NELSON.

Lyttelton Times, Volume X, Issue 592, 10 July 1858, Page 5

NELSON.

Our fiks from this province pc/Malay are :to the 3rdirist. „: „ ..„ A »rahd farewell dinner was given to Captain Nicholson; at the Trafalgar Hotel, bn the 30th nIU on the eve of his departure foivEngland. In acknowledging the toast of,'f The mineral resources, of Nelson,":Mr, Wrey s^id; that he was placed .in an awkwatd. position. ; It made :it *aifficlxlt' 'for him to returj) .thanks. But viewing it in the light of a P«Wf matter,-he would state-his'honest %ndjahbiassed opinion of the"Btate of th-enmineWl^esources of the settlement. .He BhouIjfd, the;saW, / be able to give an opinioh&for«he had^nWdevbtedtforty years of hisrlifdihl'acquiring information connected I witb,minetalavfans4 their development. The country, he was free to admit, labored under natural disadvantages^ It, ( wa9 indeed*mountamptts, but" those very .'mountains,. contained the mineral wiealth. Nbt only was- the Dun Mountain full of natural riches, ; but he believed that from Massacre Bay & Foveaux Straits; therei existsa rich mineral deposit. __ He would; enumerate -goldj copper, and icoal; as, amongst the most probable; 'W he had found r othersi Arid equally valuable. ': Nkohly ti-a'ces'of, but the extstencfe of lead and. "tiiri^ w6re: ambngst the; varieities--which: he ' had t : discOve^edi He could j not, as priticipal 'projjrietqV of tUe. copper mine,; speak' without' Reeling a degree'of discomfort ; ! but he felt sure, that all it required, was a capa,-i We and attentive gentleman at- the head; of the \ mine: He hoped that' Mr.: Nicholson would; take home with him a fair and not discouraging; •report of, tl\e mine. His own' reports on the 1 Subject ar'o^till in existeticerana he is still firmly j x>f opinion that there is an abundance of ore.]

He however laid the'fault on the present manager of the works. . He felt that not only was the" prosperity of the mine sure, but that there would be a degree of credit attached to the first proposers. He was truly glad to see a gentleman; from Wellington amongst the-company; for he could then rely that his statements would be recorded in that province. While hehimself was. manager, of the works he had opened lode after: lode, and he could so little understand the'present state of things, that not only was the copper gone, but that they would soon lose the mountain itself. He hoped that if he alluded to the subject of coals, the feeling of jealousy would not.be attributed to him. He would, however, give it as his opinion, that though a black material had indeed been found, coal in the true sense of the word had not. That: substance which had been found was not fit for the.'use of sea-going vessels, and he feared the consequences of the reports which had been sent home to England. r Mr. O. Curtis rose to defend the coals from the aspersions of the previous speaker. He found that the black material, as he called it, would burn well, and that he considered at sufficient recommendation. .-. He did not consider that sufficient mining operations had been carried on, to speak with any degree of authority as to the quality of the coals. They had never hitherto had a trial of any but surface coals. We quote the following paragraphs of local interest from the of the 3rd inst.:—

Tbade of the Wairatj.—The coasting vessels which entered the Wairau river, during the year 1857, were altogether-103 in number, from ten to fifty tons burden. As evidence of the increasing trade of the district;, we may mention that from the Ist of January to the 19th of June in the present year, eighty-four coasting vessels have entered the same river. ■. Export of:Wool.—The wool shipped from the- Wairau■• river during', the past "season •amounted to. 2010 bales, which, with 240 bales shipped on!^' the'coast north of the Clarence5, and'3B foales 'destroyed- by fire, give 2288 bales ' as. the whole clip" Op the Wairau and Awatere districts. We'-haVe' not been ableto ascertain, the weight of. the.? clip, but we •'presume the bales may be estimated to have averaged 300 Bss. each, which would give a gross weight ojp 686,400 Has., which at 15..6 d. per ft., is £51,450 -in .value..- Of, 'these 2288 bales, 1241 were the Sroduce of the Awatere, and 1047 of the Wairau istrict. ''"']'"■ ' ; '

•" Steam CoMMtrNicATibN.~We have seen a letter from England, which states that the two steamers (Lord Ashley, and Worsley) mentioned in^our last number as about, to sail from Eng? land for this polony, are furnished by a cbmjpany who have entered into an engagement with Mr. S'ewell to bring the mails from Aus/tralii atid; distribute! theni in the colonyfor a yearly subsidy of £24#00.j Some portion of this -amount wHI-be ' paid, we believe* by the Imperial! Government.- 'At length,: therefore, the mail service of New Zealand is to be linked by steam -with the Australian colonies and Great Britain, and we congratulate the colony accordingly. Chrome.—We understand that by the last mail, Messrs. Curtis Brothers have received information as to the value of this mineral in the British, market. It appears by this information that the specimens of chrome from the Dun Mountain were found to contain 37£ per cent, of chromium, and that it was of the value of £12 per ton in the English market, although a fear was at the same time expressed, that if a large quantity were sent into the market, the value would probably be reduced to £8 per ton; What effect this information will have upon the operation of our two' mining companies, remains to be seen. .

Sporting-.;—We have been favoured with a copy of the ' Sydney Era,' of June 19th, by which we see that at the Karelian. Races, on the 16th, 17th, anS 18th of June, the Nelson mares, Zingari and Zoe, carried off the principal prizes, winning every race for which they were entered. - - j