on the motion of the writer to ask the Government to establish a School of Mines, and employ a professional mineralogist, the intention was that the services of the professor should be employed in visiting and reporting on the various mining districts—giving advice on mining matters generally, and by this means diffusing much needed knowledge and assisting to avert the mistakes, accidents, and losses that, through ignorance, are constantly occurring in connection with the mining industry. It was never contemplated that the money granted should provide only for class-teaching, but there is no vital reason why students wishing to study mining and mineralogy should not get the benefit of the Professor's teaching and still the wishes and the necessities of the miners be attended to. As the University is open only six months in the year, good work could be done in the field during the other six months. Professor Ulrich, P.G.S., is quite competent to do all that is required. He came to this Colony with the very best credentials, having done good work in the Colony of Victoria, where he resided for years. He was honoured and respected as a most useful all-round mining geologist. The arrangement and classification of the thousands of mineral specimens in the great hall of the Technological Museum, Melbourne, are monuments of his industry and genius, and it is to the regret and serious loss of this community that his valuable time, talents, and acquired knowledge should be monopolised by a few students, who in the nature of things cannot be of much service to the present generation of miners.