THE AUCKLAND DIAMONDS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LIX, Issue 6868, 5 March 1883, Page 5

THE AUCKLAND DIAMONDS.

.NOT DIAMONDS, BUT CRYSTALS. fß* Tbmobaph.] [PBOM OITB OWN OOBBBBPONDBHT.J AUCKLAND, Maboh 8. Mr J. A. Pond, Provincial Analyst, says, in the Herald, with regard to the question whether the stones recently found at Raglan aro really diamonds;—“Without desiring in any way to check prospecting for diamonds and other gems In this district, I would urge upon those engaged the necessity of furl her examination than the mere appearance of the stone, and the advisability of guarding against anything approaching a rush until it has been proved that diamonds exist in the district- In reference to the four so-called diamonds which wore exhibited to-day as having passed the crucial- teat of hydro-fluoric acid,. three of these stones are simply quartz crystals. The fourth I could not determine without testing hardness and ‘specific gravity j bat I regret that only one stone was left to examine. The three quartz crystals referred to show the effect of fluoric aoid, and wore , not dissolved by it simply from the presence of so much fluoric silicon, by solution of the quartz crystals, which were placed in the leaden cups ‘in considerable numbers.’ One of these pseudodiamonds exhibited to-day has the hexagonal prismatic form well defined, and this alone is quite sufficient to prove that it is not a diamond. While referring to this, I way say I have recently received some most beautifully formed crystals of this character, which were stated positively to be diamonds, and some from Lake Waikato, To Puke, Kawaa, Raglan, and the Thames, alt of these having the same distinctive hexagonal character, and therefore requiring na further examination, as the diamond never tokos this form. Before closing this note, I would like to point out that we have long since been a*are of the presence of some of the cems. For instance,, gamete aro frequently found at Whangam Heads, and specimens are in the Auckland Museum. Again, rubies are found in considerable quontitios between ColJingwood and Mount Arthur, In the Nelson district, and agatss and cornelians on tho Coromandel Peninsula, and zircons and tourmalines in the South Island, Should this district bo found to be the. home of. the diamond, and I tbink it probable, I don’t think it will be proved by looking for these gems in the volcanic cones scattered through this district, but in the older igneous formation | tor instance, the Waitakerei ranges, or the Coromandel Peninsula, these being more

conformable with tufeoeone dtbrit, In which the diamond* are found at the Cape, than our young volcanic cones."