32 The N.Z, Journal of Science and Technology. [Jan. 
on one side than on the other. Williams also gives huka == deficient in 
measurement; as E warn mdro te roa, huka to te iwa = The length is eight 
fathoms, the ninth being deficient. 
Tatai is the verb “ to measure”; whanganga, to measure with the 
extended arms, in fathoms ; pae, to measure by clasping, as in ascertaining 
the girth of a tree, and perhaps awhe is sometimes used in the same sense. 
Among the Tuhoe folk tieke seems to be used as a verb, denoting the 
measuring of diagonals. 
A piece of wood (papa kupenga) was used by some net-makers as a 
mesh-gauge ; others used the bunched fingers for that purpose. Rods, 
small sticks, and string were sometimes used for measuring purposes. A 
rod called a teka was sometimes used as a spacing-medium in planting 
the kumara or sweet potato. 
In travelling, distance was denoted by time measurement, as in the 
change of the sun’s position, or by comparison. 
These old native terms for measures are now falling into disuse; many 
natives never seem to employ them. They now speak of yards, chains, 
and miles, but, as a rule, have the wildest ideas of expressing distance in 
these terms. The writer was once crossing Waikare Moana in a Maori 
canoe when one of the natives remarked, “ I think that if we were to attack 
the Pukehuia Pa (fort) now we might fire from the opposite shore of the 
lake, for a rifle will carry one hundred yards-— or is it one hundred miles ? ” 
The marked feature of the Maori modes of measurement is their 
indefiniteness, each man being a standard unto himself. Such irre¬ 
sponsible methods would be unendurable in a higher culture stage, but 
doubtless served the purpose of the Maori, whose keen eyes often stood 
him in good stead in the remedying of errors and deficiencies. 
Commercial Uses of New Zealand Minerals (chiefly Non- 
metallic) and Rocks. 
By P. G. Morgan, M.A., F.G.S., Director, N.Z. Geological Survey. 
In addition to the mining industries proper, a considerable number of 
industries depending upon or employing mineral substances to a greater 
or less extent have been established in New Zealand. Some of these 
industries use materials obtained in the Dominion, whilst others import 
materials which are locally procurable, in some cases, at lower prices than 
the imported substances. Many new industries could be established, and 
some former industries now extinct could be revived, if sufficient data 
concerning possible sources of raw materials were available. It is sur¬ 
prising what a number of rocks, and of minerals occurring as constituents 
of rocks, are saleable for some purpose or other, especially in the powdered 
state. In fact, almost every rock when powdered seems to have a com¬ 
mercial use. 
The following list will be found useful, in the first place by prospectors 
and miners who may have the mineral or rock for sale, and in the second 
place by manufacturers and those who desire to start new industries. A 
few uses for metals and metallic compounds are given, but the list is 
intended mainly to suggest uses for non-metallic substances. The localities 
in which the minerals occur are named in List of the Minerals of New 
