DOES NELSON POSSESS COAL?

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVII, Issue XLVII, 19 April 1912, Page 1

DOES NELSON POSSESS COAL?

SYNDICATE TO INVESTIGATE

Sufficient shares (£1000) have been subscribed in connection with the Nelson Coal Prospecting- and Development Syndicate, Ltd., to enable registration, and as the use of the Government drill has been practically promised, it is ..expected that boring operations will soon t>e commenced. There have been many indications that coal exists in tho vicinity, and it is satisfactory to observe that an attempt is to be made to locate it. ;

Dr. Ferdinand Hoclistetter, in his celebrated work on New Zealand, page 83, 'says in reference to the coal outcrop at Jenkins' Hill, Bishcpdale, Nelson, of which he made a thorough examination: , A"\BVwv\)c.d sX&Ve ci t/on and crumA/ec/ appearance 0/ tfie eoa/ we're wo't laxowtaNAe \o V\\e m\\Ymg evvVetprise, which was soon given up. But various indications lead one to suppos'o that further south on the outskirts of the Waimea Plains, in the direction of Richmond, there are also beds of coal. Experiments by boring would most probably be apt to decide the question." Dr. Bell, Government Geologist, id a report to the Government laid upon the table of the Houses of Parliament recently, says on page 9:—"Coal-bearing rocks fringe the base of the mountains skirting the Waimea Plains "on the south? east' side, running diagonally acroßS the sub-division from the Brook-to Brightwater. 'lt is quite probable, too, that they underlie the Moutere and recent gravels to the north-westward on the low country. It is the writer's opinion that both Enner Glynn seam and the Brook-street seam have been profoundly influenced by the great fault that runs along the base of the mountains forming the south-eastern boundary of the Waimea Grabsn mentioned before. This accounts for the great irregularity in the dip of the seams and for the shattered nature of the coal. On the Brook the coal beds-have been tilted at a very high angle along the case of the fault line, and have in Enner Glynn creek actually been overturned. Away from tho fault on the low country to the northwest it is thought from exposures near Belgrove, 'that' *the ccpal-bearing . rocka will .assume either a. horizontal altitude, or at, .least a very moderate inclination, and it is ih this undisturbed locality it may be suggested tliat bcrting for coal should be conducted." \ , f

The foregoing quotations give reasonable grounds for hope that the syndicate's efforts will not be in vain—at any rate, they are such as to warrant investigations being made.