Canterbury and Westland. 467 



almost an .evil omen when he came near their goldfields, have now 

 recognised that at that time he only was doing his duty towards them, 

 and the people at large. 



Copper. 

 A. specimen of carbonate of copper was found by me in 1863 in 

 post-pliocene alluvium in the Stour Creek, a tributary of the Ashbur- 

 ton. In vain I searched the Mount Somers range on the left bank of 

 that creek, there being not the least appearance of any metalliferous 

 lodes. The specimen may have been derived from the morainic 

 accumulations brought down the valley from the central chain, 

 although I was not successful in searching for similar ores amongst 

 the moraines covering the glaciers at the head of the Rakaia and other 

 Alpine rivers. Except iron pyrites no other ores were ever observed 

 in the sandstones and slates of the Mount Torlesse, and the semi- 

 metamorphic rocks of the Waihao formation, making up the accumu- 

 lations on the eastern glaciers. The Melaphyre zone has also been 

 repeatedly examined for similar purposes, but in vain. The green 

 colouration of those rocks has often been mistaken for copper, but m 

 all instances it has been shown to be the result of the presence of 

 delessite or green earth, both hydrous silicates. The green rock on 

 both banks of the Selwyn (Upper Grorge) mistaken for copper, consists 

 simply of diabasic ash with some iron pyrites. 



Iron" and Manganese. 



In the Mount Torlesse formation there occur some small and 

 irregular lodes, containing carbonate of iron and oxyde of manganese, 

 the latter oEten forming only a coating on the joints. Nothing has, 

 however, hitherto been found in sufficient quantity to be of economic 

 value. Some deposits of clay iron stone are existing in the Clent 

 Hills and some other localities, where beds of conglomerate and shale 

 with impressions of ferns and small and irregular deposits of culm 

 occur. In the lower portion of the Waipara formation, bands of clay 

 iron ore (Spathic iron) are not uncommon, and they are of such thick- 

 ness that they can be worked with advantage in many places, such for 

 instance as the Malvern Hills, where coal and limestone are within 

 easy reach. An analysis has been made at the Colonial Laboratory, 

 Wellington, of a specimen of clay iron stone (Spathic iron) from the 

 Malvern Hills (9th Annual Report, 1874, page 22). 



