WAIROA, KAIPARA: OPENING OF A COAL MINE.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVII, Issue 4236, 13 March 1871, Page 3

WAIROA, KAIPARA: OPENING OF A COAL MINE.

There lias been some speculation as to the development of a coal mine recently discovered here I paid a visit to the locality yesterday. It is on land the property of Mr. Jenkins, near the Tokatoka Peak, and about 100 yards from the river. My geologic lore being very limited, I am unable to give an opinion as to the probability of its turning out well or otherwise, but one of the paity, an old Bay of Islands miner, states that the strata are indicative of coal ; but as yet the ♦'real thing" has not turned up. Unfortunately the work is now at a standstill from the bursting in of water, and a puinping apparatus erected in a very primitive style has been found quite inadequate to the work of pumping it out. Should the coal (of the presence of which there ia no doubt) prove to be of goo'l quality and quantity, there is every facility tor shipping it away, the mine being situated on the bank of a deep creek running in from the river. — Messrs. Brown, Campbell, and Co. are about to recommence work at their saw mills and I am informed that tenders are, or are about to be, invited for the erection of the powerful and extensive sawmill machinery now lying at Te Kopura. This is a consummation that has been most devoutly wished for by the settlers here for a long time past. Nothing will now be wanting to make this one of the most busy and thriving districts in the province. Nothing daunted by the dull state of the kauri gum market, the agents for Auckland houses are engaged in a brisk competition in purchasing from the diggers; some of them, I hear, pack and take it away for nothmg, paying full price for the gum on the ground. Mr. Lamb, of Riverhead, has opened a branch establishment at Tokatoka, under the management of Mr. Saunderson, and Messrs. Must and Co. have also established an agency on this side of the river. —[Correspondent. ]