The Alleged Mineral Discovery in the Wairarapa.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4427, 25 May 1893, Page 3

The Alleged Mineral Discovery in the Wairarapa.

Mr A, W. Hogg, M.H.11,. lias re- : ceivtd the following report on the supposed.mineral discovery in the Wairarapa district from Mr 11, J, 11. .. Eliot't, Under-Secretary for Mines : Sir,—As directed in your memo of 13th intt,, I pl.ic d myself in com'w. munication with Mr Hogg, M.H.11., ■ 5 and bjr arrangement with thatgeiule-- ; man on the 17th inst. I went to Featherston where the prospectors were ' supposed to await my arrival. The' .prospectors, West and party, were absent in Masterton, and it was no: ■■ till the following morning that a start .. could bo made to the locality of the ■ find. The bill, so called a mountain of iron ore, is eleven milts below Ft-s----tberston, and two or three mi'»i back .. from (westward of) the weilern shore of the Wairarapa Like. 1 passed over the higher part of the mountain . to its western base and saw nothing that might tend to. the belief that a valuable discovery had been made; The bulk of tho so called irou ore was jasperoid slate. The eo called gossan of a lode snppoßc^S < {ii)icrop oh the top of tbe%igowus a stray piece of cherty quartz, in which were imb d ied somo iron; pyrites in an advanced state of oxidation. I could not waste time on such'discoveries aud therefore requested to be shown the locality where the galena and zinc ble: ds bad been obtained. This, Im i old, lav further back into the. ranges.towards; the source of the principal creek draining into this, part of the U'siiar«pa Lake,- I was anxi.«u» to obtiin a sample of tbe. alluvial galena, anil, though getting rather late, we started for the creek wherein it was said to be found. After a time we reached the main stream which was followed . down for some distance. Whenl made . further inquiries as to the locality of ■■ the lead ere I was informed that while sampleß; occurred in tbe bed of this stream thebest samples were toba obtained from the bed of a tributary stream that lay to tbe north-east, •separated from where we then wert •by a high bush clad range. I mado no further. enquiries but depended •on being voluntarily shown what, wo bad travelled so far to find, but though we carried the means of prospecting the creek, hot a prospect was tried. Aftera bard and fruitless walk,we again arrived A road leading, along tnTvestern side of the lake, and the same evening returned to ; I'eatherston.. Next day I returned to Wellington,' Tbe results of this trip have not been.satisfactory, : The department have been pijt to some cost ■ nnder the pretence that an important discovery had been made, No outcrop of any ore was shown to mo, and I was asked to believe, that ordinary jasperiod slate constitutetU good iron ore. Tho galena and zinc blends have jiot been shown to exist in connection,' •but it is somewhat a remarkable circumalanco that.no attempt was made to prove to me that these ores did not actually occur as stated, in the alluviums of the district. —1. am, etc., Alexander McKay.

Appendix to report on a-suppessd mineral; discovery ■ in the Wairarapa I District, Wellington; j I found tho rocks of the dis.trijt of. considerable interest. The general dip is to the west at considerable and high Tho grey chertz and ja.parnMKt's' indicate a continuance of the wltpf ■counlryfin'-which the: Mahsrabara Copper. Mine ia situated, As amatter of fact copper doesoccur in small quantities associated with more ferruginous recks, A sample collec* ted by me- yielded 1,63 per cent of. copper. A percentage of lime occurs in most of the rocks present, especially in the green ash beds, that underlie tho red jasperoid rocks, and in tho dark slaty shale.yet lower :in. the section. ■■ In these latter limestone occurs in modules and concretionary masses, a Bampio of which , yielded 58.92 of cilcie carbonate.. The general, dip indicates asjuclinal ■ arrangement of the strata between tho part of this range and:where the jasperoid rocks cross the railwayijne on the west side of the range Belowthe flummit. This shone that tho ferruginous rocks belong to a dehnato horizon which may be traced on loth sides of the range. Aui McKai.