THE NEW ZEALAND COURT AT THE MELBOURNE EXHIBITION.

Waikato Times, Volume XVI, Issue 1334, 18 January 1881, Page 3

THE NEW ZEALAND COURT AT THE MELBOURNE EXHIBITION.

The Border Watch speaking oi New Zealand says : — We have to do now with what has been described as the second edition of the British Empire. New Zealand, although the most heavily laden of our colonies with debt, can still hold her own at this Exhibition of the world's resources. For she sends strong proofs — hand to hand proofs— of her being able to supply the world when the time comes. One of Sir Julius Vogel's greatest schemes— and, by the way, it may be mentioned that Sir Julius Vogel was the founder, at once, of all New Zealand's prosperity, and of her present depression — was the construction ®f a railway from Cluistchurch to Little Hokitika or Greymouth. That was through the old road which led past the scene of the Maungatapu murders, but it was also through a country which Sir Julius contended wa3 then full of the choicest and best paying of the earth's minerals — such as gold and coal. Through some cause or the other, now forgotton. Sir Julius was unable to carry his plan through the small continent of which he was, at one time, the almost emperor. Nevertheless, aince then, Sir Julius Vogel's predictions of the pioliflc character of the country through which the railway would pass have been more than verified. Nothing could show this better than the fact that on the Grey River itself discoveries to the amount of 140,000,000 tons of coal have been made in one mine, another diboovery has disclosed over 300,000. As a matter of fact, it would seem this coalfield covered an extent of about 30 square miles. Nor is the colony less rich in iron oi es, for almost every description of the ore has been discovered in the country. Copper finds a place, too, in its products, so does lead, zinc, antimony, and manganese. There are few who will not remember the great discovery of mineral oils in America, by which many colossal fortunes wore made. New Zealand claims in this lespectto have as great resources as those of the States. She points to Taranaki, to Poverty Bay, and to Manatah, Waiapo, and East Cape, to tell her story. But New Zealand carries us along with | rapid strides, and such rapid strides till i she makes us pause to consider how long I she has come into the markets of the world. If our memory serves us rightly, in the year 18G2 the then so-called Town of Dunedin was a very hamlet, and particularly countrified at that. Never mind, over that quiet hamlet there came the blast tiumpet, tongued by hungry diggers' mouths ; the fabulous sums of gold had been fonnd at a place then known as Gabriels Gully, and fiom that out the destinies of Now Zealand were shaped for greatness. It would be bootless to follow the history of her progress at a period like this. The piogrrss of the Middle Island speaks for itself. The little Scotch settlement in Otago )s the fourth largest city in Australasia, and railway-) intersect the Middle Island horn ono end to the other. Lesser Britain claims to be rich also, and, no doubt, with justice, in basalts and dioritie«, trachytes, granites and crystalline schists, limestones (frcehtono in part) and sandstone, which is estimated as freestone altogether. The visitor will be better able to judge of them by taking notice of the magnificent collection Avhich has been prepaied for his delectation by Dr Elector. To show what the resources of the colony really are, however, it may bo hero mentioned that, ft oin the date of the passage of the Immigration and Public Works Statute in 1870, to the 31st December, 1878, L 12 ,652,739 weie spent on railways, roads, and bridges, &c. The latest return from the lailway expenditure showed that the receipts per mile in 1878 were L 555 15s. Bd., against an expenditure of L 475 9s 8d. — by no means a bad interest one would say, on the money borrowed from the old country. New Zealand is lioh in foiest trees. The Kauri-pine is the finest tree in the country, and it attains a height from 120 to 160 feet. Cedar, black pine, white pine, red pine, yellow pine celery-leaved pine also abound, as will bo seen by the exhibits. Birch, tea-tree, ivy, &c. is also well represented. The Pukatea tree attains a height of 150 feet, with a buttressed trunk 3 feet 7 inches in diameter. Its wood is soft and yellowish as a rule, but a variety of the tree has dark-coloured wood that is very lasting in water, and greatly pruod by the natives for malting canoes. The visitors to the Exhibition will turn possibly with some show of wonder to the display of mineral waters mado iv this court ; but they will not be so surprised when they learn that New Zealand is singularly rich in sjn'ings of water that hold mineral salts in solution, and that a reputation lias been ah early gained for them by their medicinal properties. Both hot and cold springs are found, the former being, with* few exceptions confined to the districts of the $or th Island, where volcanic forces have been active during the latest tertiary period, and are not yet altogether dormant. A few thermal springs are found to escape from the upper mesozoic rocks, in localities where the source of heat can only be attributed to chemical decomposition of bituminous matters and sulphides, and, in a few instances warm watei'3 spring from palaeozoic rock formations in the South Island.

The trade between Japan and the United States via San Francisco this year is the largest of any year in our history. China offers to refer questions to arbi> tration. A Rapid Telegbaph Tbaksmttter.— At a recent meeting of the Society of Telegraph Engineers there was exhibitsd an American invention which it is claimed will transmit and receive signals at the rate of 1000 words a minute. The apparatus consists of a paper-puncher for perforating slip, which is afterwards passed through a transmitter. The transmitter — a manual machine — sends electrical currents through the line wire, which are received by two styles working upon chemically prepared paper. A newspaper article of 1133 words was passed through the machine in fifty-seven seconds, and it has been known to transmit a? many as 1588 words in a minute. Of course the transmission is here recorded independently of the time taken to "set up" the message at either end. A Eailway Sinking.— Under the heading, " Another Sinking Eailway," the Scientific Amerioan relates the following : — " An addition must be made to the list of railway submergences printed in this paper some months ago. One day last summer a strip of .railway, S rods in length, near Ravenna, Ohio, suddenly sank, leaving in its place,, a pond,- out of which flowed a sfepeain,,, c the, size of a barrel,' bearing large immbers of wMto shiners, suWfisV.and,, took bass, Gravel, r%6 the amount oi 4000 loads, was thrown into ,tbe opeßangsjuidsa new bed made for the ■road; but~the>work wub inp sooner ooin-,pleted;thau,ifcfoUowed-,the original part xq. $9 eajne mysterious oavity." •