WARONUI COAL MINE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21597, 18 March 1932, Page 13

WARONUI COAL MINE

SALE OF RAILWAY LINE AND MACHINERY (From Ook Own Correspondent.) MILTON, March 10. The final stage ip the somewhat lengthy and chequered history of coal mining ventures in Fortification and Waronui districts was reached this afternoon, when the railway line between Milton and Waronui, together with buildings and all mining machinery, were disposed of by auction. Attempts at mining at Waronui, under the ownership of the Bruce Railway and Coal Company, practically ceased after the tragic double fatality in September, 1930, when the mine manager and a miner wore suffocated whilst attempting to clear a blocked air-shaft. This, fateful happening, combined with an expensive but futile attempt to prospect a new seam of coal, practically sealed the fate of the industry in that particular locality. The Bruce Coal Company gave notice to the owners of the land relinquishing their lease of the mining rights. About 13 months ago the administrators in the estate of the late John M'Quorn Begg (Hillend), owners of Waronui land and the railway line, offered at auction the underground mineral rights, the railway line, and machinery, hitherto worked by the Bruce Railway and Coal Company, on the lease expiring. The underground mineral rights and railway line were then purchased for about £IOOO by a private syndicate, which also purchased the principal part of the machinery. The syndicate was headed by Mr James Carruthers, sen., of Dunedin (mine manager at Waronui for several years), who possessed unbounded optimism regarding the potentialities of further development of the bituminous coal deposits. Through the recent death of Mr Carruthers, however, the trustees in his 'estate decided to offer the railway line, bridges, and machinery at auction. The sale was conducted this afternoon by .Mr L. D. Ritchie, auctioneer on behalf of Messrs John Reid and Sons (Dunedin). There was a large attendance. The railway line—a distance of approximately six miles, containing an estimated total of 400 tons of 401 b rails, and about 11,000 sleepers—was offered first. Bidding commenced at £3OO, and rose to £560, at which figure the line was purchased by Mr Thomas Scurr, of Dunedin. The “D ” class 23 h.p. railway locomotive, in good working condition, was purchased by the Kaitangata Coal Company for £lsl—or £1 above the vendor’s sole bid. Two 12-ton Avery weighbridges sold at £4 and £7 each. A large steam Lancashire boiler (1201 b Government pressure certificate) was knocked down at scrap-iron price of £6. and another dredge boiler (1401 b pressure) realised £l. The machinery, including pumps,- haulage engines, boring plant, was all sold at “give-away" prices, and machinery which cost probably thousands of pounds to install did not realise more than £75 altogether. Electric motor generators suffered a similar fate, a 75 h.p. and a 42 h.p. Westinghouse electric generator each being sold at £5. Six miles of telephone line, with all posts and insulators, were disposed of for £5. The whole complement of bridges, containing approximately 24,000 superficial feet of hardwood timber, wooden culverts and the cattle stops, was sold for £45. The conditions of sale are that the railway line must be lifted within six months, and the bridges thereafter. The railway line was built by the Fortification Coal Company in 1900, which, after five years’ operations, went into liquidation. The company’s rights were then acquired in 1902. New seams were opened up, and the latter company continued mining until the latter end of 1930.