The following figures showing the total amount of coal raised and shipped, in Nova Scotia, in tons and hundred weights from 1827 to 1867, inclusive, will exhibit the progress of its trade in this particular: The slight falling off during the last two years is to be attributed to the abrogation of the "reciprocity treaty" between the Provinces and the United States. The law of Nova Scotia relative to coal mines, as well as to all other mines other than gold, may be briefly summed up thus: The first step to be taken by the party intending to invest is to apply to the department of mines for a "license to search" upon whatever ground he may have selected for that purpose. The application must be accompanied by a payment of $20, and the filing of a bond to make good any damage done to private lands, and the license is not to cover more than five square miles, and it holds good for one year. At the expiration of this license, the holder thereof may, out of the ground covered by it, select one square mile; this area to be enlarged under certain special circumstances, over which, upon the payment of $50, he can obtain a "license to work," which holds good for two years. If, during this period, he shall have commenced "effective mining operations," he is entitled to receive a lease, terminable in 1886, but renewable. On such leases there is reserved a royalty of 10 cents on every ton of 2,240 pounds of coal; eight cents on every ton of iron, and five per cent. on all other minerals except gold, the royalty upon which has already been stated. I may here add a few remarks as to the presence in Nova Scotia of the other more important reserved minerals. Coppet has been found at several localities. Mining operations have been carried on for some years past in a bed of cupriferous clay, containing nodules of copper, in the carboniferous formations, at Tatamagouche, Colchester county. As this happens to be a place where the minerals have been granted with the soil, I have no reliable means of knowing what degree of success has attended the venture. What were considered promising indications were found a few years since, at Cheticamp, Inverness, and a Copper Mining Company commenced work there; but their operations have not yet proved success ful. This mineral is also found in thin veins and detached masses, in the form of native copper and of the gray'sulphuret, green carbonate, and oxide of that metal, at numerous points in the trap rock, on the shores of the bay of Fundy. At some localities in the vicinity of Polson's lake and the head waters of Salmon river, on the confines of Antigonish and Guysborough counties, there are to be found large and numerous masses of copper ore, yielding from 5 to 20 per cent. of metal; but no real lode has yet been discovered. At Gay's river, near the northern bounds of Halifax county, the boulders of lower carboniferous rock scattered through the surface soil over a tract of country considerable as to extent, as well as the soil itself, are profusely interspersed with galena, seeming to indicate the vicinity of an important lode of that mineral. Washed samples of this ore afforded 17† per cent. of lead, and this lead gave 114 ounces per ton of silver. The only other useful mineral known to exist in quantity in Nova Scotia, of which mention need be made, is iron. On this head I will make some extracts from a work by the writer of this paper, entitled "Nova Scotia considered as a field for emigration," published in 1858: The most western deposit of any extent yet discovered occurs at Clements, on the south side of Annapolis basin. The outcrop of the vein may be traced on the surface for the distance of a mile, with an averago thickness of nine feet six inches. The ore consists of scales of specular iron, firmly cemented together and mixed with silicious and calcareous matter, and it has been in part converted by heat into magnetic iron ore. It yields from 33 to 40 per cent. of cast iron, the quality of which is said to be very superior. A bed of iron ore occurs at Nictau, also in the county of Annapolis, and is similar to that found at Clements. There are several parallel veins at this place, varying from 4 to 10 feet in thickness. Six of these have been examined and accurately defined, and the ore contains 55.3 per cent. of iron of excellent quality. * The next great deposit of iron ore which we will mention is found on the southern slope of the Cobequid hills. This deposit, considering its extent and the variety and quality of its ores, may be pronounced the most important in the Province. That part of it to which attention has been more particularly directed lies between the Debert river and a point some two miles westward of the Great Village river, a distance, in all, of about 10 miles. Between these points the vein extends nearly east and west, and at a distance of from five to eight miles from the shore of Cobequid bay. It consists of a veinstone of the species of ore called ankerite, associated with spathose iron, surrounding and including a number of other varieties of ore. The whole vein is of very irregular width. At one spot on the bank of the Great Village river it is 120 feet wide, whilst at another, not far from the most eastern point to which the vein has been traced, it attains a breadth of over 500 feet. Its breadth is unequal at various intermediate points where measurements have been made. The length of this vein is not yet ascertained; its continuation may be seen near Five islands, 20 miles westward of Great Village river, so that the vein is known to extend a distance of about 30 miles in length. It is not at all improbable that upon continued examination it will be found to extend along the whole length of the Cobequid range of hills. The iron made from these ores is found to be equal to any in the world in the rare properties requisite for making good steel. A very extensive deposit of iron ore, of a description similar to that of Nictau, is found at East river. Pictou, and within 10 miles distance of the Albion coal mines on that river. The vein at this place is 16 feet in thickness. The situation of this deposit, like that of the Cobequid hills, affords every facility for the profitable manufacture of iron. Iron ore, in the forms of red ochre, red hematite, and brown hematite, is found on the Shubenacadie near its mouth. It has also been found in small quantities in several other places, affording good reason to believe that further extensive deposits of that valuable mineral will be discovered upon a more general research inte the mineral wealth of Nova Scotia. Recent explorations have fully verified this prediction; yet Londonderry, on the southern flank of the Cobequids, is the only place in the province where an iron mine is worked. At this place, known as the "Acadian mines," blast furnaces were erected about 17 years since, and the manufacture of charcoal iron has continued ever since. I will only add in conclusion that by far the largest proportion of the surface of Nova Scotia, taken as a whole, is yet an unexplored territory, and that this remark applies especially to the large area of metamorphic rock, in the explored portions of which gold and iron are found in such abundance and under such favoring circumstances. From what has already been discovered it is only reasonable to believe that the country abounds to an almost singular degree in mineral wealth. I have the honor to be your obedient servant, J. W. TAYLOR, Esq., Washington. PIERCE S. HAMILTON. SECTION V. Comparative statement of rates of duty on imports between the United States and Victoria, Australia. Articles. Rates of duty. United States. Victoria. Beer, ale, porter, &c., in bottles..... 35 cents per gallon.... 20 cents per gallon.. 35 per cent.. 10 per cent. 30 per cent 2 cents per pound. 2 cents per pound.. 30 per cent.. |