OUR QUICKSILVER MINES.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1379, 31 December 1872, Page 4

OUR QUICKSILVER MINES.

[southern ouoss.] Our readers will remember that for ■some Jime past an occasional reference has boen made to the quicksilver mines in the ,Bay of Islands district. We learn that they are in a fair way of being turned to some account. Mr John White, of this city, formerly long connected with the Native Department, has just succeeded in leasing the land upon which the springs are where the mercury has bee v found, from • the native owners for a period of one hundred years. The terms of tho lease are favorable to the natives, they receiving a royalty of twenty-five per cont. upon all the carriage of the mine or mines, after paying working expenses. Liberal provision » also made both for the native owners and tbe lesfiecr in the event of towns springing up on the 4000 acres bo leased. The namo of the block is called Te Ngawha Tuhakiho. The ground has not yet been paesed through the Native Lands Court, but this is to be done immediately, and we hope that no long time will be allowed to elapse before vigorous efforts are made to develop the mineral wealth of the district. The area of ground leased is large,

and the currency of the lease is of ample length to secure a liberal investment of capital to speedily render the speculation a paying industry in our midst. A large quantity of quicksilver is Tisedthen :n Province upon our gold fields, and this is likely to be considerably increased in tho future rather than diminished, owing to the further development of the gold fields. Mercury has been found in this district since 1866, and on the 10th October, 1870, Captain F. W. Button read a paper on the subject before the Auckland Institute. The mercury is found in a series of small valleys which are connected with each other. It is in these valleys where the springs arise in and near which the mercm/ and cinnibar havo been