OUR QUICKSILVER MINES.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VI, Issue 269, 27 March 1873, Page 8

OUR QUICKSILVER MINES.

(From the " Southern Cross.*') Our readers will remember that for some time past an occasional reference has' been made to the quicksilver mines in the Buy 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 been found, from the Native owners, for a period of one hundred years. The terms of the lease are favorable to the Natives, ; they receive a royalty" of twenty-.fi ve per cent, upon all the produce of the mine or mines, after paying working expenses. Liberal provision is also made both for the Native owners and the lessees in the event of towns springing up on the 4,000 acres so leased. The name of the block is called Te Ngawha Tuhakino. The ground has not been passed through the Native Land Coi^rt^ but this is to h&doqe. im-

mediately, and we hope that no longer time will be allowed to elapse before vigorous efforts are made to develope 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 payable industry in our midst. A large quantity of quicksilver is used in the province upon our goldfields, and this is likely to be considerably increased in the future rather than diminished, owing to the future development of the goldfields. Mercury has been found in this dis\ trict since 1866, and on the 10th October, 1870, Captain F. W. Hutton 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 mercury and cinnabar have been found.

The London correspondent of the " Dundee Advertiser " writes :— " I hear that a new system of housekeeping has been introduced amongst the highest circles of the aristocracy, the practice of which effects very consider-, able gain to the ducal and princely incomes, and has also the merit of preventing servants from becoming too „ soon aud enormeusly rich at their masters' expense. In short, the arrangement is that the master contracts with the steward to furnish the table at so much for each person, whether guepfc-.^ or member of the family. Under this plan the country houses of the aristocracy are converted into so many hotels ; and though it may not be very satisfactory to the guest to know that he is boarded after this style, he has at least the consolation of knowing that it is a material saving to the pocket of his host. It appears from the "New York Tribune " that the best cure for animals is apples. Two cows in an advanced stage of illness, have, it ia stated, been entirely cured by apples. A horse, given over by the veterinary surgeons, and turned out in a field to die, got across to an apple tree, ate what he wanted, aud immediately showed signs of improved health. Hia owner, acting on the hint, fed the beast daily on a peek of apples, and in a week " you couldn't buy thafc horse for 100 dollars." Three cows were seen tied up in a barn " mourning for something." They were given half a bushel of apples which they eagerly consumed, and ceasing their lamentations took peaceably to their hay. Some interesting experiments to test the value of apples for milch cows have also been made, and been entirely successful. The '• Courant," an American paper, says " that a large cow, somewhat along in years," feeding exclusively on summer pasture, and producing four wine quarts daily, was. on the l&t of August, put on a diet of four quarts of apples night aud morning. The quantity was increased until at the end of the week she was eating a bushel of the hardest, sourest windfall apples each day. Such was the effect of the apples as to bring her produce of milk from four to rather more than six quarts per diem, Another cow, by means of half a bushel of apples night and morning, gave 14 quarts of milk. Similar experiments with other cows like happy results, and although in this country we have not apples enough to make dumplings for ourselves, yet, this plan of feeding cattle with apples and curing them of diseases by that diet, is well worth tl I^-' attention of rich owners of stock, and young veterinary surgeon's » at a loss for novelties might make fortunes, by starting the " apple cure." A good deal of prominence has latterly been given to the preceedings of a religious sect bearing the peculiar appellation of " Shakers " Mr. Hepworth Dixon has not thought it beneath his dignity to sojourn among 2k. people known on the other side of the Atlantic by this descriptive title, and the dwellers in onr own metropolia were not long since favored with a series of articles published in a popular journal, detailing the rites of this singular body. But none of these descriptions have come anything near the account furnished by an individual giving the name of George Pullen, who, in a letter which was read in the Westminster Police-court 'the other day, furnishes the following details of a " Shakers " meeting at which he was present: — "I was an eye-witness of the disgraceful Shakers on Sunday night, and it is a blasphemous scene, not anything like worshipping God. They are jumping about, kissing each other, and. shaking their stomachs together ; then the women go off in a faint, and they are put into a man's lap. He begins kissing her and rubbing hands, and she,, recovering, begins to jump again. The style of prayer is — "O Christ Jesus," "Lord God Christ is coming," " Jesus Christ is sending his Holy Ghost in us." The Rev. Mrs. Gurling does not preach at all. The members do the " estempo '* as they go oft jumping, and if a fewof your men go in private clothes they will see I have told you the solemn truth." It is just possible that George Pullen may be a fictitious personage, and that, the graphic production from which we have quoted may be a piece of imaginative composition ; but if there be any truth in what is here stated it is time that the. Shakers, should be looked after by some of the constituted, au.thoritiejS.— v sp. oifcam^Rj'*-