WAIPA COLLIERIES.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 246, 17 October 1910, Page 6

WAIPA COLLIERIES.

A-'VISIT-OF INSPECTION

"Seeing;, is believing" was evidently the idea that actuated' Mr. Norrisßell when: he invited a number .of gentlemen to. pay a visit on Saturday to the Waipa, Railway aiid' Collieries properties on the: Raglan side of the Waipa river. About.----25 accepted the invitation, and under the careTof. Mr. Bell, Mr. >I. Ca-sey (a director), and Mr. Ashley Hunter (engineer), had a really enjoyable and. at the same ■time interesting trip. A special carriage was reserved for the party, and the contents of two large hampers provided creature comforts for the guests. NgaruawSLhia was reached, a-t noon, and t\vo brakes and a couple of buggies conveyed the visitors to the mine. The drive along tlic .Raglan main road is a v«ry pretty one. Like Uature, that road abhors a straight line, the result 'being that the brake twisted round corners very much on the corkscrew principle. At one portion of the road white posts are placed on each side, with figures painted up to six feet. The driver explained: "These are very handy to show how tegh the flood is up," adding as a kind of 'parenthetical remark, "When we can't see the top of the post we don't cross." Evidently seeing a look of doubt on the faces of some passengers, the driver pointed three parts up a telegraph post and said: "That's the record flood mark."

Tβ Akatea, -where the party left the vehicles, is about six miles from Ngaruaand it as here 'that the property of .the Waipa Railway and Collieries, Xitd., is situated. The area over which mining rights have been secured as 1774 acres, an option has also been secured over another 5121 acres, so that the company will not require to be continually purchasing fresh areas from people who have bought a/head of it and waited for the harvest when the ground was required for mining. Profiting, it may be, by the mistakes of other companies, the promoters of the Waipa. have looked well ahead, in securing the rights over large aieuti. TSie visitors walked about half a mile along a tram track, when a pretty waterfall came in view. From a utilitarian point of view, however, the interest in that, particular fall is that the water is dropping over a seam of coal lift thick. That the coal is fairly hard is evidenced iby ttho fact that the face is standing nearly perpendicular and the water has not cut a deep trenoh into the seam. Just at one side of the waterfall a drive has been put in about a couple of chains in solid ooal, with efcill .three feet of the same material overhead. The visitors were provided with candles, and the more cnergetie knocked down some ooal. On all sides -was coal, and, strange, to say, careful examination failed to disclose anything else tout coal, there 'being a pleasing absence of shale seams, which occur somewhat 'too frequently in some mines, and, it may be added, -too often ■ amongst coal delivered for consumption in the city. A side gallery has also been opened off the main adit, and here, too, is all coal of excellent quality. Mr. Hunter explained that the dip of this seam is hiUwards—at about 1 in 14. As, however, the visitors had been ascending all the way from the s bu3es to the outcrop, it is evident that the seam can be-cheap-ly opened up and operated upon. "How have Aucklanders missed this?" was the remark of one visitor, whereupon Mr. Nonas Bell explained .that it was found utterly impossible to interest people in Auckland in the venture, and finally it was floated in Wellington. He ateo explained that 'the opening of the Main Trunk line through to Wellington had 'been an important factor in floating the company, as it was hoped to be able to place Waipa coal on that market as "well as at intermediary {daces, where at present bituminous coal Ixas to Iβ used for household purposes. Led by a. gentleman bearing a pick, the visitors next scrambled over a barbed-wire fence and' up a goat track to the top of a spue The descent of the other side was much easier travelling, and here in a gully was disclosed another outcrop of the same eeaia of (coal, probably haif-ja-niilo away from' the waterfall. An examination showed the seam to be well on to eleven feet in thickness at this outcrop also. Another spur was ascended, and from here a third outcrop was pointed out in another gully. As that wae fully another half-mile away from the second outcrop, it is evident the seam is an extensive one. Its real extent is, however, yet unknown, but outcrops have, it was. stated, been found for about five miles. It is at the third outcrop Mr. ■Hunter proposes to .put in the main tunnel, and from the mouth an easy grade of one in ten can be got for a tramline to carry the coal down to the terminus of the proposed railway at Te iikateu

Mr. John Hayes (mining engineer, "VJfeQington), reporting on the propose lion, gives the average thickness of the main seam of eoai stt eleven feet. He also states that there is an upper seam on the property, and considers it is quite possible that other coals may underlie t*»e main. seam. Mr. Hayes estimates that 1,250 acres- of the property 'will yield I2,Sodfioo tons of sale coal, which, .ai. an output of 150,000 tans per sum-am, -will last 83J years. Dr. J. S. Maclaniio, F.&&, analyst to the New Zealand Covcrnment, in his report, gtotey The coals are clean, bright,, hard, son-caking, and similar in composition to the Taupiri brown coals. The sulphur is not excessive, and the coats should prove excellent for household use." The 'upper seam coal, Dr. Maclaurin states, is "of superior quality, low in sulphur, and approaching in heating power the coals from TTflrTma-ngi and Kawa Kawa (Bay of Islands).." It is also -worthy of not© that the analysis shows only V2.J32 per cent of -water in. the main seam, and 7.85 per cent in the upper one. Me. John P. Maxwell, MJnstoOß,: manager of ■ the Nightcap Coffiery, Southland, has also reported upon this proposition. He states the outcrops are from 300 to 400 feet above the level of the Main Trunk rail-way at 'ISgaruawahia, and five have been uncovered alone a distance of 50 chains, and are about eleven feet in thickness. He describes the coal as excellent for household purposes, a fair steam coal, and suitable for gas making. Hβ adds: "Altogether, the enterprise is one -which promises to be exceptionally successful." THE RAILWAY. It is proposed to construct a railway from Ngaruawahia to Te Akaiea, a distance of about 5£ miles. A bridge will be constructed on piles across the Waipa River about half-a-mile above Ngaruawahia, and the line will follow the valley of the Mangahoe to Te Akatea. Mr. Hunter estimates the cost, including the bridge, eta, at £6,000 per mile, and considers the work could be completed in about two years. As Government rolling stock is to be need, the bridge and line .will be constructed on similar principles and the same gauge as the i&tate railways. It lonljr remains, to add

that sufficient shares have already been allotted to-provide capital to cany out this work and erect tlje requisite plant at the mine: The cost of the coal delivered at Jfgaruawahia station is estimated, at. 6/- pei\ton,.and railway carriage to Auckland is 6/10 per tori, so it should be evident that the Waipa coal could: be placed on, the market -at a reasonable price, notwithstanding the fact that the mine is six miles from the railway.