C. —2.

At the Kamo Colliery most of the miners are working in the No. 3 mine, where the main dip headings are now over 27 chains down from the surface. A5O ft. downthrow fault was met and driven through. Headings to east and west outbye this fault are being driven, and those oil the west side, are now in over 6 chains from the main dip. Pillaring from the east working of the No. 4 mine has been completed, and a pair of places are being driven to work an area north of the Kamo Railway-station. In the Hikurangi Mine the main or No. 1 stone drive reached the coal-seam at the No. 12 level in June, 1939, and before the end of the year it had been connected to the No. 14 west level off the No. 2a dip. All levels above the No. 9 west level had been stopped at faults when in only a few chains, but the No. 9 and the lowest west levels were driven farther in, and the No. 16 west level reached a distance of 7 chains from the line of the main drive before an inrush of water early in the year inundated all the west side workings. All places to the east are in troubled country, and the outlook for this mine appears to be a very gloomy one. From the Rotowaro Mine the 1939 output was chiefly from pillar-extraction. A new mine is being opened up west of the Rotowaro Township to work a seam of coal fully 15 ft. in thickness. A branch railway is being made from the Rotowaro Railway-station, and a new all-steel screening plant has been ordered from a reputable English maker. At the Renown Colliery, development to the north was observed after extensive repairs had been made to the haulage road to stop a widespread " creep." The main headings in this direction, however, are approaching an area of stony coal, so may not extend much farther. Development continues steadily to the south and east in good coal, and consideration is now being given to working an area farther to the east from a pair of new headings to be driven from the surface. At the Wilton No. 1 mine, pillar-extraction was continued, and the main heading in the No. 2 mine was advanced 15 chains in the 8 ft. seam. In the Glen Afton Colliery, development was chiefly in the " E " section headings and in three panels to the east off these headings. In the "L " section, a stone dip was started to cross a7O ft. downthrow fault, and in September, 1939, it was close to the 11 ft. seam which had been proved by a borehole ahead. Owing to the fire in the main return airway, no work has been done in "L " section since September, 1939, nor in the remaining pillars in " K " section. In the Mac Donald Colliery the No. 4 section has been extended nearly a quarter of a mile in good coal 23 ft. thick, and panels are being formed to the north-west and south-east. Headings are being driven to an area of unworked coal west of " A " section. At the Rotowaro carbonization works, 39,573 tons of coal were carbonized in 1939, or 161 tons more than in 1938. Prom the raw coal, 22,089 tons of carbonettes were produced, 163,922 gallons of light and heavy oils, together with 47,766 gallons of creosote and 638 tons of pitch. At the Sockburn plant the output of briquettes, 6,3J 2 tons, was 423 tons more than the output for 1938. From Messrs. Briquettes, Ltd.'s, plant at Onehunga, 1,016 tons of briquettes were produced in 1939. At Denniston a large steam plant is being installed to generate electric power for the Buller district. The older plant has been supplying Granity and the Millerton Colliery as well as the Denniston Collieries with electricity for some time, and now, to augment their hydro station supply, the Westport Borough is to purchase power from the Westport Coal Co. At the power-house on the Denniston plateau a large Babeock and Wilcox two-drum water-tube boiler is being installed. It is 18 ft. wide and 12 ft. high, and has a heating surface of 4,780 square feet. It is constructed for a final working pressure of 2501b. per square inch and a fuel temperature of 606° F. both measured at the superheater outlet. The boiler's automatic chain-grate stoker is 9 ft. wide and 12ft. long, and the superheater has 1,780 square feet of heating surfaceOwing to the much higher efficiency of such a boiler over the older plant, it is anticipated there will be a large saving in coal consumption at the power-house. The compressed-air-driven " Korfmann " coal-cutting machine purchased for use in the Strongman State Colliery was given a trial at that mine, but as the coal appeared to be of too hard a nature for such a light machine it was taken to the Morgan Dip section of the Liverpool State Colliery, where it has given satisfactory results. Beside the development in the Morgan dip area of the Liverpool Colliery, headings and levels have been driven during the year in the Kimbell west dip section, and the Anderson dip has been extended another 10 chains. The main drive of the Strongman Colliery intersected the upper seam early in 1939, and after the completion-of the return airway coal-production commenced in February, 1939. The two-mile long endless-rope system from the steel bins at Rapahoe to the engine some 30 chains underground was brought into use in September, and by the end of the year nearly 30,000 tons of coal had been produced from the new colliery. The dip of the upper seam varies considerably, and it is much faulted so development cannot, as yet, be carried out to a set plan. At the Blackball new mine the two dip drives in stone intersected the coal-seam, and a belt conveyor has been installed to carry the output up to the screens on the other side of Ford's Creek. Another conveyor from the coal face will feed the one already in place. The air-driven " Korfmann " coal-cutter is still at the Wallsend Colliery, but it has not had much use lately. The lower places in the No. 1 slant dip were flooded, and a new electrically-driven pump has been ordered to dewater this area. In the Rope Road extension section development has been continuous, and the main heading is now 38 chains down below the brow of No. 1 slant dip.

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