THE GREAT EXHIBITION.—MINERAL PRODUCTS OF THE BRITISH COLONIES. [from the "Times."]

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 610, 18 February 1852, Page 4

THE GREAT EXHIBITION.— MINERAL PRODUCTS OF THE BRITISH COLONIES. [from the "Times."]

Our British Colonial Possessions, to which we now conduct the visiter, have not been remiss in their res* ponse to the call of'the Royal <GomniissioQ ; and while we do not observe that minute and methodical care in selection and arragement of the specimens which the exhibitors of the parent country hare evinced, we are struck, on the other band, with the vaatness of the supply which is hers displayed as offering camples of | the infinite resources of the British empire, to which when skill, capital, and industry shall hare been applied, the result will necessarily be a steady increase in our wealth and commercial power. Generally speaking, we may look upon the samples thus exhibited as indications of a resource to be discovered, or of a field of industry and wealth to be met with, rather than as expositions of such resources brought into operation, or such industrial field developed. Thus, for instance, when we speak of the coalfield of Staffordshire, we indicate a district exactly defined in its territorial limits, and exactly calculated as to its productive capabilities; but when we advert to the coalfield of Borneo or of New Brunswick, where <is the limit 1 What is the extent or quality of the several productive veins! 'lime and opportunity have not yet been allowed to explore with that combination of the skill and the successive corrections of generations of explorers which enables us comparatively in these 'kingdoms to define with exactitude the capabilities of our mineral districts. The Indian collection of minerals has been originally selected with a degree of care which has not been continued by those who had the charge of its arrangement in the Exhibition, and owing to this circumstance much of the interest is lost which would be felt by the inquirer in ascertaining the precise locality and application of the numerous specimens of native earths and ■tones which have evidently been sent with the intention of informing us more fully as to the peculiar products of these distant but wealthy districts of our empire. Coal is exhibited from Burdwan, from Borneo and from Labuan, and the importance of possessing local deposits of this mineral for the use of our steam navigation in the Indian Archipelago cannot be too highly estimated. We see no specimens of this valu* able fuel from the interior of India, and our manufacturers may gather from this circu-nstance additional assurance of the continuance of their supply of the Indian market with those varied fabrics of which steam is the handmaiden. Iron is shown both in ore and in manufactured state by the Indian Iron and Steel Company, of Beypore ; Arcot and Salem are the localities to which these ores are referred, and the illustrations of pig, bar, wire, and cutlery are very creditably put forth; but as we perceive that charcoal is placed at band to illustrate the fuel used in manufacture, we presume the cost of the articles must exceed materially that whib similar specimens would bear in this country. Some fine specimens of common talc are exhibibited in a case to which neither number nor catalogueindex is given. Some specimens of antimony appear in the cases; this mineral is employed chiefly in medicine, and in the mixture of type and of Brittania metal. '1 itanium is also exhibited; and although this metal has not, so far at we know, been yet applied to the useful arts, we think its property of extreme hardness, combined with its lightness, will give it a favourable place as soon as means shall have been found to render it less brittle. Copper ore and gold dust are exhibited from Borneo, but not in such appearance as to enable us to hope for extensive or profitable supplies. Tin from Malacca and Banca is exhibited in a shape far superior to the generality of products from these regions; it is understood that the richest and most extensive tin district in the world exists in the Malay Peninsula, for a length of nearly 1,200 miles, and that the mines' are comparatively unexplored and unwrought, while at the 6ame time we have experienced, during some years past, serious competition from their produce. We do not understand these specimens to come from territories under the dominion of Great Britain, although exhibited by the East India Company, and classed under colonial possessions. Let us hope, therefore, that our miners and smelters will be equally stimulated to improve in their respective processes of cbymical and mechanical appliances, sure as we are, that if we can thus' attract raw material and convert it by our skill and industry into articles for general use, we shall take the safest and surest course for retaining our miners as well as our artizans in a proud pre-eminence, A beautiful and extremely varied collection of agates and opals, both rough, polished, and cut into various ornamental and useful forms, will be found in tbe Indian department on the north Bide of the nave, and near them are numerous specimens of pewter vessels and of iron articles (chiefly for domestic use) inlaid with silver work. Tbe ingenuity displayed in all these articles is of that description which indicates the low value of the time of the artizan. The general view of specimens before us ia this departmant of the Crystal Palace is such as to lead to the conclusion that there is a field in India for profitable employ of Anglo-Saxon energy and skill combined with capital in the wide field of mineral wealth, of which only outlines or fragments are here presented to our notice. Why is that field not more efficiently explored and cultivated ? Crossing tiio nave of the building from India to

Ceylon, we slmll search in vain for the precious .stone; and chalks promised us in the rntalogup. Nothing if the lapidary s department from tins fine inland has mad< its appearance, and we presume the wealth of the sur face id thus far sufficient to employ the skill of its po pulation without penetrating further. Ceyjon has however, sent us ipecimens which may hereafter fora a basis for her industry, but at present, and for mnnj years to come we imngine that her wealth will be uV rived from the climate and surface of the soil, rathei than from the more hidden respurcps beneath it. Then are, however, some promising elements in her spathic and magnetic iron ores, and her manganese, plumbago, and tin ores, which, when population begins to press on her agricultural resou ces, will attract notice, and produce new stores of native wealth from whence wt will hope the Cingalese may learn to attain comfort and contentment under English rule. Jersey and Guernsey have s<>nt "us nothing indigenous but gray grnnite, and its relatives, syenite, gneiss, greenstone, and hornblende, and some steatite or soap stone. The grnnites of the«e islands are remarkable for their closeness and uniformity of texture, which imply durability. Steatite may be seen to greater advantage in specimens from Canada and the parts of Europe which will be hereafter noticed, but aa this in the first inst-nce in which (according to the order of the collection) it occtrs to the visitor, we may state it to be a mineral rock of the magnesian family, of grayish or greenish gray colour, and having a peculiar soapy feeling, it is used iv the manufacture of porcelain, and also for polishing stones and glass. The lonian Isles have sent one small specimen of coarse marble. We fear that British rule has not been here so paternally directed as might be. Malta has been less indolent, but knowing as we do that building stones, excellent in quality and, some of peculiar rarity, are to be found in the Inland, we regret to see its exhibition confined to ,- Mosaic" work. The samples exhibited in the ornamental slabs show some remarkable marbles, lapis lazuli, ..coral and malachite, whether the last be indigenous or not the' 'description does not inform us; but enough appears in these mosaic slabs to show that there is a mineral, wealth in this island which may be turned to account. The Cape of Good Hope has sent us a few rough specimen!, of brown iron ore, without any attempt at a scientific description of its yield, location, and properties, and some lumps of apparently good lead ore, which have the appearance of having been scraped from the surface. Cakes of coral and oyhter shells, showing a remarkable mass of lime in their substajce, complete the Cape collection. We imagine that until fuel is found at band all these minerals must lie dormant. Canada affords us a pleasurable view after passing through the scanty shows of the above-named British possessions. The minerals of Canada, although, as we before observed, only typical of that which is to be, yet show bravely for the present, and the care with which they have been arranged tells creditably for Mr. Logan, of Montreal, and some others, who have mainly taken the burden of contributing. Iron ores are exhibited in the varieties >of magnetic, specular, hydrate, and chromic. The extent of territory over which these ores are found is considerable,' and with fuel abundant and water-power at barfd, w*' can see the element of a steady prosperity for the ironmaster in Canada to that extent which bis proximity to jlhe home demand will allow. Copper, lead, -zinc, manganese, and plumbago, are each exhibited in weM-aelected specimens, and their localities severally pointed out, extending from tbt eastern townships below Quebec and the Cbaudiere, a little above that city, to the neighbourhood of Lakes Huron and Superior, wkich two latter districts appear to us as likely to become the great mining regions of tbat portion of North America. In continuing our notice of the mineral products of the British colonies, we shall request our readers to walk out of Trinidad into New Zealand, in preference to skipping with the official catalogue at once to Aub. tralia. Albeit in her very infancy, New Zealand has sent us some interesting specimens, which betoken well for her futurity. Lignite, bituminous coal, anthrac te, limestone, cement stone, building stones, iron orea, and various copper ores, form her mineral contribution to the aggregated samples of Britannias wealth. The iusular position of New Zealand renders it probable that her minerals, when developed and worked with that skill which is likely to be brought to them, will be more readily available for transmission to various quarters where they are in demand than those produced by continental dotiritries ; and if the energy of her settlers keeps pace with that which has been, at work to show us samples'of their natural • stores, we augur tbat they will quickly rival older regions in their skilled products from the ibineral kingdom. The Bermudas have sent no contribution to the mineral department, excepting a sample of pumicestone. Seeing t><at the people of these kingdoms have contributed several hundred thousand pounds to the buildings and fortifications of Bermuda, we think some officer of the Government might have been sufficiently alive to our interest in the subject to send us a collection of the building materials on which' we have expended such large amounts. The Australian continent is rich in specimens. Though we have no sample of the recently discovered gold, we have splendid samples of copper ore from the j Burra-Burra mines, the richest now known in the world. The proportion of copper seems to run from 30 to 70 per cent, in these ores, whereas iv the Cornish ores the proportion is only from 7 to 8 per cent on the average. This mine has raised about 56,000 tons of ore during the last four years, being as much in quantity as any one of our first rate mines iv Cornwall, and in quality fully seven times as rich. During live years' working the produce of the mine has realized about 60 times the amount of the capital originally invested to set it to work. The vast distance of this mine from any smelting establishment has rendered it less profitable than it is likely to be in future years, when the sraelting-houses recently erected near the spot shall have come into full opera* tion, for which purpose the proximity of coal is essential : we do not observe any Specimens of this fuel from j the same colony, [The nearest locality exhibiting coal ' is the colony of Fort Phillip, which is distant some hundred miles from Burra-Burra, and, until a strong and cheap, fuel can be brought into complete une at the smelting-bouses, the niunufactur« of copper will most likely remain with the copper houses of South Wales. The specimens of blue carbonate of copper in this division are especially worthy of notice. South Australia exhibits a display of opals unequalled in any other aection. The varieties are upwards of forty in number. This precious stone is of the family of quartz rock*, but when pure it will often exhibit a bright variety of colours, and is then so much valued tbat in small bulk it has been sold at the same price with diamonds of equal size. s ' A fine sample of beryl, lying in quartz, is exhibited, and some good marbles, chalcedony, and hone stone. Jade is here to be seen — a tough stone, of which savage tribes form their edge tools and war axes. We would draw attention to the samples of granite-with beryl, and gneiss with beryl, each of which exhibits, in marked and distinct characters, the component parts •f the parent rock. Western Australia exhibits coal, from Swan River, porcelain clay, garnets, crayons, some very fine lead ore, and some copper ore. We bail these, favourable iudications for the future ; they erince the element* from which industry will raise wealth, when the spread of population shall have cleared away the difficulties of pioneering in a new settlement. Van Diemen's Land exhibits to advantage under the guidance of her active governor, Sir W. Denison. The Douglas River coal is a useful sample, and there is also some lignite ; these coals are represented as traceable over a large area of country on the east coast of this island, and, if they can be easily worked, will no doubt prove a most valuable property at some not very distant day. Some fine calcareous grit stone is sent, and is described as in common use locally for filters. Plumbago, of fine quality, appears from Norfolk Plains, and is said to be a recent and accidental discovery. Granite, porphry, and limestone are sent as samples of the useful rocks ; the limestone from the river Mersey appears particularly strong in quality. Iron ores, both magnetic and clay ironstone, alternating with coal, are samples of excellent promise. Manganese ore and galena or lead also appears, and the specimens of topaz, ochres, and chalks are worthy of attention. Numerous specimens are exhibited of aqua marina or beryl In pebbles, and a sample of greenstone, with impressions of ferns, rarely to be met with. We here come come to the end of mineral contributions from tbe British Colonies, and in passing onwards, as the series of the catalogue directs us, towards 'the American department, we may stop to examine, in the central or main avenue east, a magnificent crystal of quartz, the property of the Duke of Devonshire. The height of this specimen is about 2 (eel, and its width about 15 inches. We may compare it with tbe minute quartz crystals of the American collection, and we shall see cause to admire tbe wonderful regularity of the laws of nature which form the giant crystal and its pigmy brother f too small to be detected witbbut the microscope) into surfaces and converging planes of invariable character, and set towards each other ft angles m precise as those of the gwrnetricuw. '