LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.
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Wainuiomata Quartz. — Dr Hector, who visited the Wainuiomata valley on Saturday, informs us that Messrs Sinclair and Grace succeeded last Wednesday in discovering what they believe to be the reef which is the source of the specimens which have from time to time been picked from the bed of the stream and sent to the Museum for analysis, one of which yielded notable traces of gold.
A fair sample of the specimens are expected in town to-day, and if they prove to contain even traces of gold, we understand that Dr Hector will recommend that a drive should be made in order to ascertain the real character of the formation.
The reef is of blue quartz, full of mundic, and weathering to a rusty rotten quartz that looks promising. It has been found on the slope of the hill in such a position as to preclude the idea of it being only a loose block.
It is associated with rocks not found throughout the district as a rule, such as serpentinous slate passing into diorite and a lighter yellow rock resembling a felstone, but probably only an altered slate. These form a few isolated mounds in the valley that present a marked difference to the usual character of the surrounding hills.
At the same time the general character of the geological formation is the same as that around Wellington, the only peculiarity being the large quantity of mundic which the quartz in the newly discovered reef contains; whether it is even as auriferous as the specimens previously obtained still remains to be found by analysis.
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