NEW COLLIERY COMPANY

Southland Times, Issue 19173, 18 February 1924, Page 11

NEW COLLIERY COMPANY

IMPORTANT SOUTHLAND VENTURE. PLAN TO DEVELOP 2,400 COALBEARING ACRES. Announcement is made of an important project to develop 2,400 acres of coal-bear-ing land on the Birchwood Estate, Southland, by the Morley Collieries, Limited. This new company which is being floated with a proposed capital of £120,000, purposes to take over the mining rights of allotments 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 22 of the Estate, which altogether occupies 2,400 acres of coal bearing areas. Professor Park, of the Otago University, has estimated that 320 proved acres contain 14,000,000 tons of hard brown and pitch coal, while, to the east and west of this area are, he is confident, many score million tons. To work these immense deposits out in the proved area alone, would probably take 140 years. Mr Walter Leitch, mining engineer, of wide Australian and New Zealand experience; and Mr A. S. Gillanders, one of the managers of the N.Z. Coal Company’s Kaitangata Mine have separately reported on the areas to be leased. Their reports strikingly support Professor Park’s findings. They show that the Birchwood Estate extends over two valleys or basins, the Ohai and the Orauea. Underlying these are three seams, the upper seams ranging from 4 to 13 feet thick, the middle from 9 to 30 feet, and the lower from 54 to 9 feet thick. The coals are hard brown coal, that in the middle and lower seams belonging to the best classes of pitch coal in New Zealand, and non-caking. Mr Walter Leitch declares he has no hesitation in saying that the No. 2 and No. 3 seams will prove to be valuable when used in marine boilers with reduced draft. Professor Park says: “The lowest seam is of higher grade than any known Tertiary coal in Southland, Otago or Auckland.” Mr A. S. Gillanders says of the same seams: “I would place these coals superior to any coals in the Southern District..” An important feature from the development standpoint is the proximity of the Ohai railway. The coal can be placed in the railway waggons at the pithead. The provisional directors of the Morley Collieries, Limited are well-known, comprising as they do, Messrs W. D. Hunt, Managing Director, Wright, Stephenson and Co., Ltd; R. J. Gilmour, Managing Director, Southland Times, Invercargill; C. J. Brodrick, of Brodrick and Royds, Registered Architects, Invercargill; D. W. McKay, of D. W. McKay, Ltd., Auctioneers, Invercargill; Hon. A. F. Hawke, M.L.C., late Manager, The National Mortgage and Agency Co. of N.Z. Ltd., Invercargill; P. H. Vickery, of P. H. Vickery Ltd., Motor Importers, Invercargill; Wm. Macalister, of Macalister Bros., Barristers and Solicitors, and Crown Solicitor, Invercargill; and Dr J. Garfield Crawford, Surgeon, Invercargill. To show local confidence in the project over 16,000 shares were reserved in Southland before the Prospectus was even issued. Though the nominal capital is £120,000 it is intended to issue only 95,000 £1 shares, on which it is intended to call up not more than 10s to 15s per share. 20,000 of the issue will be 7 per cent, cumulative preference shares. There are privately-owned mines near and on the Birchwood Estate already successfully operating, the demand for their output having increased from 17,463 tons in 1918, to 136,876 tons in 1923. That demand has during the current financial year increased by a further 16 per cent. It is stated that the demand for Birchwood coal, because of its superior quality, is steadily increasing in the north. £1 shares of one of the private mines in the vicinity have sold for £4 each by public tender. This is the first and it will probably be the last time the general public will be given the opportunity of investing in a coal-mine in Southland. Prospectus fully describing the enterprise can be obtained from any member of a Stock Exchange affiliated to the Stock Exchange Association of New Zealand; any branch of the National Bank of New Zealand, Ltd., or the Company’s Interim Secretary, Mr R. B. Caws, Dee Street, InvcrcargilL ____________