WEST COAST COAL-FIELDS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1668, 9 December 1873, Page 2

WEST COAST COAL-FIELDS.

Among a number of Parliamentary papers which we have just received frpm the Government printer, there is a report by Dr Hector on the coal-fields of the Colony. The report is accompanied by, two lithographed sketch maps — one of the coal reserves on the south side of the Grey river, and the other of the Grey coal district generally, including the port.: In this report Dr Hector reports as follows upon some of the Nelson, Westland, and Otago coal-mines : — " Collingwood. — The chief work at this place during the past year has been the ' extension of the tunnel for the purpose of. / exploring the coal measures, which was: recommended in last year's report. The; tunnel is now in about 390 ft, with favor-: able indications ; and there still remains: about 300 ft more before the main coal | seam can be cut, which is expected to be accomplished about the end of this year. The total estimated expenditure for thi3 work is about LISOO, of which sum the'; Government have undertaken to provide! one-half, the remainder being borne! partly by a grant from the Provincial! Government, and partly by the Collingwood Coal Company. The importance of carrying out this work, with the view of exploring coal measures that extend over, a very large area, and containing a very valuable description of coal, and in the vicinity of a good shipping place for! vessels of the largest size, has already i been urged in a former report ; and since ; the discovery of ironstone bands along . with the coal, under circumstances that favor their being economically worked, i there is still further reason for the expenditure in this district. * \ "Mount Rochfort.— The sumofL3oo; was authorised for the further explora- ; tion of this district, and the following ■ work performed : — The coal seam at the . Ngakawau River has been traced on to the high level plateau, and outcrops ! found on various points, so as to indicate . its extension over a very large area ; one ' block, containing at least 7,000,000 tons, . being proved by the natural sections ob- ■ served in the gullies. The main seam, i which has a greatest thickness of 25ft, is a trough-shaped deposit, extending in a north and south direction for many miles, ; with a lateral extent of about one mile i and a half, but it thins towards the mar- ■ gins to 3ft. This trough of coal is broken by transverse faults which reduce it from ; an average altitude of 2000 ft on the i plateau to the sea level at Ngakawaii . Mine. As the coal is all above the water ' level, a very large .proportion of it can be profitably extracted. The discovery of coal in the bed of the Waimangaroa ] Stream, near the level of the sea, - raised an expectation that the seam described in a former report as occurring on the seaward face of Mount Rochfort, might be found under circumstances favorable for its being worked. A drive put into the spur for 130 ft, with the view of cutting the seam, ha 3 not, however, resulted in the discovery of valuable coal ; but I recommend that further explorations should be made, either by continuing the drive already commenced, or by excavating in a fresh locality. " Grey River. — No change has been experienced in the character of the Brn nner Mine ; the rumor that was circulated to the effect that the fault had changed its direction, and that the extent of oal available was thereby diminished, being without foundation, as no fresh levels have been driven on the fault, nor have the workings been extended in that direction during the past year, Several areas of coal that can be worked by shafts have been marked out on the south side of the river, in that portion of the reserve leased to the Greymouth Coal Company ; and though no active operations have been commenced, there is . every reason to expect that by the time the railway to that place is completed, a sufficient supply of coal will be available to keep it fully employed,

" Kanieri.-^-The explorations in this district during the year have not led to any important discovery, The area occupied by the coal formation is very limited, and the strata, which are highly inclined, do not appear to contain seams of sufficient thickness to enable their being profitably worked. Only a small portion of the field has not been explored ; but works are in progress to set at rest the question of whether any workable seam of coal exists in the district, the total expenditure on the exploration of which has been L4OO. ' ' ' Preservation }nles.— r The works, which have been executed towards the development of the coal seams at this locality by

a private company, were inspected in January last. Coal of two distinct qualities has been found here. At Culche's Head and on Coal Island, glance coal, in thin, much-disturbed seams, that have not proved on trial to extend over a sufficiently large area to be of importance ; and on ,the mainland, south of Coal 1 Island, a seam of brown coal 4ft thick, on the opening up of which the chief part of the company's funds have been expended. The extent of this coal seam is, however, too limited, even if the quality were better, to warrant the large expenditure on tramways and wharfage that would be necessary to work the coal successfully. My attention was directed to a supposed extension of this coal-field, with availabla seams towards the southeast ; but the examination of the section afforded by the sea cliffs convinced me that the strata are too much disturbed to justify exploration by boring as has beea proposed, and that there is no surface indication of the existence of available seams." Dr Hector, at the «nd of his report, says : — . ; l "From the foregoing summary it is evident that the source of supply of coal adapted for marine steamers in the? Colony has narrowed down to the coalfields at Collingwood, Mount Rochfort, and the Grey, and it is desirable that the effort to supply the market from our own coal-fields should be concentrated on these districts. " I would also propose to assist in the development of the northern coal-fields, situated north and south of the Bay of Islands; for though not yielding such a useful description of coal, the coal found there is "sufficiently good to be in demand for working stationary engines at the Thames, and for the supply of which, demand they are most conveniently situated. " The remainder of the coal-fields in the Colony, which yield only brown coal, are sure to be developed whenever they are easy of access and there is a local demand ; and I would recommend that in future assistance should be given towards the development of such deposits only in the form of subsidies to local efforts.; "At the same time, as brown coals are so abundantly distributed, I think it advisable that carefully conducted experi- < ments should be instituted, with the view of ascertaining i£ they can be adapted by any artificial process for the use of locomotive engines. ■