C.—3

170

time to time been carried on, and several workable seams of bituminous coal found within the boundaries of this company's property, the analysis of. which shows the coal to be of excellent quality, being especially low in ash, and of a high evaporative-power. Samples from a 7ft. seam, and also from a 10ft. seam, were analysed at the Colonial Laboratory, with the following results : — 7ft. Seam. 10ft. Seam. Fixed carbon ... ... ... ... ... 62-27 55-36 Hydrocarbon ... ... ... ... ... 28-68 37-12 Water ... ... ... ... ... ... 7-54 5-74 Ash 1-51 1-78 100-00 10000 The evaporative-power of the coal in 7ft. seam is 8-llb. ; 10ft. seam, 7'2lb. Both of these samples were hard, coherent, massive, caking coal, yielding but little ash. About two years ago a commencement was made to construct a railway, and at the present time about three miles of formation have been completed. The delay in the construction of the railway has been caused by unforeseen difficulties which at several stages came in the way; and, as the ground had not been sufficiently examined with the view of opening-up the mine to the best advantage, the railway could not be gone on with until this was settled. After Mr. McDougall returned from England he arranged with Mr. James Bishop, the manager of the Brunner mines, to take charge of the property, and since it has been under Mr. Bishop's management men have been employed in carrying on prospecting operations, and a definite system of opening-up the mines and working has now been agreed on. The railway when completed will be five miles in length, including a large bridge which will have to be constructed over the Grey Eiver above the present traffic-bridge to get the coal to the wharves on the south side. The total estimate of the cost of the railway, opening-out the mine, with the erection of coke ovens, coal-bins, screens, and all necessary machinery and appliances for working the coal in a systematic manner, is £60,000. Of this amount about £15,000 has already been expended. The company proposes to work the mine by means of adit-levels constructed from the face of the range at a point where the largest quantity of coal can be taken out in rise-workings, so as to do away with any pumping appliances being required for a long time. There is an abundant supply of timber for mining purposes on the property ; and, underlying the coal, there is a seam of excellent fireclay, which can be used for the manufacture of different articles should the company deem it expedient and find it to be an important element in increasing its revenue. The company proposes to erect a sufficient number of coke-ovens for the purpose of producing a trial shipment of coke for the smelting works at Broken Hill and Port Pirie in Australia, where they are assured of trade on condition of being able to be produce a suitable character of coke for smelting purposes. This requires a clean hard compact coke, so as to be able to bear a heavy burden without getting broken up in fine pieces. The company intends to try and cultivate this trade, as it will be the means of providing a profitable market for the disposal of all the small coal manufactured into coke, and which if not used in this manner will become a waste product. Taking the advantages possessed by this company of having its own line of railway and working level free, with cheap timber, and an excellent quantity of coal, their operations bids fair to be a commercial success if it can find a market for all the coal it can raise from the mine. This last element is applicable to every coal-mine on the West Coast. The output can be doubled or even trebled in some of the mines, but the difficulty has hitherto been in finding a market in which to dispose of the produce. The consumption in the colony is limited to the quantity used at the different individual works, and is dependent on their development for any increase. Until such time as a foreign market be opened up the coal trade can only expand very gradually. Blackball. —The coal from the Blackball Mine is of excellent quality where it is of a hard compact character; but there are many places in this mine where the coal is of a very soft nature. In some of the faces this class of coal is left. To look at this seam from the different outcrops, before the workings were opened, one would necessarily expect to find a good seam of coal undisturbed by any break for a long distance, and as far as breaks are concerned there has no large fault yet been met with; but the character of the coal varies greatly in different parts of the workings, not far from where a hard compact bright coal is found the seam will suddenly change, and the coal assume a brownish dirty colour and quite soft, really only suitable for the manufacture of coke; at the same time, notwithstanding its appearance, it makes a fair steaming coal. In some places in this mine the roof is very bad, and in general where the roof is of a loose disjointed nature, requiring a large quantity of timber to keep it up, the coal is of a crushed character ; so bad is the roof in some places that the main levels have to be timbered with sets and almost close lathed on the top. At the time of my visit to this mine there were two shifts of men employed, commencing work at six o'clock in the morning and coming off at ten o'clock at night; the output being about from 1,000 tons to 1,200 tons per week. The aerial-tramway will always limit the supply, although it could convey a much larger quantity than it is doing at present were there a larger number of skips. Each skip holds about Bcwt. of coal, and the capacity of the line was said to be about 3,000 skips per week with the present number the company had in use. Screens have now been erected at the bins for screening the coal for household purposes. The output from this mine for the last year was 27,060 tons. It is not a mine where a large output can be expected, even if a market were found for the coal, which is the present drawback with any colliery. A market can only be got in the colony, and it is entirely limited to the quantity of coal consumed. Brunner. —The whole of the coal-workings are confined to the Brunner Mine, which is owned by the Westport Colliery Company, Mr. M. Kennedy, and the Union Steam Shipping Company.