17

C—3b

118. Mutches Pit. —(8/11/93) : There -was no one at the pit. The stripping is from 2ffc. to 3ft. only. I could see about 4ft. of coal, but cannot say if this is the full thickness of it. The drainage is lifted about 4ft. into a long open drain to the spot by a very small water-wheel. The floor of the pit was covered with water and rubbish at the time of my visit. 119. Nicol's Pit. —(B/11/93): Since my previous visit some of the stripping has been done at the head of the open cut, and in the bed of the gully in which the coal was originally found, where it is 4ft. deep, and from 6ft. to Bft. thick. The floor of this pit is so much covered with debris that the thickness of coal could only be guessed at. There was no one at the pit. 120. A. McDonald's Edendale Mine. —(lo/11/93): On the day of my visit the low-lying land at the pit and around it was covered with water by the heavy rains of the previous day, the Mataura Eiver being also in high flood, and backing the water over the low-lying lands. Mr. McDonald has gone over considerable ground during the past year, and his working-face is now gradually approaching the higher ground and terrace. On the low flat the stripping is 3ft., and at the edge of the terrace from 4ft. to 6ft., and all good moving-ground, which is thrown into the worked-out place. The coal is hewn out with very little labour ; but it requires plenty of horse-power to cart it through the fields to the main road, near Wyndham. 121. Shields's Pit. —(lo/11/93) : The work is being continued into the terrace from the low flat, and the coal appears to keep very level, with about 6ft. of stripping, which consists of fine sand and gravel, easily removed. The thickness of coal taken out is from sft. to 9ft. The stripping is thrown into the pit to reduce the body of water to be pumped out, as it rises only to the level of a shallow outlet drain. The pumping is done by hand. 122. Marshall's Pit.— (lo/11/93) : This pit joins McDonald's on the low-lying side of the flat. I could only see the top of the wire fence above the flood-water at the time of my visit. The coal removed is for private use only. 123. Munro's Pit, Wyndham.—(l3/11/93): The stripping is generally about 7ft., and not likely to get any deeper. About 9 square chains have been worked during the past few years, and there is enough of the coal reserve to keep Munro going for some years yet. The seam is generally 3ft. thick. The pit is situated in the low Mataura Flat, and subject to inundations by the river-floods. It was all under water on the 11th instant, \yhen the river is at its ordinary level the drainage stands about 2ft. deep in the pit. 124. Gauge's Pit. —(l 3/11/93) : This pit joins Munro's, and is on about the same level. The coal is 3ft. thick in places, and the drainage has to be baled out by hand. 125. Trotter's Pit. —(ll/11/93): Following the coal up the bed of the gully is discontinued, although the stripping there is next to nothing. The seam is now being worked on the southern side of the gully, where the stripping is from 3ft. to 4ft. From Bft. to 10ft. of coal is being taken out, but this does not touch the floor of the seam. There was no one at the pit. 126. Mrs. Monagan's Pit. —(11/11/93) : Mrs. Monagan gets a little coal from time to time, as required for her own use only. No stripping appears to have been done since my previous visit twelve months ago. The ground is very hard, and the stripping is from sft. to 15ft. The coal is a poor quality. 127. Hokonui Coal-mine; J. Hayes, Manager. —(ll/3/93) : This mine is being gradually opened out from the dip-drive in a body of very good coal, and there is every reason to believe that coal of equal thickness will continue to a great depth. The little engine and winding-plant is capable of doing all required of it till the trade is more fully developed. At about 90ft. from the bottom of the engine-plane a double-cylinder pumping-engine is fixed, said to be capable of pumping B,ooogal. per hour. The steam is conveyed in pipes from the boiler of the winding-engine, and an exhaust-tank is fixed by the side of the pump to prevent the steam heating the air-current through the mine. The principal workings (on 20/1/94) are on the north side of the engine-plane, and the old workings on the west side of the dip are being robbed backward. There are about fourteen working-places in the mine just now, with plenty of room to increase the number if required. All the workingplaces are in good order, and the air is good. The extension of the railway-line (about a mile) to the site of the proposed shaft is now nearly completed, and the locomotive is already hauling on the extension. Temporary coal-shoots have been fixed over the line to load the wagons, where the mine-boxes for the time are being hauled by horses from the pit mouth. The proposed shaft site is about 30 chains to the westward of the outcrop and present pit mouth, and on the line of dip of the seam, where it is estimated the coal will be found at 400 ft. deep. It is intended to start sinking the shaft at an early date. The length of railway-line from the new pit to Winton is about eleven miles. 128. Fairfax Mine, Fairfax. —(17/4/93): The underground mining started a short time ago is a great success ; the roof, with the present timbering, is as smooth as the day the coal was removed. There are only two men employed in the mine, and the output, though steady, is small. The working-places are now 5 chains in from the open face. The air was very bad at the time of my visit, but Mr. Graham said it was owing to a shot a few minutes earlier having been fired. The mine was full of smoke, and its movement was very sluggish, notwithstanding that there are two drives into the mine from the open face, and two airways from one to the other in the 5 chains driven. The men did not intend to go into the mine till the air was good. ' 129. Isla Bank, Fairfax. —(17/4/93): An open face, with from 12ft. to 15ft. of stripping, which is getting deeper every few yards of headway made up the flat, while the thickness of coal—6ft.— remains the same. Tunnelling might be tried with advantage, and with as good a chance of success as at Graham and Todd's mine, close by. The open face is solid and safe for the workmen. 130. Nightcaps Coal Company's Mine. —(lB/4/93) : The open face of coal stripped by sluicing operations some years ago is again being hewn out by four or five men. The face of coal is lift, thick, and of first-class quality, and the area stripped is about equal to 2 chains long by 1 wide, and of even depth. The top seam in the mine, which was being taken out at the time of my visit, is 17ft. thick, lying on from 3ft. to 4ft. of shale, which is resting on 9ft. of good coal, making 26ft. of coal which is being worked in one face. It is estimated there are 15 acres of ground carrying this body of coal. The roof in places is not very good, consequently from 2ft, to 3ft. of 3—C. 3b.