RAILWAY COAL.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 30, 5 February 1925, Page 15

RAILWAY COAL.

THE WEST COAST PRODUCT. r.XTFLLEXT RESTXTS CLAIMED, j i-'.r Te •zrapD. Press AF.-'-iuii.-n.) U'I>TPnRT. \\>dne?dav. Th" Rail«va\ I oal liiouirv BnaH r<>--unif.l tho taking ot r\i<ienre this after- ■ l.ihn liiiiehi. h storekeeper, ,-tatpd tli.ii h, ii ~.! e.spnrtpd foil off (he mini!'"*! "i m.n mt tin* railway wharf was ,01-1.j.p.l 1 IniHiirc* jrenerally slackir.'.i. M"-i of l lie miner.- weve married men v-iili linan.inl n».li s »lion«. Hardly any n<'« l.'iildin-.'.- had Ween erected in «V, lf .„, for the ln-t icn year?. Tho nien of rin mine? wore mostly New Zealand madi* .-Ivithes and New Zealand prodii.'.'l £.'"o'l.-, and the loss of wapes liy ineni through the importing of coal meant l".-.-es to other- in New Zealand. lame- \hearne. depot eharpeman. with over thirty year's experience, an an rncinedrivei and fireman, said that special unscreened (oalbrookdale coal, was U.-ed "ii the Westport section of the railway- and pave excellent results. The*, had no trouble with the firebars. tune- or smokeboxes. Newcastle was a good -teaming coal, but in his experifiiff left more cleaning tip to do at the end of t lie day than Westport coal. There wa.- no loss in coal on the section, although they had a heavy draught. He had not -pen Millerton coal and Coalbrjpokdale mixed, but that might be worth a trial. He thought (.'oalbrookdale ca\.- better results than Newcastle. T«o hundred tons of Westport coal were stored at Westport for some ten years anil the last nf it was just as pood as the lir.-t. slio\, ; **a no deterioration. The engine- at Wos port hauled per engine "(0.001) tons per year, as compared with 10.000 tons hauled by engines in the North Island, and the Westport haula.e was all done on ('oalbrookdale special unscreened. In his opinion the railway* - ?!! could do as well elsewhere as was done at Westport if AVestport coal were u^ed. Frederick McDonald, enginedriver in the Westport section of the railways, and having twenty years' experience all over New Zealand, said there was no difficulty with Westport coal. No trouble was experienced with the firebars and smoke boxes, and the work at, the end of the run was lighter with Westport than Newcastle coal as there was less clinker to remove. Since he was on the Westport line he had never stopped for want of steam. Drivers generally instructed the firemen how to fire. took a pride in helping them, and almost became "hosom friends," helping them all they could. He thoujrllt that once a fireman got. used to Westport coal he would back it every time. Russell Weeks, an experienced en-pinedri-.pr. fireman and cranedriver. in New Zealand and South Africa-, thought if some inducement was offered to firemen to make a success with New Zealand coal they would do so. He fully endorsed Mr. McDonald's evidence regarding Westport coal.