OUR MINERAL RESOURCES.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 62, 13 March 1874, Page 2

OUR MINERAL RESOURCES.

.i _ .—— j [communicated]. ! In looking at some of Mr J. C. Richmond's paintings of the scenery of Nelson Province, more particularly of Mount Rochfort and Coalbrookdale on the coalfield which" ex tends for many miles northward of Westport on the West Coast, one is struck with the forcible delineation the artist has given of the massive seams of coal wbich form such prominent features of the bold landscape Tp those who have seen . these mineral treasures in situ, the rigid faithfulness of the illustration is at once apparent, but those who have not had that pleasure can at any rate at a glance perceive apart from the other constituents of the picture, that the coal is there and in abundance too. It may be said without contradiction that of all the provinces of New Zealand Nelson possesses more mineral wealth, not excepting gold, than any other. But take only two instances. Its coal, which has n very wide range, extends from Cape Farewell to the river Grey, rather more than 250 miles, and has been proved, without exaggeration, to be unequalled as a fuel, whether for steam or other purposes, at least in this hemisphere. Its ltofifields, to which attention has been more particularly directed of late, with some exceptions, are to be found wherever the coal exists. But Nelson does not ouly excel in its miueral resources, for, without being invidious, it has got ita artists who hold no mean rank amongst the water-color painters of the day, and who havo won no little of their fame by their illustrations of the varied 'scenery of their province. That it may not bave struck tbeim, except in the particular instance referred to in .thiß beginning of this article, to employ their pencils on such utilitarian objects ¥8 /coal andi ron is .possible, but it is nevertheless to be regretted that neither Mr * Bichmond nor Mr Gully have yet wended their way to tho * easily accessible coal and iron fields of Golden Bay, and transferred to their sketch books the many picturesque combinations of wood and water, mountain and mineral, with which the district abounds. There can be no finer studies of euch a class on the one hand, than tho canyon ; in Isaac's Creek, and its beautiful waterfall at the Collingwood Coal Company's mine, as well as the dark and rocky gorge of the Otamataura stream on Messrs Curtis and Wells' property, with its well-defined coal seams, showing out on eaoh side, ond the rich cryptogamic vegetation of rare ferns and lichens luxuriating on the massive rocks which bed and line the streum. And on the other, the country to the south and west of Te Para Para Inlet, with its masses of iron piled up together in curious and grotesque forms as if Vulcan had been in no slight pass ioa when he fashioned his work in that special part of tbe world. No description can adequately convey any idea of tbe great quarries of iron ore wbich cover the ground in the neighborhood of the inlet, they must be either seen personally or through the medium of the painter to realise their magnitude.