COAL DEPOSITS IN CANTERBURY

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1019, 7 January 1911, Page 4

COAL DEPOSITS IN CANTERBURY

DISCOVERY OF NEW FIELDi !By Teleeraph.—Special Correspondent.!' Chrietchurch, January 5. 'Die Canterbury Land Board haiy granted the issue of leases , for coal- ' mining operations at Broken Rivera' The area, subject to the "lease, com* prises about 1000 acres, near, the route' of the Midland Railway. Tests have* been made of the • coal prospects and' have revealed a deposit which it is believed will prove the best deposit in. Canterbury. It has been known •for' years past that several, seams some of them easily accessible, existi v in the locality, and small samples ofl tie fuel that have been submitted 'to practical. tests have given most en-i coiiraging results. The outcrops oon-sist-of brown coal,, similar to tiati found "at Malvern and Homebush, but! the geologists believe that bituminous 1 coal will be found in the liood, and that tho supply will provei I almost inexhaustible, u this- should! prove to. be' the case the developmenti of the field will mean a great deal tor Canterbury. The' ! known seams - are!. within sixty. miles of. Christchnrcli,, , close to . the route of the Midland Kail-i : way, and so easily mined'that coal l should be delivered in thecityat less' than half the present • price of that'' brought to Lyttelton by sea. A local journal remarks that;, assum-i ing the'reports of the prospectors to. bo well founded, there would be nc' need when this field was fairly opened' for Canterbury to look elsewhere for l its fuel, or to concern itself about the - future of the Midland Railway. A. new era of prosperity would be opened., before the province and its position aa the manufacturing • centre of the minion, would be assured.