THE COAL FIELDS OF THE WEST COAST.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1342, 16 November 1872, Page 4

THE COAL FIELDS OF THE WEST COAST.

[hansard.J In Committee of the whole House to consider the report of the Local Industries Committee, and what assistance, if any, should be granted to encourage local industries, Mr Yogel moved a series of resolutions to give effect to the recommendations of the Joint Committee on Local Industries. The first related to the development of coal fields. He did not know . that the recommendation of the Committee on this subject required anything more to be done than had been already agreed to by ; the House. The Committee recommended generally that, wherever indications of good coal seams existed, explora- 1 •tions Bhould be made as soon as possible. ;T,hen they recommended that it should ibe decided whether Westport or the Ngakawau River should be the outlet for the Mount Rochfort and Ngakawau mines ; and with respect to the Brunner mine, that a railway should be made, and an estimate of the quantity of coal that it iwas likely could be carried over the railway at a profit. He would move that the recommendations ; in respect to the devevelopment of coal fields be adopted. Sir D. Monro said he rose principally to speak of the Mount- Rochfort and Grey coal fields, and he wished to say that, from what he had heard, the real difficulty which stood in the way of the development of these fields had been overlooked. The real cause why coal from the Grey mine was not to be purchased in the chief town of the Colony at a moderate rate, and was not an available article of commerce, was, not the cost of extracting the coal, but the cost of its transport and the difficulty of shipment. Until freights, could be reduced, either by some improvement of the harbor, or by the use of a superior class of vessels. Newcastle coal would advantageously compete with the coal which was comparatively closb at our own doors, and, by t^ieans of a good harbor, and its being conveyed in large vessels, it could be brought down to New Zealand and sold at the chief towns here cheaper than we could produce our own coal ; because, h.ere, the coal was shipped in comparatively small vessels in bar harbors, where the vessels were often detained two or three days before they, could get in, and an equally long time before they could get out, besides being exposed to damage. This, added to the high price of labor, wjas the cause of the high price of coal. Tpe freight from Greymouth to Wellington was, he believed, quite as high as the. freight from Newcastle to Wellington, wpUe the facilities for shipment at Newcastle were very much greater than at Greymouth, or at any of the bar or river harbors of the West Coast. That was the real difficulty, and until it could be removed— and a great deal might be done by harbor improvements — they would not see these mines successfully worked. H|e regretted that the Industries Committee had not directed their attention to this question, and made an inquiry into iti which might perhaps have enabled .them to indicate the steps to be taken to solve the difficulty. _ _.. MY E." Richardson would point out that the, Committee did take some evidence in' this matter;, and, in fact, a paragraph in their report called attention tojsoroe very interesting,. correspondence, on; tfie i subject, more especially a letter fr<Jm Captain M'lntyre, who felt particular interest in the matter, and showed thit it was quite practicable to inaugurate a line of screw steamers, which would yield a handsome profit" to "the owners, and be of great benefit to the Colony. Sir D. Monro must offer an apology to thi Industries Committee. He had not observed the paragraph in the report. Mr Murray said, in regard to the coal fields, they found considerable difficulty in obtaining reliable information as to i the extent of the deposits of coal on i the West Coast, from the want of a thorough geological survey. No doubt there had been a certain amount of exploration, but it was not of a sufficiently definite character to enable the Committee to Offer any clear recommendation about the! coal fields which were believed, but notiactually. known, to exist on the West CoaWv-The[y-came to] the, conclusion tha^ We*tport was the best harbor oh the West Coast for tho shipment of coal ; but a sufficiently accurate survey of the coal deposits in the neighborhood had not been made to enable the Committee to give any specific information about it. As to NgakaWau, it was a small port, and the Committee did not suppose it would ever be very valuable for the shipment of coal. In regard to Greymouth, there waa a valuable. Beam there, which might be rendered available if a railway and certain harbor works were made. If this were done, it appeared, from the evidence taken by the Conjmittee, that it was quite possible that a«ompanywould bn established for the purpose ofcoajrying the ©pal, by means of a fie at orsteam colliers, provided they got an a isurance that they could be able to obtajn a stood supply of coal, at a moderate price,. The Committee thought the Government might grant such a company, a' redaction of Is a ton, andjt'if they did bo, it wjas supposed that coal could be delivered at Wellington and the chief ports of the Middle Island at 18a or 20s a ton.

Captain-M^lntyre,- who had - supplied the Committee with some very valuable information oh the subject, was perfectly satisfied that 10s per ton would be remunerative to any shipping company. Mr Wakefield was surprised that no allusion had been made to the Maivero Hill coalfields. It, was very probable that the Malyern Hills coal mines would supply Lytteiron, Wellington^ Wanganui, and other places with coal at a comparatively cheap rate. He could not Bee why any company's steam colliers should be subsidised as against those steam colliers which would come from Wellington to Lyttelton, or from Lytteltonto Wellington. He could not join with those who wanted td subsidise one set of steam colliers, because they came to a difficult place from whence to obtain coal, against those vessels which came to a place where coal could be easily put. oh board. . M:. . > The resolution was agreed to.