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Lyttelton Times, Volume III, Issue 115, 19 March 1853, Page 7

To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times,

Sir, —I have met Avith the following account Of a discovery (in TrewmansExeter Flying Post of October 28, 1852) Avhich I forward for your perusal. 11 seems not unlikely to prove of some interest to us of Canterbury, if we remember that the estuary at the confluence of the Heathcote and Avon rivers is by no means dissimilar to that of the rivers Clist and Exe, to which the following extract particularly alludes." Not to occupy your columns, I have made a summary. "Mr. Phillips, of Clist-Honiton, attended at Topsham to explain a most important discovery which he had made relative to the deposits in the estuary of the Exe. He stated, that' seeing the enormous quantity of red matter, commonly called black mud, deposited in the river, he submitted it to. analysis, and found' it Avas composed of substances Avashed down from the country, and consisting almost entirely of earthy mutter. He accoidingly placed some

of it in a kiln, and found that it produced a substance much finer, than any brick which had come from the Exeter brick yard. That they might be assured that it Avas the.very clay which he had taken from the bed of the river, he produced the model of a head which he had himself formed, and which presented the same appearance, as the other specimen. A Staffordshire manufacturer had told him that it Avas exactly adapted for local purposes; and Messrs. May and Bidwell-, the agents of the Land-Draining Company, had informed him, that had they known the discovery previously they would have established themselves in this neighbourhood. Several brickmakers of Exeter had also seen it, and expressed their approbation. It appears that the deposit in the estuary of the Exe is capable, after the usual exposure to the air and ordinary burning,.to make pottery equal to that produced at BvidgeAvater, and it only requires capital and energy to develope the resources of Topsham, which was once a flourishing town. Beneath the surface of the mud or silt is a mass of compact plastic matter; its colour, Avhen first dug, is blackish; by exposure to the atmosphere, and subsequently to high temperature, it becomes red. Chemical analysis shows that its chief constituents are silica and, alumina, with a small quantity of iron. The most obvious use to which this substanca is applicable is to the manufacture of bricks and tiles of various kinds, for which an extensive demand may be expected, as the articles would he of excellent quality," &c.

Thus far the Report. My attention Avas attracted a feAV days since to a chimney built by Mr. Townsend, to an out-building, of the soil cut from that part of the bank of the river, submerged at high water, in large oblong blocks. It appeared, after a short time, the interstices being well filled with the same mutter, to become nearly a solid Avail. In your columns the attention of some practical individual may be called -to the deposit in our own "land of Thinar." Should it be found to bear any analogous character to the Exe, Mr. Phillips may learn at some future time that the inhabitants of Canterbury owe to him. their bricks, roofing, and flooring-tiles, flower-pots, and coarser domestic earthenware.

Your obedient servant, RoBEKT GIJEAVES, LytUUon, Port Victoria, March. 16.