KAURI GUM DEPOSITS.

Westport Times, Volume IV, Issue 663, 26 May 1870, Page 2

KAURI GUM DEPOSITS.

Formerly immense forests of kauri covered a large portion of the northera part of the North Island, which, in course of time, have been largely consumed by fire, and the rosin or gum of the kauri, in liquid state, descended to the roots of trees, deep in the ground, where it has remained buried for ages, and is now dug up in large quantities. This article, as a varnish is in great demand, and as valuable as copal, extreme fine quality fetching as high as £l2O per ton in the London market.

For some years the kauri gum trade has been one of the most important and prosperous of our local industries, and as a source of wealth little inferior to a goldfield. A large native population is employed digging gum, who are, from their indigenous habits, pursuits, and local experience, very expert in perceiving where this undeveloped treasure is to be obtained, and are more dexterous than the settlers in digging it out of the ground. A royalty of £2 per ton is frequently given for permission to dig gum on private property, and large tracts of land of very inferior description are now rendered valuable from the quantity of gum which it is supposed to contain. The quantity taken out of the ground in some places is so large as to appear marvellous and some of the specimens are beautifully transparent and amber-coloured. Except to a very limited extent, and for a certain description of ornaments, the gum is not used for any purpose in the colony, and is only valuable as an article of export.

The large quantity exported from time to time appears mysterious, but the sap or gum of the kauri descends in a liquid state under the bark of a healthy living tree, and, penetrating to the roots underground, escapes from its original habitation in the tree, and is lodged in the earth, where it soon, by some process, undergoes a change, and is from the action of the cold ground, condensed into gum. In this way a continual supply of gum is in progress of formation, which can never be exhausted until the forests cease to exist. It is, therefore, of great importance that young kauri trees should be planted occasionally, in order to preserve a tree so valuable, not for its timber only, but for the annual supply of gum which it produces. It is no exaggeration to state that there are ten millions of kauri trees growing in a healthy condition in our forests, and each tree on an average will produce 1 lb weight of gum annually, which would be 5,000 tons collectively, and, valued at £SO per ton, would amount to £250,000.

It would thus appear that, from this source alone, a quarter of a million sterling is added to tho wealth of the colony every year, without any cost of production, anxiety, or labor on our part, and without in any way

exhausting the source from whence such boundless wealth is derived.— Extract from Historical Sketches in JSTew Zealand.