WAIPA COLLIERIES.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 26, 22 May 1914, Page 3

WAIPA COLLIERIES.

OPEKING OF HEW CO A!, MINE THE WAIKATO. . r.v- I. G' ’ Advico hits just been ''iT.'ivod by fcls.i '(tjmdrns of Wuipa .Ual!-.v y il 1(4 Collieries, limited, 1 tliat IlkW vk.: inspecting engineer ba» gmnv* od a permit "for *tiie carrying cl coal over Hi ' Company’s railway, ami that .... imputing engineer of :U»il:iV I)< i>. i'iin (Til lift‘4 gvhlltcd P'-hims.-sioii T:!- OhVfHiili nf ra4i„fty U.'Uvb

o ran oVoi* Inc XMnteaarT liiio.- This the Company to Place iff? . 3a | upon the market immediate'?.-, ;'ul will lie a welcome additional .oitrcc of supply 'during the .coming vinter.

rile C:nVl)tMy’fi c.Cil iii’oas ate y itil- • t c nl at To Aka lea in tli6* Waiihite, ix,-mile's from the Main Trunk line, C'c Company having constructed a 'din-ay 'to junction with the Main i'rank line at Xge.niawahia. Tho •aiUvay was particularly ‘difficult and

iiocwsivo.ov construction. Vue Vvai- ),) river lultl tO he crossed, tile bridge for which consists ol three seventyvaot xku ms and five touty-five-foot • puns. There is also a viaduct crossng Slonov Creek -some .180 feet in length, and in addition to this there ire some twenty-three smaller bridges crossing tho creek traversing the valley through which the: Company’s line aas been constructed. The contractors for- the earthwork

ad bridges, Donald McLean and Co. completed their work in J anuary of this year, and the Company-, with its employees and locomotive, has done the laying of the x’ails and sleepers, and the ballasting, as indicated above, the Government engineers have, now passed the line. The Railway Department is at present engaged in making extensive additions at the junction at Ngaruawahia in anticipation of the coal traffic from the Company’s mine. The mine has been laid out in the most approved and up-to-date me r thods. The principal haulage will be done by gravitation, the empty tubs being hauled up the main incline by the weight of the filled tubs going down, and the working will be from adits in the hillside for many years to come. Sufficient development work has been done at the mine to permit of a large output from the beginning of operations. There are two main shafts from which the Company’s coal seam is being worked at different levels. The coal seam averages ,in thickness from eleven to twelve feet, and,the Company’s mine mailager, Mr Thomas , Thomson, M.1.M.E., late inspector of mines at. Duhedin, has expressed himself in glowing terms of the quality'of the coal. There is no trace of stone bands of any description, and.'the coal jis ‘ coming out clean, hai;d ; and dry, and is an idea) coal for household ahjl 1 steaming purposes, burning as it does to a white ash without clinker of any' kind, and with the minimum of sulphur. Recent analysis furnished by the Dominion analyst shows that the coal is equal, if not superior, to the best Waikato coals. At the bottom of the mine incline is situated the huge screening plant and the necessary buildings. The screening plant has been supplied by Edgar, A,Hep .and Co.y oh , Sheffield; and the coal,,cojnes through, it in the various clashes ,as required djrect into the railway trucks., .The principal power for ,thp mine, will, b.e supplied from a hugeiLubcock and,"Wilcox boiler, in conjunction with an electric generator an.d dynamo......

At the mine a new township has sprung up, which has been called ClenMassey, and the Company itself has built an accommodation, house and cottages for the miners, and in addition to vthis a good many buildings have been aroeted by private individuals. The fact that the Company is now on the market wiuT coal will he of interest to alb consumers in the North Island, and particularly to the many shareholders who are financially interested in the Company in this district. Messrs Masters and Son, Stratford, have been appointed wholesale agents for the Taranaki province.