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STATE COAL MINES

NORTH ISLAND VENTURE

AND OTHER SCHEMES

A statement was made by the Min?sft*r in charge of State coal mines on Saturday regarding new enterprises in hand. He spoko also of other suggestions recently niado for State aid for other districts, and for tho development of mines in other parts of the .West Coast. Host important of/ the new proposals mentioned by the Minister was that the Government is contemplating tho purchase of a new mine near Ilnntly. from' which field comes the Taupiri coal.

The Minister spoke first of the new niine to be opened near the present Point Elizabeth mine, now nearing exhaustion.

"We have been boring on llio site for some time. It is Crown land, part of the State coal reserve of 350 acres, and is estimated to contain over four million tons 6f coal. The matter hns been cone into very carefully before coming to a decision. It is estimated (licit it will take two miles of line to carry tht) railway from Runanga to the new mine. I have written to the Minister of Public Works asking him to take the necessary steps to have o. survey cf a suitable line made, and have requested that the work should be done with tht utmost possible dispatch, as tho matter is one of extreme urgency, owing to the shortage cf conl. This branch railway line will have to be authorised by n special Act. ami it will take some considerable time to have the whole business in operation. It will probably take two years to open up and develop the mine;''but the main thing was to test the field, and sec whether it wos worth developing, and that has been done.

"Wo have also under consideration the purchase of another coalfield in the North Island, near Huntly. I am making n recommendation to Cabinet, and a decision will probably be arrived nt next week.

"We have been continuously boring at Charming Creek, near Seddonville, for the past threo years, and it was decided that, owing to certain conditions, the field coud not be developed by the State. The reservation has now been' lifted from the land, and several parties of miners are winning (he coal there, and selling it to different merchants.

"A great deal lias been said about a. new coalfield near Westport. This field is about 18 miles from Westport, on the Westporl-Inangahua Road. It would be necessary to construct twelve miles of railway over heavy country. It is known that the coalfield' has an area of about nine miles by seven, but it has never Ven properly tested to got an estimate of the amount of coal that could Ifi won. Until the connection by rail is mnde it is, of course, impossible to work the coal deposits in that locality. The coal, however, is of very grad qua.'ih-. I have inspected the mino on several occasions during the last few years, and a good many thousand tons have been mined, and used for various purposes, dredging, and so on."

THE BULLER GORGE RAILWAY ' WAS THE MINISTER FULLY INFORMED? By TeleEraph.-PreKK Association. Westoort, May !!S. In reference to the statement by the Minister of Mines regarding flic difficulties in the. construction of the. 13uller Gorge railway, the members of the Westport Railway League state that the Minister was evidently misinformed, as the railway construction work is complete! over the most difficult portion of the road, and most of the remaining part of the route is along a natural ledge- and over flat .country. The construction would be by no means costly. Then, in regard to testing the field, members ask that, greater proof of the presence of coal in quantity is required than tho solid coal measure in which mining has already been carried on at'several places, just off the roadside, for coal for gold dredging and local use. There are also numerous other exposed faces on bisf eeams on both sides of the river, the route of the railway actually passing over a 12-fcet seam, which dips baclt into tho mountain. Members cf tlw Railway League also wieh to emphasis? that the completion of. this sup would enable large fields of coal in the vicinity of Ueefton, estimated at fifty miles by eight miles, to be developed, as Westport is the nntural outlet for this area. Several mines are already opened, but their output is limited owing to tin difficulty of getting the coal away. Coal could pour out of Westnort from thie field immediately the railway was completed. Evidence rovanling these coal measures and the facilities with which they could ho worked was given before the Industries Commission, whose report is awaited here with great interest.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19190526.2.46

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 206, 26 May 1919, Page 6

Word count
Tapeke kupu
788

STATE COAL MINES Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 206, 26 May 1919, Page 6

STATE COAL MINES Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 206, 26 May 1919, Page 6

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