Page:Transactions NZ Institute Volume 15.djvu/622

516 in serpentine, reported to have been brought by the Maoris to New Zealand from Hawaiki, presented by Major Wilson; (5) two Maori carved walking-sticks, purchased; (6) twenty samples of pottery from South Sea Islands, presented by His Excellency Sir Arthur Gordon; (7) Hindoo holy writings, deposited by Miss Woodward.

Amongst the miscellaneous articles lately received are—(1) silver seal of the Colony of New Zealand, defaced by Her Majesty in Council, presented by the Hon. the Colonial Secretary; (2) seal of the Province of Wellington, presented by the Government Storekeeper; (3) collection of timbers, economic vegetable substances, and casts of twelve famous nuggets, etc., in exchange from the Technological Museum, Melbourne; (4) specimens of quartz from Te Aroha, presented by the Hon. the Minister for Mines and Mr. J. C. Firth; (5) eight glass show-cases used at the Crystal Palace Wool Show, presented by the Hon. the Colonial Secretary; (6) map of Wellington in 1841, deposited by the Hon. W. B. D. Mantell; (7) iron pipe made by Mr. P. Birley, of Auckland, deposited by Mr. W. Swanson, M.H.R.; (8) one gold, two silver, and two bronze medals awarded to the colony at the Crystal Palace Wool Exhibition, presented by the Hon. the Colonial Secretary; (9) portrait in oils, known as the "Molesworth Portrait," deposited by Sir W. Fitzherbert.

During the past year Mr. Cox has been engaged for three months, from January to March, in an examination of Cape Colville Peninsula, more especially at the mining centres of the Thames, Coromandel, Waitekauri, Owharoa, Waihi, and Te Aroha. The most important results which he has obtained, lie in his determination of the stratification of the rocks at the Thames. He has shown there that the beds of the auriferous series consist of alternations of a moderately hard, compact, pyritous, tufaceous sandstone (tufanite of Dr. Hector); with less pyritous beds; a similar rock, which is, however, much broken up into pieces by joints; and a hard green dioritic rock, which is of true fragmental origin, but which, passes at places into crystalline bands which are never continuous for any great distance. It is in the first of these that the reef has proved most highly auriferous, and while gold does occur in them while passing through the second class of country, they are not as a rule payable, and where the reefs traverse the hard rocks, they are absolutely barren. He has shown that several of these hard belts occur, and that where they are met with in the lower levels of the mines, the gold is cut off by them, but that other belts of auriferous country occur below, in which reefs have been worked. His work generally tends to show that, so far from the Thames being worked out,