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Officers of the Coal Survey are now at work on a bulletin on New Zealand coal resources that will give the geological picture of the various fields, with recent analyses to form a background for the statistical and quantitative information. Particulars of the activities of the three organizations mentioned above are as under: — Coal Research Committee The work of the Coal Research Committee is reviewed in the Committee's annual, report (Coal Report No. 250). The main sections of the report are summarized as follows : Coal Survey (Geological) Coal Survey field-work has made steady progress during the year with the strengthening of district offices, personnel, and the establishment of a district office at Ngaruawahia as the headquarters of the work in the Waikato field. Good progress has been made with the mapping of the Kaitangata Coalfield, which major work is now well in hand, and the publication of sheets is proceeding steadily. At Ohai, work has been largely confined to the correlation of a large amount of drill-hole data for both the overall coalfield picture and the close prospecting of opencast projects. At Mataura, drilling was continued on the Southland lignites confined to Crown lands. Activity on the West Coast has been confined to Reefton, Garvey Creek, Fletcher Creek, and Punakaiki Coalfields. Exploratory drilling on West Coast fields has been closely studied for correlation purposes. The North Island activity has been concentrated on the Waikato Coalfield following the establishment of a district office at Ngaruawahia in September, ]949. In addition, regular sampling has been carried out by two groups in all the mines of the South Island, the southern group sampling Southland, Otago, and Canterbury, and the western group sampling Westland and Nelson. Coal reports continue to be issued steadily, and during 1949 twenty-six reports prepared by field officers were issued. An additional step has been the publication as coal reports of reports prepared by Mines Department officers ; this will permit the placing on record of many valuable reports on prospecting operations. Coal Reports Nos. 217-243 were published during the year. Safety in Mines Safety-in-mines work has been concerned mainly with mine dusts, explosives, and accident-prevention. Professor J. Ivon Graham has taken up the Chair of Coal-mining at the University of Otago and has commenced investigation of mining problems closely associated with the safe working of the mines. Coal Utilization Th 6 main activities in coal utilization have been connected with the supply of special fuels for iron and steel trials in the electric furnace at Onekaka and the setting-up of laboratory equipment for the investigation of the forms of sulphur in coal-gas. The extraction of hydrogen sulphide from coal-gas is still under consideration, and a pilot plant has been set up to operate on the principle of the Thylox system. Coal Research Laboratory This laboratory carries out all analyses connected with the survey, utilization, and safety-in-mines programmes. In all, 1,427 samples were analysed. Seventy-one per cent, were from drill-holes, 17 per cent, were face and run-of-mine samples taken in accordance with the Coal Survey's systematic sampling scheme, and the remaining 12 per cent, covered mine airs, mine dusts, outcrops, industrial samples, &c.

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