The Sun.
London, England, 1854-04-15 00:00:00

STATISTICS OF MINERAL PRODUCE.

The collection of statistics bearing on the productive
wealth of the country is an object which for many rea-
sons it is most desirable to obtain with accuracy,
but which. strange to say, in a great Commercial coun-
try liketthis, is as yet accomplished in scarcely any of
the various branches of its industry ; and it is only
very recently that attention has been directed even
to the importance of obtaining returns of the agri-
cultural produce of the nation. We are happy to see
that during the last twelve months Mr. Robert Hunt,
the keeper of the mining records of the country at the
Museum of Economic Geology, under the superinten-
dence of Sir H. De la Beche, has been sedulously de-
voting himself to the collection of statistics of our mine-
ral productions. Considerable difficulties were at first
experienced in the attempt to collect this informa-
tion ; they have, however, disappeared before the
persevering energy of Mr. Hunt ; and the first fruit
of his exertions is now before us, in the shape of
" Statistics of the produce of copper, tin, lead, and sil-
ver from the mines of the United Kingdom, with the
exports and imports of the metals from 1843 to 1852
in-
clusive; by Robert Hunt, keeper of mining records.
The statistics of coal and iron are in course of prepara-
tion, and we trust that the parties interested in mining
property of this description will follow the example set
by the people of Devon and Cornwall, and other
parts, and afford the information required, which, it
should be borne in mind, if given, can in no instance
be productive of injury to individual producers.
.
Next to the diffusion of instruction on matters relat-
ing to the improved working of mines, it scarcely
possible to conceive a more important exer?ise of the
institution—the
functions of this interesting and useful
School of Mines—than the collection of information of
this kind. The Museum of Economic Geology, as
originally founded, • was intended to supply a want
which was very generally felt, and the subsequent addi-
tion of lectures and a school of mines was admirably
calculated to increase its efficiency. The Museum of
Economic Geology has now become, in fact, the only
Instance in the United Kingdom of an organised in.
structional institution arising out of a museum, and
maintained in strict connection and relation with the
purposes for which it was originally established.
Professor Forbes, in his introductory lecture to the
present session, referring to this unique character of the
museum in Jermyn-street, states—" This is not an acci-
dent, but an event contemplated from the commence-
ment of the geological survey of the country. It is an
experiment on a considerable scale, with a greater pur-
pose,
for, with a limited though rapidly improving ma-
chinery, it is intended to advance educational aims that
have a vital importance in their bearing on the future
prospects of the country. It is an endeavour, by a State
mechanism, to
cast the seeds of science over the broad
fields of British industry, not indiscriminately, but espe-
cially in those places where there is a good soil thirsting
for their germination." The success of the museum has
been as great as could be reasonably expected • the stu-
dents have highly distinguished themselves, and many
of them are already filling valuable and honourable posi-
tions in connection with mining pursuits, for which they
had become qualified by the course of study prescribed
in the establishment.
The artisans of London have also eagerly responded
to the opportunity so freely offered to them of receiving
information, and the lecture-room on Monday evenings
is crowded with the working classes, who, with unmis-
takeable earnestness and intelligence, attend the various
courses delivered by the professors for their special in.
atruction. We trust that no attempt will be made to
depart from the special objects for which the museum
was
,founded, and which alone it is calculated to at-
tain ; for to attempt to extend its sphere to an in-
definite variety of scientific subjects would not only
impair its usefulness, but destroy that confidence which
it is desirable the public should feel in an insti-
tution of this kind. Anxious as we may be to wit-
ness the rapid spread of general science, we are not
the less desirous of witnessing the steady and cer-
tain progress of those particular branches which bear
upon different kinds of industry. By some peculiar
misnomer, this museum, stored with geologies 1
specimens, and apparatus and machinery adapted onls
for mining purposes, has recently been called a "Metro-
politan School of Science applied to the Arts ;" and if
we are correctly informed, it has even been proposed to
employ it
for the purpose of teaching schoolmasters
general science, and indoctrinating precocious monitors
of national schools with such an amount of general
science as may enable them to obtain certificates of
competence to teach the entire round of applied and
abstract sciences. The attainment of these objects is
no doubt highly desirable ; hut to suppose that this
amount of varied knowledge is to be gleaned from
a museumof economic geology and a school of
mines, is to attribute greater power to the ser-
mons which stones may teach than even the most
sanguine of geologists would venture to claim
for his science. While on this point, we may
state that the special classes of the different pro-
fessors are well attended, and that the chemical and
metallurgic laboratories are full, and already a greater
amount of accommodation is required than the building
at present possesses. There is scarcely an instance in
which a portion of the public funds may be so well
employed as in maintaining the efficiency of this museum.
The knowledge.which it imparts applies to a branch of
industry which produces annually, from beneath the
soil of the country, materials of the value of more
than twenty-five millions, and in the production of
which at the present moment an immense amount
of unnecessary labour and wasteful expenditure is
incurred. If, by improved modes of working, or
by a more extended knowledge of the principles of
geological science, any portion of this unnecessary
expenditure may be arrested, it will be so much
wealth gained to the nation, and, being so much more
property available for the exigencies of the State, will
more than repay the assistance which may be afforded ;
the institution, in fact, is thus a self-supporting one, in
the truest sense of the term.

The results of the inquiries directed by Mr. Robert
Hunt will be read with interest. The returns of the
copper ore and copper produced are mainly derived from
the tioketings" and returns of sales made by private
contracts from the agents of the respective mines. The
principal tin smelters and agents of mines have supplied
thestatistics of the quantity of tin produced. In the case
of the lead returns, the "ticketings" of the lead sales in
Flintshire, although not usually published, have been
forwarded to the museum, and every mine has been
communicated with. The information with respect to
the produce of this metal has been furnished with the 1
utmost readiness, and the most correct results have been
arrived at. With respect to silver, the return professes
to be only an approximation, as the system of obtaining
the produce of this metal has not yet been sufficiently
organised to secure exact information, and the main part
of the information has been furnished by Messrs. Walker
and Cross, and Mr. John Taylor, gentlemeo, most inti-
mately acquainted with the mining operations of the
country.

The general summary of the produce of copper for a
period of five years, ending 1852, gives the following
results :

Ore. Copper. Value.
Tons. Tons. £
English mines 765,025 59,943 4,033,039
Irish, Welsh, and
foreign mines sold
at Swansea 203,437 34,238 2,604,530

968,462 94,181 6,687,569

Average of the five
years ... 193,692

18,836

1,337,515

In 1852 the quantity of copper sol(1. in Cornwall was
11,776 tons of the total value of 975,9751. ; in Swan-
sea the quantity sold was
4,901 tom;, valve 464,314/.
In 1852 we imported 37,817
tone of foreign copper ore,
of which we reoeived from Cuba 17.660, South
Austra-
lia 8,580, Chili 5,569. and Spain 1,934 tons
ex-
port of British copper was 16,936 tons. The Our
increase
in the produce of ore from English
mine. 4 in 1852, as
compared with the previous year, was 15,000 tons, and
the increased value about 190,0001.
The produce of the lead mines of the United King-
dom in the five years ending 1852 was 450,880 tons of
ore and 308,180 tons of lead, being an average produce
of 90,176 tons of ore and 61,636 tone of lead. The year
1852 showed a falling off of 10,000 tons of ore
and
about 1.000 tons of lead ; the produce it the year being
91,235 tons of or,' and 64,937 ton 3 of lead. The im-
ports of leild in 1852 were 13,257 tons, while in 1848
they amounted only to 3,788 tons ; while in the same
period our exports of lead increased from 6,128 tons to
19,995 tons.
The tin produced in Britain in the five years ending
1852 was 50,407 tons, or an average of 10,081 tons, the
produce for 1852 being below the average, and amount-
ing, only to 9,674 tons. The imports of tin in 1852 were
2,372 tons, and in 1848 only 298 tons ; but during the
same period the exports have fallen off from 1,797 tons
in 1848, to 941 tons in 1852.
The returns of silver are exceedingly interesting, as
showing the proportion in which this metal exists in the
lead of different parts of the country, and which, owing
to the ingenious mode of treatment invented by Mr.
Patterson, may now be most completely extracted :

Proportion
or silver in
i en' ton
of lead, in
ounces.

Total
ounces of
silver pro-
duced in
leach district,

35
40

Corn wall
Devonshire+
Cumberland ...............
Durham, Northumber
land, &Westmoreland; 12
Cardigan, Carnarvon,:
and Carniarthenshiret 15
Flintshire and Derby-;

shire
Montgomery and Merio•l
nethshire
Ireland
1
Scotland
Isle of Man

Value.

£62,503
22,835
13,223

47,934

22,920

11,784