686 EEPORT— 1880. 



21-cwt. tons and 24^ lbs. draft per ton can possibly be retained with any show 

 of reason. As to the dry assay on rich ores and reguluses, I think I have clearly 

 proved that, at all events as far as precipitate is concerned, it is always below 

 the truth by a good many per cents., and the same must be said of all ores 

 between 10 and 90 per cent. On the other hand, (I^hili bars, which have only 

 to be refined, should be refined by the process they have to go through to make 

 them fine copper, and I think the dry assay is the nearest corresponding pro- 

 cess they could be subjected to. At all events, the wet and the dry assays almost 

 entirely agree in Chili bars; an occasional difierence of ^ per cent, is entirely due 

 to the opinion of the refiner whether he has actually got refined copper or not — 

 'B.S.' or *T.C.' But with precipitate it is very different, particularly that pro- 

 duced by the ' salt process ; ' there is always a difference of at least 4 per cent. In 

 the early days there used regularly to be 11 per cent, difference, but now, though not 

 satisfactory, it is much better. Still, I think aU ores and reguluses, inchiding pre- 

 cipitate, ought to be assayed by the wet method, and the results stated in whole 

 numbers and decimal fractions, and be paid for including the second place of deci- 

 mals. The basis of price should be in proportion to the official price of refined 

 copper as quoted on the day of sampling, or if there is no official or quoted market 

 price on that day, then the last preceding quotation. As there are several qualities 

 of refined copper, the medium quality, or what is known as ' Tough Cake,' woidd, 

 I think, be faii-est. Chili bars, which form such a large proportion of the material 

 out of which refined copper is produced, and are officially quoted every market day, 

 might also be taken ; but as these may cease to be produced, it would be better, T 

 think, to base the price on the price of ' Tough Cake.' Then, as to the proportional 

 price for all percentages of ores, leaving a fair margin to smelters and extractors, 

 this can be arrived at very much as is done at present. A complete set of tables, I 

 would suggest, could be constructed by a committee of smelters, extractors, and 

 importers, and these should be printed by authority of this committee, and available 

 to any purchaser. I would suggest also that a committee of chemists should also 

 settle and publish -with the book a very minute description of the best Imown wet 

 method of assay, and that this method of assay be, and remain until altered by 

 authority, the standard method of assay. It would not be necessary in these tables, 

 in my opinion, to go further than to state opposite each percentage or bracketed 

 set of produces how many shillings and pence per unit these produces are worth. 

 Anyone with the most rudimentary knowledge of figures from these data would 

 find the price per ton of ore. By means of the wet assay, which can be made with 

 great rapidity and exactness, and with this authoritative data as to the value per 

 unit, invoices coidd be rendered within a few days, or even hours, after sampling, 

 with perfect confidence. 



3. Progress of the English Stations in the Hill Regions of India. 

 By Hyde Claeke, V.P.S.S. 



Mr. Clarke stated that the Himalayan ranges to the north possess the cool climate 

 of England, and that Englishmen thrive there. This had early attracted the atten- 

 tion of our great administrators, who, beginning with Simla in 1818 and Darjeeling 

 in 1828, had formed a series of stations, which had performed the functions of 

 sanitaria, watering-places, and militarj' posts, of metropolis and capitals, and latterly 

 also of centres of tea-culture. A chain of hills passed as a backbone through India 

 on the west, in which were seated some minor stations. He had shown how by tele- 

 graph connection these towns were as well suited as the unhealthy cities of the 

 plains for governmental and military purposes. In a series of statistics he illus- 

 trated the condition of the tea and cinchona plantations and the breweries. He 

 estimated the hill products as approaching a million in value, including 10,000,000 

 lbs. of tea and 3,500,000 lbs. of coffee. The gross imports from the foreign hill 

 states he estimated at about 2,000,000^. yearly. AU this trade was capable of exten- 

 sion by careful administration. Thibet and China are closed to us ; where Russian 

 power extends our trade ceases. Nepaul excludes us, and our own feudatory in 

 Kashmere but grudgingly allows us access. The oppression and misgovernment of 



