A NEW COAL FIELD.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 612, 15 September 1909, Page 10

A NEW COAL FIELD.

■DISCOVERY. IN NOETHBEN ' wiIEOA ,■-,: '. ■;■■ DISTRICT. ;-_';■ . - . ! (By Teleerapb.—Special Oorrcapondenl.l •...;• ■ '.■--'•.'■' .' 'Auckland, September 14._ It is rather a curious;anomaly that ,£6750,18 paid away, annually by. Auckland. people.Jor coal in 'the northern Wairoa 'dismct,'^.while great coalareas exist in districts' at their own door. Some time, ago a Tangowahine" yalley settler felled':.andv:bursed his,, bush/ coal outcrop, was .discovered.^'.-A' Government expert visited the. locality,-' and, was.;.satisfied' •with tho'valuo of the tynd,: and,>ded,are.'d that the field-was'a' part.of the largest-kiiO'vvn,coal ■measure in the Dominion'. , Another v putcrop (presumably of tho same i been found in the , \Vaipoua Eiyer,; close to tho west, Sbnst, lietiveon North'i.Kaipara,- and Jtiokiangar Its distance from any 'coinmercial centre,' however, 1 does not admit of it being profitably'worked. , : ~,•'' ,; V- ■•:'•■'"•}',''.■. . Th'p-'AV'niro'a 1 field.is only five miles Jrpm the 'main! 'river, aiid yet it .remains/,'uriexploitcd. Being in privato hands, the dovelop;inent"of the h'eld has- been a matter, in which jthe public have had no, 6ay,:but it noy transpires .that' certain' difficulties l have b'e.en overcome,- ai.ul that .the, coal rights will shortly .bo. offered l on a royalty basis. ,- : . '.;' .. Somo -few mohlhs afeo th'e proprietors of adjoiningjurcas, ijarticularly thoso situatod nearer the Wairoa River, .formed a coal-boring .syn-, dicate,' in the hope that carboniferous layers might be found.nearer a shipping point. At-tentiiin-wasidirccted to.Avoca, where surface limestone is plentiful, A bore'of 391 ft. was put down, the nature of the soil traversed being' as follo\vs:—Clay, Bft.'i'.'sandstane, , .slft.i. green sandstone,, with, which wore associated iossil shells, 211 ft.; 'white,' limestone, 16ft.j| ■line cloy, combined with hard' sandstone 'ana limestone, 63ft.; mixed sandstone and' limestone, 38fti very hard limestone, ■'I6ft.';(. flnev clay, combined'.wittf hard- sandstone artdjlimei stone, 63ft.; mixed , , sandstone','and .limestone, 38ft.; and very hard limestone, ,7ft. The lino of the dip is, however, known, and when miniiig 1 operations " are started, '~ apart from . the outcrop, it is.reasonable to suppose that. tho coal measure will -in many places, bo found at a much less depth.-: The, quality of-.th'o coal: for steaming purposes ..Cis good, largo samplos'having passed rigid tests on the Kaihu Valley railway. A day's running with Tango\vahine coal alnno proved it to bo equal to any: other sort used, and the same verdict has;been returned from several-river: steamers on which tho. samples: were submitted to exceptionally severe trials. ' . ' . .'.-• ■