UNCOVERED FOREST

Northern Advocate, 1 April 1935, Page 6

UNCOVERED FOREST

ON NINETY MILE BEACH COAL SEAM SHOWING. , PAST DAYS RECALLED. Far Northern people are showing considerable interest in the uncovering near Hukatere on the Ninety Mile ■Beach of a buried forest and a seam of coal. The week-end saw a large .number of. visitors at the spot, which is near the present day motor camp, and the garage used a few years ago by Mr Norman Smith, when he was in the North with the object of breaking" the world’s land speed record. ‘ Along the beach in'the locality is a ■ range of sand hills, and behind these is a series:.of lagoons, the water from which'' normally seeps through the sand;; The heavy rainfall, which resulted in the wash-out, must have ‘gathered at the low narrow neck of the river. On its tearing course to the sea it had cut numerous canyons. Large Blocks oi Coal. The * uncovered trees are all about the same height, while others, partly buried in hard sandstone, are about 6 feet high. Below the coal seam there are no visible trfees. The water is flowing over the coal seam which is about 5 feet deep. In a branch canyon, however, it is nearly 10 feet through. Thereds a narrow seam of bitumen coal at that point, and there is a distinct smell of sulphur. Large blocks of coal, weighing hundreds of pounds, are scattered on the, river banks near the beach. It is learned that lignite coal seams have previously been found at Parengarenga, , and, on the Ninety Mile ■ Beach, at Hukatere, Waihi and Ahipara. No serious effort has been made to work the seams at any of these places. In the past when a flax-mill was working at Hukatere coal from \v the region was tried in the boilers but if, was not satisfactory. | Mr J. Reid, the only white settler on the beach, has stated this is not the; first time sections of the forest have .been uncovered after heavy rain, -- Near the present wash-out stumps had shown before, and near the Bluff, at the northern end of the beach, a large area was uncovered some 30 Jyears ago. x There are at present / stumps still standing about three-quar- .{ ters of a mile from the beach at tha£ point. : ' At the Bluff. The uncovering, of the stumps was caused by the action of the sea in washing out the sand bar between the ~ mainland and the rock at the Bluff. At that, time the Bluff was surrounded,, by water, and was not, as at present, an island at high tide only. Since that time the beach has silted up, and the trees covered. However, Mr Reid’s explanation has proved the Maori legend that the Bluff , was once joined to the mainland and that the top part of the Ninety Mile Beach was a separate beach reached by a track over >-the Bluff. - About 25 years ago there were clumps of native bush growing near the beach, but, with the exception of a few small pohutukawas near the Bluff, all have' been covered by drifting sand. The Maori version is that the northern part area was covered by forests, but that when these were burned, the sand crept in. ; To substantiate this statement, kauri gum has been dug up in that area, -and burnt clay has also been found.