THE MOKAU GOAL MEASURES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXII, Issue 244, 10 December 1900, Page 2

THE MOKAU GOAL MEASURES.

Lv our last issue appeared a short account, by the representative of the News, who accompanied the party, of the visit to Mr. Owen's property, which it is proposed to form a company to acquire for the purpose of working the coal measures thereon. The value of the 1 Mokau coal measures is so great that anything relating to them cannot fail to be of interest to our readers. The visit of the party in question has, with out a doubt, satisfied every member of it of the value of Mr, Owen's property. Not only is the land above the average as regards its fertility and suitablity for the ordinary purposes of settlement, but it has other advantages which our representative carefully noted, as follows: —In the first place, the block containing 4,700 aares has a very small proportion of very broken land, all of it being most suitable for grazing purposes, while a considerable porportion consists of very futile valleys and low lying hills. There is also a very large quantity of sawmilliog timber, some of the trees being really magnificient specimens, running up 50 to 60 feet without a branch, of good sawmilling timber. As a site for a sawmill or two, the property is unsurpassed anywhere. The general lay of the land and tjhe position of the creeks make it particularly easy to convey the logs to the mills at the river side where it can be loaded in vessels capable of carrying it to any part of the world without transhipment. Indeed, it is the splendid waterway afforded by the Mokau river, which is deep right up to the banks, which givns a special value to this estate, quite independently of its other advantages, whilst the Mokau river is perimps unequalled anywhere in the colony, at any rate as far up as Mr. Owen's property, for navigation purposes. Id addition to the timber, very valuable deposits of day, suitable for making bricks and' fireclay, and very superior limestone exist. When ®jt is considered that as seen as the Borough Oouncil of New Plymouth adopt building by-laws, necessitating the building of brick buildings or party walls, the question of procuring bricks will be one of very great importance to the people of New Plymouth. The possibility of getting bricks cheaply depends altogether on the carriage, and there is little doubt but that, with the cheaj water carriage between the breakwatei Mid the Mokau, the cost to builders will be very greatly reduced by the manufacture of bricks on . that river The principal value of the estate is however, its coal deposits, and of tht iralue of these an inspection of thi carious outcrops leave no room lor loiibt. On the second evening at tlx :amp, Mr. A. Gordon French, th mining expert- with the party, and i »entleman of very large experience, i Fellow of the Mineralogioal Society o jlreat Britain and Ireland, and alai )f ihe Society of Chemical Industry jave a short but exceedingly interestiu j ecture on the coal deposits on th •state generally, and particularly tbos* leenby the party since its arrival. Mi French gave a very interesting histor if the coal seams and Mr. Owen' ifforts to secure the property and to scure the Assistance of the Hon. W I?. Jennings to form a company to wor! ha coal. He also described tho ex raustive examination of the propert; >y himself and Mr. W. Blanch Brain oining engineer and member of th< Council of South Wales Mining Xnsti iute, etc., aud their report, a repoi vhich every subsequent) cximinatioi iad more than borne out, Mr. Frencl hen gave a technical description of th toal measures and the coal itself. Out irops of coal had been found at froo ifteen to twenty different places on th' istate. An examination of thes iravsd that there were no less than tei votkable seams all above water leve that is, capable oT being drained with rat pumping), varying from 3 feet I nches to 7 feet thick without a fault [he rise of the seams does not ani There exceed 1 in 18, which mean: ihat there are no difficulties to be over iome in conveying the coal to th nouth «f the pit by level tramways vithout any expenditure for shafts an< nachinery. In fact, the coal can I) >ut into the trucks by the miner, an< 'un down to the ship's side withou rouble and at very little expense. A •egarils the quality of the coal, Mr French spoke in the highest terms Tests made of the coal on Mr )wen's property proved that i vas supsrior to most of the coa rom the mines already openei >n the Mokau. It was Bemi ntuminous, without any sulphur, an( eft very little ash. It burns with i itrong bright flame for a long while md finishes with a durable fire o [lowing embers. He was satisfied o ts eminent suitability as a householi md for steam purposes, and some o he seams answered well for gas mak ng. As regards the quantity, then ould be no doubt but that the estimati irst mide would bi exceeded, viz. 10,000 tons of marketable coal pe icre on the 1000 acres the com >any propose acquiring. The fjcilit; vitli which the coal may be worket aay be judged from the fact that a he point where it is proposed to ebi] he coal, the Mokau lliver runs eas ,nd west, and the Manga-Awakim reek almost due north for a distant* if from a mile and a-half to two miles lere the creek turns abruptly north rat two creeks enter it from the south md one at about 1 mile from its moutl rom the north. The banks of ireeks afford a wry easy pathway wit! i good level grade for a tram line, whili ;he outcrops of coil appear along th. oanks of the several creeks. Comitij lowu the river, Mr. French ts.ok tin •epresentative of the News down int: she engine -room of the s.s. Manakai md pointed out the ease with whicl steam was kept up with Mokau coal. Ii reply to questions, the fireman statet that he considered he could keep uj steam as easily with Mokau as witl Westport, only it was necessary ti have the fire bars closer together whei using Mokau, on the other hand th' Mokau coal was cleaner in the furnace The engineer (Mr. Dugdala), '.vhiiecon sidering it a good steam <m»l, though it would require about 23 to 24 owt. o Mokau to equal 20 civt. of He said, however, he would like to t»* it by doing a trip on Mokau coal and i trip on Westport, under the same con ditions, He also pointed out that a tto Wattava Jfrwiog Wprks theypw

ferred Mokau coal to Wesfcport. The fact that the Manukau, with a large cargo of coal oo board, came down on Saturday morning, from bar to bar, in 3£ hours in the tenth of a fairly strong gale, is proof positive that it has fairly good steaming qualities. Mr. French also claims that the coal from Mr. Owen's property is in many respects superior to that from any of the other Mokau mines. One of its most valuable qualities being that it does not deteriorate on exposure to the atmosphere It would not be right to. c6nolude this notice without referring 1 to the en joyable nature of this trip, and. the sociable qualities of all those who joined in it, and of the indebtedness .of everyone, and particularly of the News representative, to Oaptain Jensen, his officars aad crew, for one of the most enjoyable crips it is possible to ipagijie* Although circumstances compiled the News representative to return-'ovarland on the trip up, and while on tho rivei Captain Jensen's courttsy aud the facilities afforded bj- him for thoroughly mastering coal mining, as carried on on the Mokau, are ■ beyond all praise, and, it is , needless to say,- were thoroughly appreciated.