THE NEW OXIDE.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 February 1923, Page 4

THE NEW OXIDE.

ELEMENT FROM BLACK SaN EARLIER EXPERIMENTS RECAI TESTS NEAR HAM’ERA. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Auckland. Last Night. The announcement from London of the isolation of the nevV element hafnium recalls experiments made in New Zealand in 1915 by Mr. Leslie Maearthur. Exhaustive tests were made by him through the medium of an electrical combination to discover if New Zealand black sand was radio active. Observations on the beach near Ha were led to the deduction that there must be some chemical constituent in ironsand which prevented oxidation when exposed to the sun, weather and salt water. Ferruginous sand was subjected to extensive tests, the immediate j lesults being such as to justify the treatment of over sixteen cwt. of sand in ten pound sections. The sand was treated with a variety of chemically appropriate fluxes and gleanings from the negative were sent to Madame Curio. In reply, a report was received to the effect that the sample was of high value. Mr. Macarthur then made*an offer to the New Zealand Government to conduct bulk experiments if electricity could be supplied, but nothing was done. The cinnamon colored powder referred to in the cablegram is thought by Mr Macarthur to be similar to the extract' secured by him.