CHURCH COAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIII, Issue 15, 15 May 1912, Page 4

CHURCH COAL.

Some little time ago the “Taranaki Herald” published a letter from the Hon. T. Kelly respecting the coal I'ound in the Tangarakau Gorge, and giving an analysis which showed it to be almost identical in character and quality with the well-known Taupiri coal. Its existence in the Tangarakau Gorge has been known for many years, and it is known also that similar coal underlies' an enormous area of country in the north-eastern part of Taranaki. Over eight years ago it was recorded in the “Herald” that Messrs Bercsford and Esdaile had found a seam outcropping on their property near Mangaroa, but it has apparently been left to Mr A. Barnett, of the Waitewhena Road, to discover a thick seam in such a position that it can be mined cheaply. A representative of the “Ohura Advocate” recently paid a visit to the locality, which is about fourteen miles from Mangaroa and less than that in a straight line to the navigable waters of the Mokau. About 200 ft. above, the level of the main road near by, Mr Barnett showed .him a seam of coal 12ft. or 15ft. thick, overlying a sandstone formation, and traced horizontally in various places on the hillsides. In appearance and hardness it is similar to the Huntly coal, and when struck with a pick seems to have a hard flinty nature. That a vast quantity of coal exists there is beyond all doubt, as it makes its appearance on the opposite sides of the hills without any apparent variation in thickness or quality, and appears to extend over a large area of Mr Barnett’s property of 2000 acres in the direction of the Mokau. It is Mr Barnett’s intention to erect a small aerial tramline from the seam near the road to the flat below, with a view of testing the field. If it should prove to be easily mined and to extend in the direction of the Mokau, the discovery is of considerable interest to Xew Plymouth. The coal is of a quality almost, if not quite, equal to Taupiri, which is brought about 380 miles by rail to Xew Plymouth and sold here at about £2 2s a ton. Yet it is to be found within less than a dozen miles of navigable waters of the Mokau river, at a. point only about sixty miles from the Xew Plymouth breakwater.