NEW COAL MINE AT KIRIPAKA.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 119, 22 May 1899, Page 6

NEW COAL MINE AT KIRIPAKA.

It is now six years since the first shipment of coal left the Ngunguru river or Kiripaka, writes a correspondent, and the mine has been working off and on all that time. Still.our little village has not progressed as it ought to have done with the great amount of m.ney that has been spent in it. Many of the houses are unoccupied, the little iron building which has been rented by the Education Board for a school for some years seems likely to be a permanent thing, owing to the attendance of scholars varying from time to time. A mining population Is constantly shifting, and it is impossible for a teacher to' keep up a good average attendance, moreover the residents don't seem to take that interest in school I'f.atters or social meetings which they o_s_nt to do. Everyone seems to be preparing for fields and pastures new, when they have accomplished their pecuniary outfit. It is to be hoped a new era will commence with the. opening of the new mine at Kiripaka. The new mine is about twenty (20. chains higher up the river, and on the opposite side of the Ngunguru Coal Company's mine. This new mine has been the subject of negotiation for some two years or more, it being native land has had to go through the Native Lands Court. The Messrs Callaghan and Co. applied through the Warden's Court at Whangarei for the right to make an incline tunnel and tramway over Government land to connect with their own mine, and that was granted last December. Mr Climo, late underground manager for the Ngunguru Coal Co., took an interest in it, and was appointed manager, and work was at once commenced. Th^tvorking party consisted of Messrs Climo, Callaghans, Hirst, and another party at the incline. All the work is now finished. There is an incline 18 chains long, worked with a wheel and endless wire rope. Six half ton trucks of coal will come from the pit's mouth down this incline to the Ngunguru river, where there is a tipler; under this tipler is a pontoon, floating, capable of carrying 50 tons of coal. The full trucks coming down draw up the empties. No horses are required to put the coal afloat on the pontoon. When the pontoons are loaded they will be taken down with the tide to the loading ground, about three or four miles off. where vessels can take the coal on board and be sent away with despatch. The tunnel is driven into the coal about 20 yards, and shows a beautiful bright seam over 12 feet thick, and seems to be making-. The coal has been traced now over 30 chains through the hills, where it is cropping out in several places. The coal is beautiful and bright, and can be cut in large blocks for household purposes. There are also splendid Are clays, which can be worked separately from the mine, and in a different part of the mine. Samples of coal from this mine have been used for blacksmithing and other purposes, and all speak highly of its qualities. The proprietors have 44 . acres of coal land leased, which has been "well proved, and there are lands adjoining which aro known to contain coal; The above named gentlemen have done all the labour part, and it is to be hoped they will be rewarded for their pains. They are now waiting for the pontoons. The late Mr William Redshaw, ■ formerly manager of the Kamo mine, who inspected this property, reported as follows: 'On the Maori leased land considerable work has been done with good results, and amain drive has been started, which will strike the coal in a few feet, as a shaft j has been put down in front of thedrive which contains a seam of coal 7ft thick. One of the shafts put down has a seam _Xi£fc_..-li--l« J^_-_a_.-*«-w--....»_~._-rTT_rr— rr*—__n_Tnr -rive, estimating it at the low rate. of 7ft thick, there are a quarter million tons of coal.