(5) West Coast Coal-fields.

These actually extend, in broken masses, all the way from Colling wood to Jackson's Bay, but the first-named district has alrady been dealt with. The West Coast proper has two great coal-mining centres: West port on the Buller river and Greymouth on the River Grey. A small outlying district at Reefton may also be referred to.

The Buller coal-field extends from the river of that name on the south, where the seams occur principally at an elevation of 1,800 to 3,000 feet above the sea, to the Mokihinui river on the north, where they descend to sea-level. The only exceptions to the elevated position or the southern portion of the field are some detached masses of crushed and faulted coal oceuring at the Waimangaroa and Ngakawau rivers. This is geologically interesting, but of small commercial value, as the product is so soft and incoherent as to be considerably lowered in value. Notwithstanding this defect, the Waimangaroa mines yielded 8,865 tons in 1891, but that at Ngakawau (which is owned by a Sydney, New South Wales, company) did not turn any coal at all, the reason given being that the seam has, in the dip, decreased in thickness to such an extent as to be unworkable. This seam was some years ago 16 to 18 feet in thickness, of which 8 feet was worked, the haulage being performed by a 6 inches double-cylinder engine. There is said to be a large area of high-level coal, to reach which will require very extensive and costly works, The pit was worked many years ago without profit, indeed at a very heavy loss, and remained idle for a long time, but has been reccntty revived by the Westport Ngakawau Coal Company, whose object was partly to make coke for shipment to New South Wales for the Broken Hill mines, and partly to erect smelting works at Westport, to which silver ore from New South Wales might be brought as return freight.

The whole of the blame must not in this case be borne by the New Zealand coals, for the New South Wales seams are exceedingly proline in ash, as may be seen on reference to the papers by Messrs. G. Blake Walker and S. H. Cox.^*

Coalbrookdale Colliery.—To the average British mining engineer this coal-field would perhaps be the most interesting in the colony, not only on account of the splendid quality and great thickness of the seams, but on accouut of the wonderful situation of the mine. Two thousand feet above the sea, on the top of a bald bleak plateau of coarse quartzose grit,

^* Trans. Fed. lnst., vol. ii., pages 268 and 321.

page 76 covered only by thick moss and scattered mountain scrub, and intersected by vertical ravines of enormous depth, round which the seams crop out, is a large and flourishing colliery village, with large hotels, a school of mines, library, offices of the miners' union, bakeries, stores, and schools. The history of the Vestport Coal Company, Limited, who own this mine, offers an example, if not of rich returns and uninterrupted prosperity, at least of extraordinary persistence and perseverance in the face of great natural difficulties. Commenced about the beginning of 1878, several years elapsed before the works were in a state of completion. Bad weather, an excessively rough country, and numerous other obstacles retarded operations. Eventually coal was sent down, and then the prosperity, which was to have poured in, was for some time delayed by the defects in the Westport harbour, by the unsuitability of machinery, by faults and changes in the seams, and by a hundred other unforeseen sources of trouble and loss. In order to meet the difficulties it was agreed to write off a certain amount of the capital, and the concern now may be said to be doing moderately well. In January, 1892, the chairman stated that during the preceding ten years the company had worked 1,000,000 tons of coal, had expended £850,000, while the dividends paid had been £33,260, or a little less than 2 per cent. per annum on the capital. It is gratifying to note that for 1892 the profit was £22,043, which added to £6,358 brought forward from the previous year, was sufficient to pay a dividend and bonus amounting to about 10 per cent.

The existence of coal in this district was known to the early settlers, but nothing systematic was done until the year 1874, when a detailed topographical and geological survey was undertaken by the Government, and carried out at a cost of over £5,000. The result of this was to prove the existence of coal-scams over a large area, winch is, however, very much cut up by enormous denudation. The deposits occur principally at an altitude of 1,800 to 3,000 feet; but towards the north, as has been mentioned, they come down to sea-level, and dip below it. The mapping of coal areas was unusually simple work, for numerous gullies and ravines caused the outcrops to be readily traceable. On receiving the reports of the Geological Survey Department the Colonial Government at once decided to proceed with the construction of a railway from West port along the coast northwards to the Ngakawau river, a distance of nearly 19 miles, and also to improve the harbour, the average depth of which on the bar in 1879-80 was only 12½ feet. At the same time private enterprise was not dormant. Numerous leases were taken up, many by speculators without the means to work them. Finding, in 1877, that no effort was made to page 77 develop the field, the Government took steps to force the hands of the lessees, in order that the ground taken up might be citlicr worked or relinquished. Many of the leases were then amalgamated, and a new proprietary, known as the Westport Colliery Company, took over the leases and liabilities of several of the original holders, and guaranteed to spend in two years £10,000 and produce a minimum output of 20,000 tons, In August, 1880, coal was brought into the market, and since that date the works have been so energetically carried on that in 1892 working single shift no less than 198,000 tons was put out from the Coalbrookdable mine. This required a total of 302 men, which gives 637.7 tons per man, or counting the underground staff only (238 men), an output per man of 809 tons per annum. Unfortunately, there is no means of ascertaining on how many days the pit worked, but presuming this to have been five days per week, or 260 days, the daily output per man for a mine with exceptionally lengthy haulage would be 3 tons 2 cwts. 1 qr., or taking it at 4 days, 3 tons 17 cwts. 3 qrs.

Finding the original capital insufficient the company was some years ago re-formed, with a nominal capital of £400,000, and although the return has not been so great as the shareholders deserved, yet prosperous times seem now to have dawned. This is in great measure due to the increased depth of water on the harbour bar, which averaged 23 feet in 1892.

It is largely used for war vessels, and has great steaming power. The late Sir Jno. Coode, in his presidential address in 1889, before the Institution of Civil Engineers, said; "The bituminous coal found on the west coast of the South Island is declared by engineers ... to be fully equal to, if not better than, the best descriptions from any part of the world, The wonderful escape of H.M.S. 'Calliope' during the hurricane at Samoa, when her engines were tried to the very uttermost, has been attributed by her captain and the people of New Zealand, apparently with good reason, to the superior quality of this coal, which was being used at the time."^*

The company owns two leases—one, the Coalbrookdalc and Kawatiri of 2,479 acres, in which the present minus are worked; and a new lease, us yet untouched, known as Granity Creek, and comprising 2,951 acres. The term is ninety-nine years, and the royalty 6d. per ton on large and small coal. The minimum rent merges in the royalty, but the company has a large dead rent to pay on the Granity Creek holding. Wages are high, and the men make a good deal of money. In 1889 the price for getting coal, large and small together, was 2s. 10d. per ton, and day wages were 10s.

The writer is unaware whether any important alterations have been recently introduced into the haulage arrangements of the Coalbrookdalc colliery, but as a detailed account of the appliances at work in 1890 was published by Mr. T. J. Watci-s, F.R.G.S., managing engineer at that time,^* a short abstract may be included,

The general system of mine haulage is endless-rope, which replaced an endless-chain formerly used and abandoned because of its frequent breakages, sometimes thirty in a day. The main plane is (these data refer to the early part of the year 1890) 1 mile 60 chains in length, and is worked by a 3½ inches circumference plough steel-wire rope, of Lang lay, travelling at 2½ miles an hour. The engine has one cylinder 20 inches in diameter by 48 inches stroke, and the driving wheel is G feet H inches in diameter, and lagged with cast-steel segments. The road varies much in gradient, the steepest being 1 in 10, and the difference in level is 90 feet against the load, Two branch systems are worked with separate engines, one known as the iron-bridge road, opening up the field to the south-east, is worked by a pair of 6 Inches cylinder engines, and has a total grade of lift feet against the toad, with a maximum of 1 in 5. The Coalbrookdalc section is worked by a single 6½ inches cylinder engine, and runs in daylight up the bed of a creek, with the coal cropping out on each side, and numerous adits along its course. The rope travels at a speed of I mile per hour.

Chains are used instead of clips, which were difficult to accommodate to the curves and gradients, Mr, Waters designed a very useful arrangement (Figs. 1, 2, and 8, Plate III.,) for attaching the chain, by means of which the attendants are enabled to hang the tubs on as conveniently when the rope is moving as when it is at rest. His description of the arrangement is as follows:—"It consists of a short length of chain, on one end of which is welded a ring, and on the other a hook. At each hanging-on place a pair of light steel springs aro bolted to a cross sleeper.

^* Proceedings of New Zealand and South Sea Exhibition, Mining Conference 1890, G. J. Binns, Hon. Sec.

page 79 The loose ends of these springs are made to fit the rope and embrace it when pressed together. The hanger-on passes the chain three times round these springs where they embrace the rope, which slips between them as it runs, without imparting any motion to the chain clip; hence the hanger-on is enabled to pass the hook end through the ring on the chain, and make it fast to the truck at his leisure. At the proper time the truck is pushed forward a few inches by hand, when the chain-clip slips off the steel springs and holds fast on to the travelling-rope, drawing the truck with it."

The trucks are made of galvanized steel, 22 cubic feet in capacity, with cast-steel wheels of 24 inches gauge. The rails are 25 lbs. per yard on the full side, and 18 lbs, on the empty, with fished joints. The curve-rollers are of cast-steel 2 feet in diameter, placed at an angle of 30 degs, from the horizontal, so tlwt the outside of the pulley is under the inner rail.

The surface-inclines are on a large scale and have been very successful. As the mine mouth is about 2,000 feet above the sea, gravity is sufficient to lower the output, but the country is of an excessively rough nature, and great expense was incurred in making a road to accommodate railway wagons containing 6½ tons of coal, and having a gross load of 11 tons. The total length of the incline is 1¼ miles, and the fall 1,800 feet to the level of the railway at the foot of the hills. The upper incline—for there are two—is 33 chains long horizontally, with a drop of 834 feet in that distance; the maximum grade is 1 foot in 1 foot 4 inches. The drums are 10 feet 6 inches in diameter, with cranks keyed on to the ends of the shafts, and attached by connecting-rods to two 12 inches pistons working in cylinders fitted with cataract-governors. This is found to be infinitely superior to the hand brakes formerly used, giving a much greater approach to safety, and a longer life to the ropes used by nearly 100 per cent., besides which the hand brakes repairs amounted to over £300 per annum. The lower incline is 50 chains long, with a drop of 864 feet and a maximum grade of 1 in 2. The time occupied in running is 2 minutes for the upper and 2½ minutes for the lower section, but both are run simultaneously. The road is 3 feet 6 inches gauge, laid with 40 lbs, or 42 lbs. rails.

The Granity Creek inclines will be on the endless-rope principle, and are estimated to cost £50,000, which, with another £50,000 for rolling stock and opening up the mine, will make nearly a quarter of a million sterling spent in haulage and works. The mine tubs will come right down to the foot of the hill, and two inclines will be employed; the upper one 70 chains long with a fall of 700 feet, and the lower one 51 chains long with a fall of 960 feet. Hydraulic brakes will be employed. It is page 80 expected that coal will come down about the end of the current year, and the total output from the mines worked by this Company at Westport will shortly be probably nearly half a million tons per annum.

About equidistant from Westport and Greymouth is the Reefton coalfield, situated on the Inangahua river. This area is limited in extent, and lies in patches on the upturned edges of the Maitai (Carboniferous) Slates. The coal is of very excellent quality, being in some cases bituminous.

During the year 1891, thirteen mines were at work, employing 20 men, and yielding 4,556 tons, most of which was consumed by the quartz-crushing machinery attached to the adjacent gold mines, The seams vary capriciously in thickness and dip.

Other outcrops are known in the Upper Buller district, but they have been only locally worked to a very small extent.

Greymouth District.—The next district to consider is the Greymouth coal-field, second in importance only to that of Westport, and while the seams at the latter place are mainly far above the sea, and are therefore worked level-free, those at the former lie to the dip, and are approached by shafts or dip drives. It is true that the Brunner coal-mine, which is the oldest in the district, and has furnished by far the largest output, was for many yeans worked above water-level, but the bulk of the field will undoubtedly require haulage.

The seams occur in grits and conglomerates, dipping in a westerly direction at 1 in 3, and the field is a good deal cut up by faults. The principal seam is 18 feet thick, and is exposed in the upper gorge of the (Grey river, where it was originally worked and whence the coal was brought down the river in barges. At the present time the Government Railway, which is 8 miles in length, takes the output from the mines to the port of Greymouth, where there is a fairly good harbour.

At one time there were four mines, but they became merged into one company, and in 1892, for convenience in working, only two were open, viz., the Brunner and the Coalpit Heath, which are practically one mine.

The Brunner colliery has been at work twenty-nine years, and had yielded to the end of 1891, 868,072 tons. The workings In 1891, when the output was 75,729 tons were confined chiefly to the extraction of pillars, and the ventilation was produced by a Schiele fan, a 16 feet Guibal fan formerly employed having proved insufficient. The engine-plane ia fitted with a pair of 14 inches cylinder engines with 18 inches stroke, and an electric haulage-plant is in operation, but of this latter the writer has no details. There is also a rope-driven pump with a pair of 9 inches by 24 inches double-acting rams which raises the water 170 feet. The surface-workr comprise a large brick and tile plant, where very excellent firebricks and gas retorts are manufactured, which find a ready sale not only in New Zealand but in Australia.

A slack-washing and briquette plant has been erected, and it was intended to use the bye-products of the coke in the manufacture of briquettes, which are also made by the company at Christehureh on the east coast. In the early part of 1892, the demand for this class of fuel was stated to be very brisk, and the output, which was then 6 tons per day, was said to be finding a ready sale.

In 1889, a committee of the House of Representatives took evidence on these mines, and among other details the following facts were elicited:—The average number of days worked was 3¼ to 4 per week, and the minimum wage was 12s. per day.

The Coalpit Heath colliery, which was originally in private bauds, has now become the property of the Grey Valley Coal Company, Limited, half of which belongs to the West port Coal Company, Limited. The workings He to the dip of the Bran ner colliery, and the coal is raised by the hauling-engine attached to that mine. At one time a rectangular shaft measuring 10 feet by 6 feet and 280 feet deep was used with a single (18 inches by 3 feet) cylinder engine. But the whole arrangement was crude mid inconvenient. The seam is 18 feet in thickness, and of excellent quality. The workings were laid out on the bord-and-pillar system, and the pillars have to a great extent been removed. In 1891, the output was 69,592 tons, and since the commencement 429,901 tons have been raised. The workings are ventilated by a Schiele fan, and the pumping appears to be heavy, as there are on the published list no less than seven engines for this purpose varying from 10 inches rum and 4 feet stroke, to 4 inches ram and 12 inches stroke.

On the opposite side of the river to the Coalpit Heath mine is the Greymouth Wallsend colliery, now standing. It ia a matter of great regret that this pit should have been set down, as it is no doubt the most page 82 advanced example of mining in the colony. The shafts are circular, 11 feet and 14 feet in diameter. The downcast., whieh was sunk in 1885, was lined for some distance with concrete blocks, grouted in with cement, instead of with cast-iron tubbing.^* The winding-engine consists of a pair of 30 inches cylinders with 60 inches stroke working a 16 feet cylindrical drum fitted with steam brake and steam starting-gear. The boilers are of steel, 30 feet by 7 feet, and of the Lancashire type, working at 60 lbs. pressure; head gear of iron, lattice girders 68 feet to centre of pulleys, which aee 14 feet m diameter. A 30 feet Guibal fan airs the workings, and there is a small air-compressing engine for rock drills. The last output appears to have been raised in 1890, when 26,690 tons was the amount. Altogether only 205,530 tons has been raised from this fine pit, a large proportion of which must be credited to a small engine which worked a single shaft many years ago. When the coal trade expands, this property will be able to assume a worthy position.

A small pit known as the Tyneside colliery, to the rise of the Grey-mouth Wallsend, has been abandoned for some years.

Farther up the Grey river, and some distance from it on the north side, is the Blackball colliery belonging to a company recently floated on the London market; there are two seams 4 feet 6 inches and 12 feet thick respectively, and a cross-measures drift 1,232 feet long has been constructed to cut them. In 1891, only 30 tons of coal was produced, but the works are not yet connected with the railway. In a colonial newspaper of recent date, the company is stated to be making fair progress with an aerial tramway, presumably for the purpose of carrying the coal across the Grey river. A bridge 47 chains in length was originally proposed for this purpose, but the former method seems to have been preferred; the first cost will no doubt be less, but whether it will prove an economical method for the purpose is a matter of opinion.

On comparing these figures with the previously given analyses of the Westport coal, it will be seen that the latter contains less ash, and is

^* "Coal-mining in New Zealand," by G.J. Binns, Trans. N.E. Inst., vol. xxxv., page 194.

page 83 poorer in hydrocarbons. On account of its richness In the latter respect the Greymouth coal has been largely used for gas-making, and for many years it commanded 7s. to 8s. per ton more than that from Newcastle, New South Wales, but a very good gas-coal was recently found at Stockton, New South Wales, which ousted the Greymouth coal from the Australian markets.

A yet undeveloped coal-field occurs at Point Elizabeth, on the sea coast, a few miles north of the Grey river. The harbour at that place is variously stated as being the best in New Zealand, and as being utterly unsafe. The writer has no personal knowledge of the locality.

Owing to the uncertainty of the harbour at Greymouth the pits work very irregularly, not, it is stated, averaging 4 days per week. Mr. M. Kennedy, managing director of the Grey Valley Coal Company, recently stated that 12s. was the minimum earnings for a day of 7 hours.

After leaving Greymouth the known areas of coal on the West Coast are scattered and comparatively small. Near Hokitika an attempt was made to work some thin seams, but without success, and in the neighbour-hood of the Haast river outcrops are found, but in such a rough and inaccessible position that any prospect of working them is remote.