A RICH PROVINCE.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18626, 26 February 1926, Page 3

A RICH PROVINCE.

Wealth in Mines and Forests* MANY FERTILE VALLEYS. Untapped Reserves of Good Coal. Quite truthfully it can be claimed that no part of the Dominion is richer in mineral resources than the West Coast, and the Forestry Department has recognised that the most valuable areas of forest in Vj. Dominion are now within its boundaries. Part of the latter are conserved for scenic purposes, but the great coal measures of the Grey Valley will be exploited at no distant date. Within the past few years numerous bores have been sunk, and two large companies have been formed to extract the seams which were then proved. Coal and timber are only two, and perhaps the most important products of the West Coast, but other minerals abound, and the contribution of fat cattle and lambs to the Addington market has increased rapidly since the Otira tunnel was opened, while the quality of the butter and honey produced in the province has earned for these products a great reputation. An increasing number of people from other parts of the Dominion is-nw~viritiag--the- West Coast, and early next month the celebration of the Jubilee of the Kumara Goldfields will induce many of the old pioneers to re-visit the scenes of their youthful industry and toil. Many of them will be truly astonished at the progress made.