A SOLDIER'S FIND.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 December 1915, Page 8

A SOLDIER'S FIND.

AMBERGRIS, OR WHAT? Recently a find which may prove to be ambergris wa3 made on the seashore some little distance along "the coast from Island Bay. If the material proves to be ambergris, the finder should be enriched to the extent of several thousand pounds sterling. The discoverer is said to be a Mr. Smith, who is now being trained in one of the military camps. There is some uncertainty about the nature of the find. Two experts in chemical analysis' have been requested to make tests of the material, but the result of their analysis is not yet available. In any case, chemical analysis need not prove finally whether a thing is or is not ambergris (according : to one local authority). One of the experts to whom the problem has been_ referred told a Dominion representative that lie has an open mind on the subject. He is prepared to be convinced that it is either ambergris, or that the luck of llr. Smith and his associates is not so good as they hope. The stuff is rather new, and a decision may be made with greater case and certainty after some little lapse of time. However, an opinion which carries weight with one of the analysts is that of an old whaler. The old man is reputed to have never made a mistake about ambergris, and lie gives it as his unqualified opinion that it is the real thing—ambergris worth thousands. It seems that frequently there has been great uncertainty about similar discoveries, and the matter has only been decided by sending a sample to one of the big Continental manufactories, which use large quantities of it. A few years ago a New Zealander made a find which all the experts in the country (except one) swore was not ambergris. The one exception sent a sample to France, and received a reply that the factory would take as much of the material as was procurable, at a s\vm stated. He forwarded the communication to the address of the finder, who had a large quantity of the material, but from that day to this the investigator never heard more of the party who picked up a fortune in a casual stroll. It is supposed that he packed his kit for Prance, to convert his ambergris into gold. Another instance of the uncertainty about ambergris is the fact that a bank once paid out on a big find, and when attempting to market the stuff was told that it was not the real thing.— Dominion.