A NEW INDUSTRY.

(o) DISCOVERY OF AN ASBESTOS DEPOSIT. About twelve months ago consider able interest was aroused in Nelson by the discovery of a deposit of asbestos in the Takaka Valley. Shortly afterwards Mr P. Soanes discovered a second and larger deposit at a distance ef some three miles from the first, and a claim of 200 acres was secured with a rise of 2000 feet above road level. Since then the mine has been in the charge of Mr Hodges, who has been developing it with the assistance ot two or three other men. At the present time Mr Browning, formerly Commissioner of Crown Lands, is engaged in tracing the extent of the asbestos lodes and in surveying the best route for a tramway from the workings to the main road. About six months ago Mr Maxwell, of the Bank of New Zealand, took home with him a number of specimens of the crude material, and showed them to the Bells Asbestos Manufacturing Company, by whom the article was reported to be superior to the best Canadian. The John's Manufactory Company of New York also reported very favourably of the samples sent to them. In addition to the deposits of asbestos, for which there is said to be an open market- at the rate of ovor LI B per ton, the present overseer of the mine is confident that much of the rock which holds the asbestos lodes will turn out good 'asbestic,' a substance of which the commercial value has only recently been recognised. In "Chambers's Journal "of July Ist, 1897, is a report of a paper read by Mr P. H. Jones, in which asbestic is described as a " fluffy, fibrous material " which " makes splendid wall-plaster, for it needs neither hair nor sand, and the plaster is fire-proof, heat-proof, and sound-proof. Asbestic will also make a fine roofing material which is proof against all climatic influence, and, lastly, it is a great aid. to the paper-makers and has now taken the lead in the United States of all the various fibres employed in paper mills." A Company to work the deposit has been formed locally, and if all goes well the manufacture of asbestos t may be added to the New Zealand industries. A sample of the cloth made from the fibre is now on view at Messrs Hopkins and Webb's office. i —The Press. I ■