A VISIT TO THE BRUNNER COAL MINE.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1734, 24 February 1874, Page 2

A VISIT TO THE BRUNNER COAL MINE.

Yesterday morning a number of gentlemen, in response to an invitation issued by the lessees, visited the Brunner Coal Mine. The company included his Worship the Mayor, . Mr Moriarty, C.E., the members for the district in the General Assembly, members of. the Provincial Councils of Nelson and Westland, Borough Councillors, Mr Warden Whitefoord, and others. The main purpose of the visit was to afford Mr Moriarty, who is now engaged upon a most important investigation of the river and harbor with the view of their improvement, an opportunity of seeing for himself in situ the evidences of the mineral wealth of the district. The lessees provided liberal vehicular accommodation, and shortly after ten o'clock one of Gilmer's mail coaches and four, and two buggies, closely packed, started for the coal pits. Arriving at the point opposite the boring works now being conducted by the Greymouth Coal Co. for the purpose of testing the ground prior to their deciding upon the selection of the .1000 acres to which they are entitled under their lease, a halt was made, and the party inspected with great interest the operation of lifting the rods for the purpose of examining the nature of the material now being bored through. Mr Simpson, the very courteous manager of the Company, stated that the rods were now down about 180 feet, and were at present slowly penetrating a very hard grit rock. It was expected that after this rock was through the coal would be reached. On arrival at Alabaster's the party proceeded to the punt, and upon their arrival at the Brunnerton side a salvo of anvil shots and small firearms, under the command of powder-loving Dent, welcomed the visitors. They were then conducted by Mr Dent to the upper level, and under his skilful guidance led alone; the various " drives" and •' boards" for a mile or two, so as to enable them to have a full view of everything, with the chance of much smashing of bell-toppers, scraping of shins, and innumerable dabs of candle grease, until they were finally landed in a brilliantly lighted grotto in the lower level, which had in the past been the scene of three vice-regal banquets and others, like the one prepared for this occasion, of a private character. Here the company soon made themselves at home, and were not slow in doing duty to the collation and its ad libitum accompaniments, provided by the hospitable proprietors. Mr Hughes, one of the lessees of the mine occupied the chair, and Mr Warden Whitefoord the vice-chair. Mr Hughes, in a few appropriate remarks, intimated that it was not intended that there should be any toasts or speechmaking, but he at once set the ball rolling by askiug the company to join him in extending a hearty welcome to their distinguished visitor, Mr Moriarty, from whose errand to the district he hoped very large advantages would be derived. Of course it might appear odd that while Mr Moriarfcy was asked to settle the differences which existed between the river and the ocean, he should be welcomed in the depths of a coal-pit, but that did not mean he should be able to reconcile fire and water ; what he was wanted to do was to make water the servant of fire, and to enable the great wealth of fire-giving power this coast possessed to be brought to the great world's market. He felt that Mr Moriarty would have a difficulty in understanding the exact position of this part of the Colony because he came from an old country, and this was a country it might be said of yesterday. Eight years ago the Grey district was as impenetrable a bush as the forest around them — to-day it was the home of thousands of energetic determined men, who would not allow any opportunity to slip of developing its resources. He could not tell what Mr Moriarty's opinion might be, but this he could say that if that eminent engineer would produce a practical scheme of harbor improvement, which would admit ships of a capacity sufficient to perform the great traffic which the mineral wealth of this coast offers to the world— let the amount be what it might he (the speaker) would take it upon himself, on the part of the Greymouth. community, to say that whatever that amount was, so that it admitted the great commerce of the world to the port, this young community and its connections would see his plans turned into facts. He should be sorry to be guilty of what Trollope called " blowing" but he had no objection to all the world knowing that they were energetic determined men, who would not let opportunities slip. Dr Hector had calculated that from this one mine 1000 tons a day could be produced for a century. That was perhaps too long a time to bet upon, but he would not mind taking anybody up for 50 years to produce, say 2000 tons per day. Instead of the paltry thousand tons a month now the lessees would contract to produce 50,000 a month, commencing from to-morrow, that is to say if Mr Moriarty could show that they could get the coal away. And that gentleman must not suppose that this was the best mine in the d istrict. True, |it was the best opened, but it was not one or two seams, but the whole distriot which must be considered. It would be an encouragement to Mr Moriarty to know that his labors would not be fruitless. He thought that he I could pledge this community, including the lessees, that whatever was requisite to accomplish the great problem of making the river accessible to large vessels should be carried into effect. If the Government did not prosecute the works, private enterprise would. It was not necessary for him to say that the somewhat bold course Greymouth had taken did not imply the slightest shadow of disrespect to the great professional skill the Colony possessed, but all over the Colony were needs aa great as theirs, and the professional resources of the Government were, no doubt, strained to the utmost. Government, under the inspiration of Mr Yogel, whom he might venture to call, financially speaking, the discoverer of New Zealand, was proceeding on improvements with marvellous vigor, and, if ten times the professional talent were available, there was occupation for it everywhere, and all the modest Greymouthians could presume to say was that they would not be postponed to anybody. They had this security— that this business wquld nqt be mjsunderstood. Mr Yogel would not blame them for haying caught some of his noble enthusiasm, and were determined, not "only to implore Jupiter, but to put their own shoulders to the wheel. Mr Morlabw thanked the company

heartily for the kind reception he had received, and expressed high gratification at what he had seen of the coal resources of the district. He had been agreeably astonished at the vastness of the mineral wealth, the signs of which he saw around him, and predicted that the district would become one of the most extensive coal exporting places in the world. He begged to be excused from expressing any decided opinion upon the capability of the harbor for improvement until he had completed his examination, he thought however that it was quite possible that something could be done. He could give them some information regarding the harbor works at Newcastle, N.S.W., which would no doubt be interesting. Some fifteen years ago a sum of .£20,000 was voted by the New South Wales Legislature for the improvement of the port of Newcastle ; this was, however, found to be utterly insufficient, and fresh votes were taken until in the whole something oVer .£200,000 was expended. The condition of this expenditure was that there should be a tonnage rate levied of 4d per ton upon all vessels loading at the port. This went on for some time until the Government found that the enormously increased trade of the port would enable them to abolish this rate. This was done last year, and Newcastle was now practically a free port. W. S. Smith, Esq. (Mayor of Greymouth) proposed — "Success to the Bruner Coal-mine, and prosperity to the lessees," and in doing so complimented the lessees upon the large public spirit they had manifested since they came into the district, and assured them on behalf of the Borough Council of Greymouth that that body would cordially co-operate in any efforts made to secure the full development of the coal resources of the district.

The toast of the Superintendent and Executive of the Province of Nelson, evoked very general expressions of satisfaction at their having turned over a new leaf and adopted a policy calculated to push the Province ahead. Mr Warden Whitefoord replied in suitable terms, as the representative of the Provincial Government, and Mr Ivess, as a member of the Provincial Council of Nelson, stated that he. knew from personal assurances that the Superintendent was very anxious to assist the people of this district in carrying out their views with regard to the improvement of the harbor, and that he cordiaUy approved of the steps taken in engaging the services of Mr Moriarty. The toast of the members of the General Assembly was responded to by the Hon. H. H. Lahman, aud Mr W. H. Harrison, the latter of whom stated that he was sure that the Government aud Legislature of the Colony were extremely anxious to see the development of the rich coal-fields of the West Coast, and he was satisfied that any sum required to make Greymouth a good port would be voted, provided that some feasible scheme was submitted to them. He hoped much from Mr Moriarty's visit, and he thought that so far from the Government taking umbrage at the independent action this community had taken, they would recognise it as an evidence of public spirit aud unbounded faith in their own resources, and would be much more inclined to help those who helped themselves, than to assist those who supinely waited for events. Mr Harrison proposed the next toast, which was "The Borough Council of Greymouth," including the ex-Mayors and the officers of the Council present. The toast was responded to by W. S. Smith, Esq., Mr J. Kilgour, Mr E. Masters, and Mr Glen. Some of the company then proceeded to inspect the tunnel workings of the Grey- j mouth Coal Co., under Alabaster's Hotel, j This is the place where the coal was first attacked, but a fault was met with which has now been overcome, and a splendid seam of coal exposed at a distance of about 100 ft from the entrance of the drive. The coal is of very superior quality, quite equal in every respect to the best samples from the Brunner Mine. The Company intend to sink a shaft upon this seam at a short distance behind Alabaster's, and will strike " ile " at about 60ft. A start was then made for town, which was reached shortly before five o'clock, everyone being highly delighted with their trip. We must not omit to say that Mr Dent took very great pains to explain everything relating to the mine.