GENERAL EXTRACTS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IV, Issue 54, 6 March 1869, Page 2

GENERAL EXTRACTS.

PRECIOUS STONES. Among other precious things which Mr Verdon took away with him from the colony was a collection of precious stones, which has been submitted to the practised eye of Mr Harry Emauuel, the wellknown jeweller of London. Mr Emauuel ; has furnished a report . respecting these stones, which certaiuly ought to assist in directing the attention of the miners and others in this colony to the importance of cultivating a knowledge of the characteristic of the minerals. He writes — ' The examination I have made has confirmed me in the opinion long entertained, that Australia must soon rank among the diamond-producing countries, and that j the reason why this has not yet occurred is that the riches of the mineral kingdom have not been looked after by practised eyes, and perhaps also because there has been no immediate market in the neighborhood of the places where they have been ! discovered, and consequently no temptation offered to the miners to combine the search for them with that of gold.' Mr Eraaauel refers to the value of some of the stone found in Australia, and says that the search for these, if they are to be met with here in the same proportion as formerly in India or the Brazils will prove infinitely more valuable than gold-digging. The difficulty is for the gold-miner to kaow when he comes across

a diamond* sapphire, or ruby, that he had really found an object of price. Their 1 rustic beauties are not to be known at a glance. Delicate and brilliant as they appear after passing through the educating hand of the lapidary* they ar£ homely enough when reposing in -their nativb black sand or quartz* Mr Emanuel gives one simple test readly available by anyone finding some suspicious bits of quartz, and anxious to know if they are of value. It is to touch the specimen with an ordinary Sheffield file. If the stone Can be filed, it is not precious. If the file slides off it without cutting, the specimen has a commercial value to be determined by other tests. Some of these are' pointed but ia. the report*, Although brief, it contains a vast amount of interesting information^ which if made known to the working miner may result in discoveries of importance to the colony. — AustraiaslcLni Feb. 6.