THE COAL COMMISSION.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 14 August 1901, Page 4

THE COAL COMMISSION.

The Grey Yalley Mines.

The Commissioners after giving a history of the pas', transactions in regard to the above mines, goes on to deal with them in de'ail, as foil >ws; Brunner Mine. At the time of our inspection, in Fobruarv. 1901, wo found that the condition o> , jho rnine had nbt changed for the better, JJr Alison, the present manager, says

°6O acres have been worked, and that such res is bounded on all sides by cliffs, or hinning-out of the coal. There are, however, indications of a coal-seam at the back, but without counting on such possibilities there are only about 200,000 i ons of available coal to bo taken from tho mine, when, if a new seam is not found, the mine must close. At present time the mine affords employment to 250 men, and the fortnightly pays amounts to between £1,200 and £1,400. Tho whole of the workings outside the dip and these sections are under water. One of tho witnesses appearing before ua—Mr Ruasoll—complains bitterly of the unskilful way in which the mine has been worked. He says the coal has been taken out where it should not have been touched, with the result that large proportions of the coal have been lost. He further points out that, owing to the fierce competition which at one time raged, and the insistence of consumers to have only the best qualities of coal, much coal which is saleable to-day was quite unsaleable at the time the mine was so worked. There is no doubt that consumers are now glad to use tho coal which a few years ago they would have rejected. Mr Russell says, “The Brunner and Coalpit-heath Mines have both been spoilt through tho management being in too big a hurry to get results. I think in no mine in New Zealand should they bo allowed to take out a single pillar until they have reached the boundary of their lease.” We think he is probably right in his accusation, and sound in his recommendation. Mr Russell goes further, however, and charges the Grey Valley Coal Company with being actuated by sinister influences, and with having designedly ruined the Grey Valley mines in order to benefit the Westport mines. The colour given to this charge is derived from the fact that'the Westport Coal Company and the Grey Valley Coal Company are practically the same proprietary, but the evidence we have taken goes far to disprove this charge of having designedly lost £IOO,OOO of their shareholders’ money, and having deliberately put out unmarketable coal in order to close two out of tho three Brunner mines, and thus create a monopoly for their , Westport coal. In March, 1896, a serious disaster occurred at the Brunner Mine, whereby sixty-five persons lost their lives; and in April. 1898, a Royal Commission was appointed to inquire into the causes thereof and, inter alia, to ascertain the nature and character of the working and general management of the mine, and whether tho mine was well managed or not. That Commission consisted of Mr District Judge Ward, Sir James Hector, Mr Proud (a member of the present Commission) and Mr T. Skelton. They reported that prior to, and at the date of the accident, the ventilation supply of timber, bratticecloth, and other stoves sufficient in quantity and quality, that the management of the mine was under the skilled control of competent officers, who discharged their duties with care and reliability, and that the inspection of the mine was efficient. We are of opinion that the same standard has since been maintained in those matters. Strong as is the condemnation of some of the residents in the locality as to the method of laying off the workings of the mine at the beginning, no allegations of laches on the part of the owners in matters of .ventilation, or providing for the safety of the miners has been made, but we are of opinion that the ventilation of the rise-workings by natural means only is insufficient, and should be supplanted at once by artificial means. Ventilation by natural means is too liable to be affected by atmospheric and other conditions to be depended on in mines with any considerable extent of workings. The Coalpit-heath Mine. About which a good deal has been said in the evidence attached, is an area of 777 acres, Section 231, Square 119, Grey Coal Reserve, and was originally leased to the Coalpit-heath Company in 1875, and transferred te tho Westport Coal Company in 1887-8, A new lease was granted to the latter company in 1889 for a term of 03 years. Tho rental and output stipulated in tho lease was as under: —First eight years, rent £250, output 24,000 tons; next twenty-eight years’ rent £SOO, output 30.000 tons; last twenty-seven years’ Tent £750, output 50,000 tons. During the first twenty-one years a royalty of 6d. per ton is provided, to be increased thereafter to Is per ton. The rent is not charged if the royalty exceeds it in amount. The total output to date has beien 577,190 tons and the rent and royalty received, approximately, £14,404. The mine is a continuation of the front part of the Brunner Mine or “old workings” to the dip. It was at one time worked by a shaft 280 feet deep, but, on the amalgamation of the companies this shaft w&s abandoned, and the coal was hauled to the Brunner Mine stage by means of an incline. A rib of coal, varying from 60 ft. in front to 400 ft near the fault, has been left along the boundary between the Coalpit-heath and Brunner Mines. This gives support to the hill, and formerly cut off all the drainage from the Brunner Mine, but now the water has been allowed to accumulate in the Coal-pit-heath, which is flooded. From a large area the pillars along the side of the fault .were worked from the Coalpit-heath, and serious cracks in the roof extended to the surface and admitted storm water. Sir J Hector is the director of the New Zealand Geological Department, and is such a recognised authority in miningscience, that we do not hesitate to quote from the report he and his colleagues gave in 1891, and which, on this point, still states the situation correctly. They say, “Tho danger of a heavy slip from tho hill, in consequence of the excavation of the coal, is not imminent so long as the pillars in the old Brunner Mine and in the southern part of the Coalpit-heath Mine and the said dividing rib of coal are left untouched. We are of opinion that great caution must be exercised, as there is evidence of extensive slips from the hill having taken place in former years higher up tho river than the Brunner Mine.” Very shortly after the amalamation the waters overcame tho pumps and the mine was drowned out. The Coalpit-heath Mine represents a loss of some £IOO,OOO in shareholdera’capital. There appears to be some reason to believe that it would pay to open it out again in conjunction with the Brunner Mine, but not alone, unless satisfactory arrangements were made for using the Brunner Mine adit, and the mutual use of pumps. We have to take tho opinions of a few individuals on this point, and cannot obtain knowledge at first hand; we therefore cannot speak with certainitj on it. The Wallsend Mine Forms the third of the group gathered into the Grey Yalley Coal Company (Limited). Its history is as disappointing as that of the Coalpit-heath. Originally leased and worked in 1875 by the Greymouth Coal Company, which fell into liquidation, it passed to a syndicate, which transferred it to the Westport Coal Company. Wo have not attempted to raise the veil which hangs over the operation of transfer and amalgamation, but we have no reason to think there was anything very unusual in the transaction. The exceptional circumstance, however, is the fact that the lease, which was tor 1.000 acres, allowed the lessee to purchase the freehold of 150 acres-at £5 an acre. This option was pxerciscd, and 150 acres, through which the railway runs, was purchased, and is the freehold property of the Grey 3 Valley Coal Company. On this freehold two shafts, 650 ft. deep, were sunk, and were furnished with most costly appliances. It is said that

£120,000 was spent in equipping this mins, and that the whole of this large amount has been lost. The whole of the workings have been within the 150 acres freehold, and, with the exception of the portion under the Railway Reserve and under the river, are private property. Mr Joachim, tho general manager of the Westport Coal Company, told us that the company bought the 150 acres for £750, and then put it into the pool out of which the Grey Yalley Company was formed. He says the Westport Coal Company had spent in purchase-money and works, prior to the amalgamation, £BO,OOO on the property, but they did not spend any subsequently, for they closed the mine, dismantled the fine machinery, and allowed the workings to Hood. The reason given for this is that the quality of coal in the Wallsend was inferior to Brunner, and the coal was cut by faults on all sides. They found they could supply all the demands made upon them from the Brunner Mine, and therefore closed the Wallsend Mine and lost the £BO.OOO invested.

It has been alleged that when a trial shipment of Wallsend coal was sent to Australia it was purposely made up of inferior coal, so as to ruin the reputation of the mine, but the charge is so grave and is so entirely unsupported by any proof that, even in the absence of denial, we could not treat it as having any weight; but the question was specifically put to Mr Joachim, and we are satisfied that the management of the company were neither foolish enough nor base enough to do anything of the kind, and that the shipment was made up and sent in good faith, and proved a failure. It will bo remembered that this was ten or twelve years ago, when the coal-market was better supplied than at present. The mine was recently sold at auction to a private individual for a small sum, and is still lying idle, but as it is private property the Government cannot interfere.

As to the statement of Mr Willis that the company det-ired to impose a condition that all coal got from the mine by any purchaser should be sold out of New Zealand, wo accept the denial of the company’s officers and manager, and tie statement is, on the face of i', incredible. The Tyneside Mine.

Is opposite the Brunner Mine, and it was first worked by Mr J. Kilgour. It was acquired by the Greymouth Coal Company, and afterwards by the Grey Valley Coal Company. It really forms part of the Wallsend lease. The output was 18,398 tons, a d it was closed after the amalgamation of the companies. It is said to be fault-d to such an extent as to render working unprofitable. The Blackball Mine.

Is situated some seventeen miles from Qroymouih and three miles from the Grey-Reef ton' Railway. It comprises a lease or leases of 1,914 acres in all, for a term of twenty-one years from January, 1886. The leases were originally held by Mr Kilgour and others, but were transferred in 1886 to the Blackball Company, who purchased the freehold from the Midland Railway Company, and we understand that the property has recently been sold to Sir E. Dawes, who represents an English company or syndicate. Mr Joseph Seott, the mine-manager, told us that the mine ban been working for about seven years and a half, and the workings extended over 60 acres. The mine is three miles in a straight line from the Ngahere Railway-station, on the northern side of the Grey River. The coal is carried by buckets containing Bcwt each along an aerial tramway, three miles long, from the mine to the railway. The tramway is worked by a 20-horse-power steam-engine, and can put out 250 tons in eight hours. The cost of the tramway and outside works has been about £25,000, and it is said 500 tons a day is the maximum to which the tramway can work. There are eighty hands at present employed in and about the mine, which number will be nearly doubled when two shifts a day are again at work. The coal getters receive 2s 3d per ton, and average about 12s 3d a day. The wages-men receive 8s a day. The mine is well ventilated by means of a furnace in Blackball Creek drawing the air through the main tunnel. Two fatal accidents have occurred—one from a fall of coal caused apparently by insufficient spragging, and the other from a jig-prop breaking and striking a man on the head. A fire was discovered in Nos. 4 and 5 headings off the bottom level on the 30th November. A man named Green was found missing, and on search being made his body was recovered on the 2nd December, and the fire located. Green had been suffocated by the fumes of carbon-monox-ide gas (white damp), and at considerable risk his body was found and brought out. A dam was built across the main tunnel and water brought in, which flooded the mine and after a period of two months the fire was extinguished; but the mine was idle until the 31st January, when work was resumed.

The coal obtained is bituminous, and of good quality for steam and household purposes, but does not command as ready a sale for household use as Westport coal. The mine-owners charge at Ngahere—lss for screened, 11s for unscreened, and 8s for slack or unsound nuts. The company have their own steamers to carry the coal from Greymouth. The railway-haulage from Ngahere is 2s 6d per ton. The supply of coal seems to be promising, and as much as ten years’ work is reckoned on from the coal in view. We inspected all the working-places, and are of the opinion that the inspection and management of the mine have been satisfactory.