THE  NEW  ZEALAND  IRON  SAND. 
331 
And  according  to  the  analyses  given  of  magnetic  iserine  and 
non-magnetic  ilmenite,  the  Taranaki  sand  as  it  lies  on  the  shores 
is  composed  as  under  ; — 
Oxides  of  iron  ......  61-14 
Titanic  oxide  .        .        .        .        .        •  29-73 
Sand  5.13 
100.00 
And  the  yield  from  the  ore  in  metallic  iron  will  only  amount 
to  about  49  per  cent.  From  another  source,  much  nearer  home, 
I  have  been  supplied  with  a  similar  titaniferous  sand  of  precisely 
similar  quality  ;  so  that  I  infer  that  Captain  Morshead  has 
been  misled  as  to  the  purity  and  richness  in  iron  of  the  Taranaki 
sand,  which,  as  supplied  to  me,  appears  to  have  been  separated 
by  a  magnet  from  the  non-magnetic  bulk  of  the  deposit.  Or 
are  there  two  deposits  of  titaniferous  sand  at  Taranaki,  one  pure 
and  the  other  impure  ?  Perhaps  Captain  Morshead  will  be  kind 
enough  to  explain.  It  will  make  a  most  essential  difference  in 
the  success  of  the  smelting  operations  which  maybe  undertaken, 
whether  the  ore  employed  be  the  pure  magnetic  iserine  or  the 
mixed  ore  consisting  chieBy  of  non-magnetic  ilmenite."  In 
reply  to  this.  Captain  Morshead  writes  as  follows: — ''Sir, — I 
can  have  no  hesitation  in  affording  to  Mr.  Mushet,  through  your 
columns,  the  explanation  he  seeks  in  his  letter  of  the  20th  March, 
and  published  by  you  on  March  22.  The  sand  I  forwarded  to 
him  was,  if  anything,  below  a  fair  average  sample,  as  could  be 
vouched,  if  necessary,  by  four  or  five  '  parties,'  to  use  the  words 
of  Mr.  Mushet,  '  not  interested  in  the  matter.'  There  are  not 
two  deposits  at  Taranaki,  one  pure  and  the  other  impure,  as 
suggested  by  Mr.  Mushet.  The  whole  is  pure.  I  did  not 
separate  the  three  tons  I  gave  Mr.  Mushet  (which  were  a  por- 
tion of  about  ten  tons  sent  over  to  mej  from  any  other  sand  by 
a  magnet.  The  suggestion  of  picking  up  such  a  quantity  by 
such  a  process  is  a  simple  absurdity.  If  any  one  will  take  the 
trouble  to  compare  Mr.  Mushet's  present  letter  with  those 
formerly  written  by  him  on  the  same  subject,  he  will  readily 
discover  that  Mr.  Mushet,  having  failed  to  attain  some  end  pro- 
posed by  himself  at  the  beginning  of  our  acquaintance,  is  now 
seeking  to  destroy  the  effects  of  his  former  letters,  and  injure  a 
