GOAL DISCOVERIES AT BATON.

We learn ihat discoveries have been made which point to the early development of a highly valuable coalfield at the Baton. .It is pointed out that, with the entension of the railway from Motupiko into the Tadmor Valley, a comparatively short line of rail will connect the coal seams with the Portof Nelson, from which they are distant some forty miles. In a few days we hope to be in a position to give further particulars of the discovery, but we may add that coal is not the only mineral existing at. the Baton, gold and iron being also found there. With the opening up of lands locked up under the Midland Bailway contraot, settlement must take place, and this will necessitate the extension of the railway, ahd the construction of roads and tracks, while these are certain to lead to a better knowledge bf the country, and, we may also fairly hope, to further developments of importance.