and silver 56.8 to 39.4. Yet, some alluvial gold from the latter district was 22 carats fine or 91.66 per cent, the reason of which is not very apparent, unless we may suppose that the ore contains some silver which the mercury used in amalgamation picks up along with the gold. The gold from Otago Westland, and S. W. Nelson is valued at £3 15s. to £3 17s. 3d. per oz. ; from Collingwood and Marlborough, £3 10s. to £3 13s.; and from Auckland, from £2 5s. to £3 3s. Yield of Quartz.-In the prospectuses issued by the promoters of gold mining companies, it is very common to give statements of the yield per ton of quartz, and from the analyses made at the Colonial Laboratory at Wellington many startling bits may be culled. As many credulous investors have had reason to learn, a few ozs. or pounds of picked specimens no more make a valuable and paying mine than one swallow makes a summer. However as curiosities in their way the following may be cited. Quartz from a lode at the Thames gave 1335 ozs. to a ton, a micaceous rock from Cromwell 23 and 30 ozs., Iron Pyrites from Dunedin 70 oz., Quartz from Lyell 71 oz. The average yields per ton for the three years to 1881 are This compares very favourably with Victoria, where the average yield for 6 years from 1874 to 1880 was 10dwts. In New South Wales in 1879, the average yield was 1oz. 5dwts. per ton. Production. The importance of the gold mining industry to this colony, may be appreciated by the fact, that from April 1857 to June 1882 the exports of gold have amounted to 9,910,210 ozs. of the value of £38,666,278, an average per year of £1,531,337. Of late years, this average has not been reached, the export in 1881 being valued at £1,080,790. In March, 1881, the population of the Gold Fields was 57,107, 11 per cent of the entire white population, and 15,063 were actually engaged in mining; while the value of the plant employed was £429,314, and the expenditure on over 5000 miles of water races &c., tots up to a million and a quarter more. Tenure of Gold Mines.-Subject to regulations, there are open more than ten million acres of Crown Lands, on which miners have the right to search and mine for gold, and to occupy whatever portions they may select for purposes of mining or residence. For these privileges, they are required to pay one pound per head for miners right, and one pound per acre for ground occupied on mining lease, with some nominal fees for registratiou of water rights and other mining property. Administration.—The Acts, amendment Acts and amended amendment Acts, passed for the regulation of gold mining in New Zealand are very numerous, and stand in need of consolidation and codification. Since the Act of 1877 a departmental office under the Minister of lands, has been established at Wellington, and has under its control all officers on the Gold fields, including the Wardens of each district, Receivers of Gold Revenue, Mining Registrars and others, and is charged with the maintenance of all Government constructed water races. Future Prospects. About two thirds of the gold now produced in New Zealand are derived from alluvial deposits, but reefing is becoming more general, and certainly contains the elements of greater permanency than alluvial mining can be expected to afford. There is plenty of stone yet unworked, as rich as that which yields good results in Australia but which dear labour and a difficult country, prevent from being profitably worked at present. The great want is better means of communication to open up the country, and facilitate transit, and so cheapen the present heavy costs of mining, and there can be no doubt that this would give a great impetus to an already very important industry, and render it the source of permanent benefit to the colony. SILVER. Although a notable quantity of silver is produced in New Zealand. it is all found either as an alloy with gold, or in galena. Small fragments of native silver were obtained in the diggings at the head of Wakatipu Lake, in 1864, and at Waipori, and the Colonial Museum contains a specimen of Argentite, which came from the Silver Crown Claim at the Thames. A specimen procured from Grahamstown was an argentiferous ore associated with auriferous quartz, and, by amalgamation, gave 22 19 ozs. gold alloyed with 70 ozs. silver, and a further 309 ozs silver, which was probably in the state of a double sulphide of silver and lead. A vein of silver lead occurs in Ohio Creek, Thames, and in a gully near the hot springs on the West face of Te Aroha mountain is a known silver lode, but little has been done to prove its value. 20 In Collingwood, at Richmond Hill, there is the most important discovery of silver yet reported. In 1875, a sample from this place was sent to the Colonial laboratory, to be examined as an Iron ore, but proved to consist of Sulphides of Lead, Antimony, Copper and Iron, and gave 185 ozs. silver to the ton. It was taken from a vein crossing the Parapara river, about five miles above its mouth. The country rock is gneissic schist, and the lode is from 20 inches to 2 feet wide, carrying a rib of solid compact ore from 3" to 7" thick in a gangue of quartz, and some chalcopyrite, yielding 150 ozs. silver to the ton. The centre rib is a new mineral, a variety of Fahlerz oi Tetrahedrite, for which the name Richmondite has been proposed. It is of massive subcrystalline structure, brittle, cleavage irregular, color black or reddish, streak dark slate, H. 4.5; S.G. 4.317; fuses with intumescence at a little under red heat. Mr. W. Skey gives the analysis as-Sulphide of Lead............36.12 and states the formula to be. Sb2 S8 +6 (Pb.Cu. Zn. Fe.Ag.)S. The formula of Fahlerz is (Sb.As.) S8+ (Cu Zn. Fe.Ag.)S. Explorations were commenced which shewed the lode to be well defined, but the ore was patchy, and in depth became a mixture of iron and lead sulphide. the galena giving from 21 to 163 ozs. silver only, whereas the Richmondite had yielded from 100 to 1,792 ozs. The results were not considered such as to warrant the commencement of systematic mining operations with any prospect of profit, and the works were closed, and at latest advices so they remain. Dr. Hector, writing in 1881, attributes the failure to the want of power drills. In Westland, at Mount Rangitoto, 20 miles south of Hokitika, there is a lode 10 inches thick, cropping on the face of the mountain, at the junction of the granite and slate, and carrying pyrites and argentiferous galena. Considerable excitement was caused in the colony by the publication of assays of this ore, which stated the contents of silver to be 735 ozs. and 392 ozs. per ton, and on these a company was projected to buy and work the property. The colonial analyst, Mr. Skey, thereupon procured authentic samples. from the lode, but could only obtain 43 and 45 ozs., and from subsequent samples, only 7 to 28 ozs. These results were borne out by those of Professor Bickerton, Christchurch, of Mr. Isaac Lewis, Westland, and of the Royal Laboratory, Harzer Smelting Houses, Germany; and Mr. Skey deserves credit for having by his prompt and praiseworthy action in the matter, saved the pockets of the investing public, and prevented a rude blow being inflicted on the legitimate development of Colonial mining. COPPER. The most abundant and important ore of this metal is the double sulphide of copper and iron, known as copper pyrites, Cu. Fe. S2 * which, when pure, contains about 34 per cent. metallic copper. It is usually found so mixed and * Gu. 34.45, Fe. 30.57, S. 34.98. interspersed in the gangue of the lode, that it is more economical to treat the stuff without incurring much expense in dressing to a high per centage, Cornish ores being seldom dressed to more than from 6 to 8 per cent. metallic copper. Of less, though still considerable, importance, are native copper, copper glance, cuprite, and crysocolla. Copper in all these forms exists in New Zealand. In Auckland, at Kawau, the earliest discovery was made, a mine being opened in 1842, on a well defined lode 8 feet wide, which was worked to a considerable extent. The ore was copper pyrites, which yielded at first 16 per cent. but fell afterwards to 5 per cent. It was shipped without selection, or any attempt at concentration, and after about 2000 tons had been extracted, the mine was abandoned and has never been re-opened. At Great Barrier Island the Otea Mine was worked for some years in a breccia lode carrying copper pyrites with some carbonates and black oxide, assaying The mine was opened 24 to 28 per cent. metallic copper. by a local Company, and then passed into the hands of an English Company, who erected very costly machinery; but after producing 2,323 tons, this shared the fate of the Kawau. Dear and scarce labour and fuel are the causes to which these failures are attributed. In Nelson, at Dun Mountain, the Maitai siates rest upon serpentine, which passes into Dunite, an olivine rock, closely resembling Lherzolite, and in the serpentine numerous irregular pockets of cuprite and native copper have been found. So long ago as 1856, a consignment of these ores was sent to England, and resulted in a Company being formed to work the mines. It is said the capital of the Company was frittered away, without any systematic exploration of the ground being made, but there does not appear to be any evidence that any true lodes exist in this district. One thing is certain, the operations of the Company were unsuccessful, and the mines have been closed and abandoned for many years. Quite recently, a Mr. Newport has been prospecting the ground, and discovered several outcrops, but nothing, |