“TE-WAI-POUNAMU.”

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 9, 15 May 1913, Page 3

“TE-WAI-POUNAMU.”

0 SACRED , NEW ZEALAND STONE. The green jade stone (pounanui), which is found only in one place in the world;, in the rugged mountains’ near Greymoufch, west coast of New Zealand, Is being turned to marketable account by a company largely compost'd of Sydney investors. The Maoris in the early days made armaments and weapons of this precious stone. For very many years nothing has been done to make uso of these very valuable deposits, owing to the great difficulties experienced in transporting the stone over the mountains to a port of shipment. Recent developments which have taken place, however, would seem to indicate that an important/ industry is being added to New Zealand’s output by the aid of Sydney capital. Mr G. A. Julius, of Sydney, consulting engineer to the company, who has just returned from a visit to Westland, furnished some interesting particulars of the company’s operations to a Daily Telegraph reporter. “The company,” he said, “is installing a very complete plant for the quarrying work, and for the transport of the greenstone, as well as of serpentine, the latter, of which samples are available in Sydney, being suitable as substitute for marble in the decoration of buildings. Its particular suitability lies in the fact that whereas marble can only bo used for inside work—where it is not exposed to weather conditions—the serpentine can be applied without any risk of deterioration in places exposed to the severest weather, as it is entirely unaffected by high temperatures or water. In regard to the greenstone, very large quantities are now used, particularly in Germany, for decorations in all forms, or trinkets and jewellery. In the past such stone has almost entirely obtained in the beds of rivers, to which points it had been washed in bygone ages from its original position high up in the surrounding hills. This supply is rapidly being exhausted, as it is rare now to find greenstone of good quality in the river beds.

“At the present time, although the transport arrangements are far from complete, the company is shipping two boulders of pure greenstone to Germany, one weighing over If tons, and the other over three-quarters of a ton, almost immediately, these boulders being in such position as to be readily got out to the transporting machinery. The plant the company is installing will consist of electro-pneumatic quarrying machinery of the latest type, and will be situated on the main serpentine outcrops on the top of the Griffin Ranges, some 4500 feet above sea level. With this machinery the serpentine will be quarried chiefly in rectangular blocks, and will be transported to the fpot of these ranges by means of an aerial rope-way about 8000 ft in length and dropping 3500 ft. This will be one of the most interesting rope-ways in Australasia, it being capable of carrying single loads of two tons, one of the clear spans being over 2500 ft. in length. The country over which it passes is extremely rough and quite impossible for any other forms of transport. At the foot of this rope-way the company is installing a power-station, in which electric power will be generated at, 2000 volts, such power being transmitted by suitable cables up to the quarry, where it is transformed to a pressure of 415 volts and used for operating the ropeway and the quarrying machinery. From the foot of the rope-way the company has constructed a road some two miles in length, including a steel bridge over Lynch’s Creek, one of the typical New Zealand torrents, this road* terminating upon the main Ghristchurch-Kumara-road at Wainihinihi. The company has obtained from England two steam tractors capable of carrying a load of 10 tons, and these will be employed in conveying the stone from the foot of the rope-way at the head of Lynch’s Creek down to the railway line at Kumara Junction, from which point it will be railed to Greymouth, and thence shipped direct to Sydney, “The demand for nephrite—that is, the true New Zealand greenstone—is steady. The stone fetches a very good price, and there is no doubt that it can readily be disposed of in Europe, and also in the East, where it is regarded as a sacred stone. The serpentine. of which large quantities are available, is of varying colour, chiefly in shades of green. It is extremely handsomely figured,and should undoubtedly prove of great value as a substitute for marble for internal and external decoration of buildings. The company has realised that the undertaking can only be made a commercial success by installing the most modern and efficient labor-saving machinery, both for the quarrying and transportation of the stone, owing to the high rate of wages in New Zealand, which precludes any possibility of hand-quar-rying or transport. Various local . bodies on the west coast of New Zealand are affording the company every facility in regard to transport over roads and bridges The work of the company has been considerably retarded owing to the extremely bad weather which has been experienced on the coast for many months past, but operations have now reached such an advanced stage that bad weather will not in future materially affect development. Great interest is being taken in the undertaking by prominent New Zealanders, many of whom hold investments in the company, whose directorate is situated in Sydney. ”