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New Zealand Mail, Issue 1748, 6 September 1905, Page 48

A revival of the coal industry is expected in the Brunner district. There was a function the other day at the mine of the Tyneside Proprietary, Ltd., when the directors and a party of friends inspected a new screen and pickingtable, just introduced. The coal is tipped on a screen from the small trucks at the pit’s mouth, the slack and smaller particles going right through the bare, the screened article being carried along a travelling table 20ft long by 4ft wide. At either side of the tables are two lads, who pick out all the stone and doubtful material as it passes along. By the time it has reached the end of the travelling bench there only remains good coal, which falls into the railway trucks below. At a champagne luncheon, presided over by-Mr Joseph Petrie, it was stated, in the course of the speeches, that for the year ended October, 1904, the company had paid £25,435 14s 8d in wages alone, and for the past ten months £19,377 8s 4d. The number of hands employed was 171. It was maintained by several speakers that the Tyneside coal is equal to the best in the Southern Hemisphere, either for household, steam, or gas purposes. There was some talk of reopening the Wallsend mine by the Tyneside Proprietary, and it was stated that there was in it a large seam of first-class coal ready to bo worked, if orders were obtainable.