478 Proceedings. 



"by water from the Long Drive, altlioiigh both batteries were treated in 

 precisely the sama mauner. Alterations were made, but the yield was still 

 the same, when the waters were crossed, and the right-hand battery worked 

 by the water which had previously been used for the left-hand one. The 

 consequence was that the right-hand battery then produced more than the 

 left-hand one. Experiments were again made, and the effect was always the 

 same : whenever the water from the Long Drive was used from one-third to 

 half the gold was lost. This was stated to him by the manager of the claim, 

 who put down the whole result to the water coming from the Long Drive. 

 If they stopped the water from the creek, and used that coming from the 

 Long Drive only, the result was still the same : they lost from a third to half 

 the gold. In consequence of this statement of the manager, he (the speaker) 

 had brought up two bottles of water from the Long Drive for the purpose 

 of having it analyzed. It was a matter of the greatest importance that it 

 should be ascertained what the contents consisted of. The other water, by 

 which the battery produced the most gold, came from the Moanataiari hill, 

 which was the richest hill as yet found on the gold field. The people who 

 had given him the information on this subject might possibly be mistaken, 

 but he was quite' sure they were not deceiving him. The water which he 

 had brought up he intended to forward to Dr. Hector for analysis. 



It was a most important question, involving immense monetary considera- 

 tions. If the statement made to him were correct, and he had no reason to 

 doubt it, that this water from the Long Drive lost, say, even a third of the 

 gold, which could only be obtained by using the other water, then the loss 

 must have been already very large. 



Dr. Purchas asked if the water used from the hiU referred to, as saving 

 the most gold, was clean. 



Mr. Whitaker replied that it was pretty clean; it was used at one 

 machine before coming down to the Kurunui, but it was filtered, and 

 tolerably pure when used by that Company. 



Captain Hutton said that, taking the general question of water, there 

 are more hot springs in Auckland, in proportion to its size, than in any other 

 part of the world. A great many had already been discovered, and there 

 were, doubtless, many more lying undiscovered away in the far north — 

 probably a vast number. No doubt some day these springs would prove as 

 attractive as those of Switzerland and Grermany did in the present day. He 

 had drunk the water from the springs at Whangarei, and it was quite equal 

 to any Seltzer water he had ever tasted in his life. 



With regard to the question of analysis, he thought it useless to send 

 less than six gallons of water if a thorough analysis were required, as a large 

 quantity had to be evaporated to leave an appreciable residue. Eespecting 



