276
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

ville's Island. The character of the ores met occupied in New Zealand the place filled by
with there is quite the same as in the Dun the muschelkalk in Europe.
Mountain.

I will add a few words about chromate of I have described now the formations of the
iron. This mineral is an ordinary accom- higher ranges of the province. Before leaving
paniment of serpentine rock, and occurs in them, I will observe that they possess an
the Dun Mountain in great force. Of its extraordinary interest for the botanist. Dr.
commercial value I do not feel myself quali- Monro and Dr. Sinclair have brought from
fied to speak; but, should its value be con- those regions specimens of the greatest in-
siderable, the abundance of it is so great that terest, and new to science. And a large
it must prove a source of much wealth to the field is still open for those who will follow in
mine. their steps.

Having described the central parts of the Zoologists may be surprised to hear that
western ranges, and the serpentine which on the top of limestone ranges between 3000
flanks it, there still remains to me to describe and 4000 feet high, at the Pikikerunga and
a zone of old sedimentary rock, which lies the Maunga-tapu, a large land snail, or
between the serpentine on the east, and helix, is found as large as the Helix Busbyi
Bay and the Waimea plain on the west. The Blind of the Northern Island. Mr. Skeet found
best section of this zone is obtained by follow- a live specimen on the Anatoki mountains;
ing up the course of the Maitai to the Dun and to Mr. W. Askew, at Riwaka, I am in-
Mountain. Immediately to the west of the debted for a perfect specimen of that new
serpentine we meet a belt of calcareous schists, and rare shell.

which attains its highest elevation on the PAKAWAU COAL FIELD.
summit known as the Wooded Peak, and I come now to speak about the Pakawau
continues on its strike parallel with the ser- coal-field, as probably belonging to the
pentine dyke. Proceeding to the westward, secondary period. The Pakawau coal-field
we pass over a band of greenish and reddish overlies the mica and clay-slate formations
coloured slates of a thickness of about five of the western ranges. The Pakawau
English miles. The same description of stream exposes various strata of the coal-
slates continues all along the ranges, as far field, its conglomerate, sandstone, shales,
as the Big Bush road to the Wairau. The and seams of coal. There have been
absence of any fossil remains in the calcare- workings on the exposed seams on both
ous schists and in the slates prevents me sides of the stream. A quantity of coal
from assigning to them with confidence their extracted from a seam of four feet thickness
geological age. I give them, therefore, a on the north side, which has lain exposed to
local name, and call them the Green and the weather for two years, and still remains
Red Maiti Slates. In places these slates in the condition in which it was extracted,
are broken through and altered by eruptive at once convinced me of the difference
rocks, as, for instance, in Book-street-valley existing between this coal and the other
by diabase, and near Wakapuaka by syenite. New Zealand coals which I have seen. The
coal is a dense, heavy, black coal, of a
3. SECONDARY FORMATIONS. laminated structure, breaking in large pieces,
which do not crumble. In the evening I
Between Nelson and Wakapuaka, black burnt the coal in a fireplace, and was
slates and shales are found close to the edge pleased with the large amount of flame and
of the water. In these we find the first in- heat given out by it, without sulphureous
dications of organic remains. Of the nature or other disagreeable smell. It burnt away
of these organic remains I have not been to a clean white ash. Mr. Curtis has
able perfectly to satisfy myself; they appear, kindly forwarded to me an analysis of this
however, to belong to the vegetable king- coal, made in the year 1853, by Mr. Theoph.
dom, and have more resemblance to sea- Heale, at Auckland. Mr. Heale proved the
weeds than anything else. excellent qualities of the coal as a gas coal;
the quantity of carbon (not more than 53
In the same line, further south, the Rich- per cent.) would not confer upon this coal a
mond sandstones form the boundary of the high character as fuel; but this low per-
western ranges. No less interest attaches to centage probably arose from the piece sub-
these sandstones, which contain many and mitted to analysis being mixed with shale.
perfect fossil molluscs, and are, so far as I To me it appears that the coal must contain
know, the oldest fossiliferous strata in the at least 70 per cent. of carbon, and that it
province. The fossils belong to the genera will be found a very excellent coal for
Mytilus, Monotis, Avicula, Spirifer, Tere- steam purposes.
bratula, which seem to indicate a secondary On the southern side of the stream, the
age for the formations. If I were to trace old workings exhibited the following sec-
tion :-
any analogy between these strata and any
European formation, I should say that they