OUR MINERAL WEALTH.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1713, 2 April 1913, Page 7

OUR MINERAL WEALTH.

31ARVELLOUSLY ENDOWED. ' (By .Telegraph.—Siiecial Corrcsuondent.) • Auckland, April 1. When tho Empiro Trade Commission sat ii the south,, evidenco was given which :o a great.extent discounted tho value of lie mineral resources of the Dominion. V resident of New Zealand for the past !6. years, 1 .Mr 1 .. M. B. Peak, had a,n intcrrfew with an Auckland reporter for tho lurposeof protesting against the decrying if this country's assets. "It is not true," said Mr. Peak, "and ;hat is why J am objecting to the evidence liven, whicu caused Sir Eider Haggard x> gather the impression that instead of laving valuable mineral resources, New !ealand is merely a mineralised country. ■ have had a lot of experience 'irn mining, md hare no hesitation in declaring that few Zealand, is one of tho most niarvelously endowed mineralised countries in lie world, in proportion. to ite sizv. Take copper, for instance. I should think tho vitness before the commission had never leard of the.Aniseed Valley deposit. There :h'e lodes are large, and in some, cases' :arry very high values. Yet it lies idle, ind is likely to remain nnworked if such statements as those made before the comuissiou are allowed to go uncontradicted, [have also no'.hesitation in saying that layable cinnabar exists in various parts if the Auckland district.. At Puhipuhi, 'or instance; where a Gisborno syndicate ire carrying on operations, I am told ;hero are already some .30001b. of quicksilver estimated to be in sight. . Cinnabar ilsq exists on the Ttanraki Peninsula, and I am at present tracing soino in the near ,-icinity of Auckland. For my own part, [ believe New Zealand to bo one of tho lig-gest cinnabar countries .in the world, t claim also to be able to demonstrate that ilatimim exists within 1000 miles of tho :ity, and us for gold and silver, the past returns from' tho Hauraki' Peninsula speak for themselves. Just at present natters in milling are quiet, but that is *nly temporary. • The precious metals vill be found lower down. We must not orget that, many years ago a high authorty stated that the gold in Australia was inly superficial, but actual practice had since demonstrated that story to be absolutely fallacious. As to petroleum, that vitness was also pessimistic before the lommksion, but oil exists in various parts if New Zealand, and to my own knowedge in the Auckland district."