VALUABLE COAL SEAM

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVI, Issue 3447, 19 November 1932, Page 5

VALUABLE COAL SEAM

IN THE TATU VALLEY. RIGHT TO MINE REFUSED. A protest against the action of the Minister of Mines in refusing to grant him the right to mine coal on the ground that there were too many coal leases in existence was made by Thomas McGrory, Tatu, Ohura, in a petition to Parliament on Thursday. The petitioner stated that on October 31, 1932, he applied to the Commissioner of Crown Lands, New Plymouth, for a coal lease to work, a valuable seam of coal which he discovered in the Tatu Valley, about sixmiles from the Heao railway station, on the Stratford-Okahukura line. His application had no objectors, and it was recommended by the Commissioner that the lease should be granted. He claimed that there was an assured market for his coal in the Ohura, Taumarunui, and Taranaki districts, where consumers would benefit on account of cheaper railway freights. If the lease were refused, the Tanagarakau Coal Co., Ltd., having a freehold property (which was not worth exploiting without the particular coal area) would procure the right to work the seam and obtain all the benefits of the petitioner’s investigations.