THE PARA PARA IRON DEPOSITS.

A ! taranaki" Resident's Opinion.

. As recently stated in these columns, a; was paid to Para Para!" .last month by Mr A. 1 J. Cadmah (formerly Minister of Mines), who is about to tnake a second visit to .England in connection wibh the abbempb bo form a ' company to work the Taranaki iron ' sand as well as the vast deposits of iron ore at Para Para. Mr Cadinan Svas accompanied by Mr Daniel Berry of New Plymouth, who has supplied the Taranaki " Daily News" with an account of his impressions of the mineral wealth which has for so long been lying dormant close to the '„ sheltered shores of Golden Bay. As Mr Berry is largely interested in the development of iron sand at Taranaki, his favorable reinai'ks as to the feasibleness of profitably working the Para Para ore" should be. noted with special interest. The appended extracts are culled from MiBerry's observations : — • " Guided by Mr Washbburn. we ascended along the gully between sfeeep lulls, covered ori each side with great masses of iron ore right down 'to, and no doubt, many feet below where « c stood, while here and there large masses of limestone cropped out, esjjecially on the northern side, After ascending the gully for some distance we climbed the hill on one sidi*, and so on to a track made, we were given to understand by the Assets Realisation Board, who heid the lease at one time, and as they had to do certain work to enable them to hold this, they put a party of men on to make a trade. In doing this they unearthed and stacked some thousands of tons of iron ore, but from here it would not pay to cart, while it would take fifty years or more to work up to ib, using all the ironstone opened up by a fair grade line from the beach. Upon reaching the highest point to which we climbed, some 1000 to 1100 feet we had the whole country spread out before us between the Tnkorui and the Para Para streams, showing the whole of Golden Bay, extending from Cape Farewell to Separation Point, and locked in by D'Ui ville Island on the j east forming a large bay, sheltered to a great extent from nearly all winds but one, and that we were assured only blew a very few days in ths year. The beaches near Para Para are san.dy> and there is a deep water at no gveac distance from the shore, and a wharf or a breikwater, built at an angle would give shelter on one side or the other at all times. No great engineering skill would be necessary, nor great expense required, to build this either with rubble or slag blocks. The country generally, except a few flats and valleys, is very poor from an agricultural point of vieAv ; but nature has made up for this by the wealth of minerals she has -placed here, iron ore, limestone, marble, coal, and last, but not least, gold in fair quantities, all abound in this district. In conclusion, a brief description of Para para will not be amiss. The block reserved by the Government for mining purposes contains 2100, acres, and is partly bounded by the Para para and Onekaka rivers, while the Tukuroa river runs up through the centre of the block. The hills or ranges run up to about 1200 ft above sea level. The block has been very favorably reported upon by Mr Price-Williams, Professor Binns, and others whose names !tbe writer has not the papers here to refer to. The latter named gentleman, in his report, gave the quantity of iron ore, which he had seen, at 50 million tons but we found that on stuyding his report, that theris /was about three miles of this country over which he had not travelled, and that a low estimate of this would giv«, perhaps, 150 million tons without sinking below an easy level. Upon the percentage of the metallic iron, the writer, not being an expert, speaks with some diffidence, but while he has seen pieces of "pots" or "blows" that would yield 65 to 68 per cent, yet experts give the bulk at 53 per cent of metallic ore, but when this is com- ' pared with the iron ore so largely imported into England f i om Bilbao, in Spain, which only yields some 48 per cent and costs from 16s to 17s 6d per ton in . Middlesborough— while the Para Para ore could be pufc on trtfeks at about Is per ton and while limestone can be qharried at the same time, and there are many coal seams in the same bay the immense possibilities to any company starting can easily be seen. It may possibly be that steel of a superior ' quality can be made from the Taranaki ironsand but- as the bulk of the trade is iron of different grades both in this - and the nearer markets, any company formed should consider the question of having works at both places. A small quantity of gold is found "] all through the hills, and experts in- J formed the writer that by bringing in a head of water from some of the mountain streams, a sufficient quantity could be saved to pay for quarry- r ing the iron ore, as well as delivering | it in a clean condition."