a—2

27

Phosphate Rock. The Ewing Phosphate Company, operating at Clarendon, Otago, produced 9,700 tons of phosphates, being 1,300 tons less than during the previous year. The Dominion Lime and Phosphate Company, operating in Otago, produced 1,043 tons.

VI. STONE-QUARRIES. New Zealand possesses a great variety of handsome and durable building-stones scattered throughout both Islands. In Auckland there is basalt, andesite, porphyrite, and quartz-biotite-diorite, known in the building trade as Coromandel " granite," a hard coarsely crystalline rock capable of taking a fine polish. Besides these rocks are the Whangarei limestone and Raglan stone, the former an excellent building-stone, the latter a good freestone. Taranaki has the hornblende andesites of New Plymouth and Mount Egmont, and Wellington the andesites of Ruapehu. In Nelson there is the granite of Tata Island and Tonga Bay, and the marble and crystalline limestones of the Pikikiruna (Riwaka) Range. West Nelson and Westland are well provided with granites and limestones of good quality, well adapted for building purposes ; and in the Griffin Range, North Westland, there is found an abundance of finely coloured serpentine, unsurpassed as a decorative stone. Building-stone is scarce in Marlborough, but Canterbury is well supplied, having an abundance of Lyttelton blu.estone (andesite) and Mount Somers stone, a limestone of exceptional quality. In Otago there is an abundance of excellent building-stone, ranging from the well-known Oamaru stone to the granite, gneiss, and limestones of Fiordland, all close to deep water. In Southland there is the so-called Ruapuke " granite," the norite of the Bluff, and the granites of Stewart Island. The principal buildings in Now Zealand have boon constructed in stone from local quarries. The following is a table showing the locality and names of the owners of the principal buildingstone quarries :—

In the following table there are only included those quarries and places coming within the provisions of tho Stone-quarries Act, 1910, which applies to every place, not being a mine, in which persons work in quarrying stone by means of explosives, and any part of which has a rock-face more than 20 ft. deep, also to any tunnel in the construction of which explosives are used- In these tables there are thus included gravel-pits, railway cuttings and tunnels, in addition to stone-quarries as usually understood.

Class of Stone. Locality. Owners of Quarry or Land. Principal Buildings erected thereof. Quartz-biotite-diorite CoromandelNew Zealand Granite Company Auckland J. and A. Wilson, Wellington . . J. G. Coates, Matakohe W. Parkinson, Auckland Trachyte Stone Company, Auckland Parliament House, Wellington ; Postoffice, Auckland. Post-office, Wellington. Not yet developed. Granite Trachyte Tonga Bay Ruatuna Drury .. Pukekaroro Andesite Basalt Andesite Sumner Mount Eden Christchurch Government of New Zealand .. Cashmere Estate, Christchurch H.M. Prison, Auckland ; churches, &c. Anglican Cathedral, Christchurch; Bank of N.Z. Basalt Andesite Fossil limestone Limestone (white) .. Tirnaru New Plymouth . . Ruapaki Whangarei Heads Mount Somers .. Government of New Zealand .. H.M. Prison, New Plymouth. Blackburn and Smith, Christchurch Ditto (pink) .. " T " .. "K" .. Oamaru Teschemaker Estate, Oamaru H. S. Bingham and Co.,Dunedin New Zoaland Marble and Cement Company, Palmerston North Banks of Australia and Australasia, Christchurch. Many important buildings, including town halls, churches, and banks in New Zealand and Australia. Quarries newly developed. In the New Zealand House of Parliament this marble will be used. Now being developed, and a large plant installed. Marble, white and grey (2 varieties) Sandy Bay, Nelson Serpentine Griffin Range, Westland New Zealand Greenstone (Limited), Greymouth