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Waikato District At Rotowaro, limited development was carried out, production being mainly from pillar-extraction from previously developed areas, whilst at Alison No. 1 Mine, where all development has been completed, coal-winning was confined solely to pillar coal. At Alison No. 2 Mine all coal was won from development work. The crawler-type coalcutters and power drills have been used with success in this colliery. Operations continued normally at the Eenown Colliery, which was recently acquired by the State. At Glen Massey the extraction of coal from the No. 2 Mine was completed and the mine closed down. The No. 3. Wilton Mine has also ceased production and coal-winning is confined to the No. 3 Extended Mine, in which the area available for further development seems limited. Although some years of coal-winning from developed areas remain, the Department is giving consideration to possible new areas for the establishment of a new mine to replace the existing one when the extraction of available coal is nearing an end. ; ;- King-country At the Mangapehi Colliery, Benneydale, the daily output showed a slight improvement, although, owing to the reduced number of days worked, the output for the year showed a slight decrease. This mine is being developed with a view to future operations being conducted on a plan of hydraulic stowage. Survey work for hydraulic stowage is nearing completion and road-formation work to the quarry site has been completed. At the Tatu Mine, near Ohura, a slight increase in output was recorded, underground conditions being unchanged, the soft swelling floor of the coal-seam still necessitating costly maintenance work. Buller District Due to a reduction in the number of days worked, there was a reduction in output from both the Fly Creek and Webb Mines in the Stockton field. At Fly Creek, coalwinning was confined to pillar-extraction in the south area, whilst further progress was made with the development of a hydro scheme for winning the coal in the east area. Temporary and unexpected difficulties were encountered in the Webb Mine, in which complex faulting retarded development for a time. Satisfactory progress has been made with the erection of an aerial ropeway from the mines to the"bins at Ngakawau, a distance of five and a half miles. Pillar-extraction continued at the Millerton Colliery with good results on the whole, and a programme of boring has recently been commenced to try and locate a new area of coal suitable for underground mining. At Denniston, mining operations have been satisfactory, but the long, expensive haulage system to railway has proved very costly for the reduced output compared with some years ago. Work is well under way on the opening-up of an additional mine at the Plateau area from which a good-quality coal suitable for gas-manufacture will be won and the erection of an aerial transport system from the mines to the bins at Denniston is proceeding and should greatly reduce haulage costs. Reefton District Generally the operations in this field have not been encouraging. Dip development at Burke's Creek has been pursued under difficult and costly conditions. At the Central Mine, haulage roads have been reconditioned, but dip development has met with varying conditions in the coal-seam. Underground heatings and trouble in maintaining main haulage roadways due to previous system of mining has caused problems for the management of the Burnwell Mine.

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