BRUNNERTON AUDITS COLLERIES

Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1871, 4 August 1874, Page 2

BRUNNERTON AUDITS COLLERIES

. [CONTRprJO^BD.] ,^ t \ This patrician appellation is fast [falling into disuse and being superseded by the less euphonious, but more suggestive one, of coal-pits. This- hamlet^. fiUage, or colliery, or whatever designationit'is best entitled to, differs in^manyTespects from other places . in. the Grey. Valley. , ; It, has a decided advantage; in: the situation, inasmuch as' it is built '.'upon'. afoundationiof rock, and although reaching down to th.6 rivers-bank,s -bank, is" "far out of the •reach 7 of floods. The rains may descend and 1 th 4 river rise— the Ahauray- Twelve-mile- 'and Cobden may be washed into the Pacific Ocean — but ; Brunnertpn, .secure in its foundation pf. rock, will stiU remain; The difference, .in ; this ;mountainrenvironed colliery village is still further observable in its surroundings, and will be -rendered more apparent when the railway and bridge are open for traffic, and the different collieries have had ''time': to perfect' their arrangements. Even now it is worth! putting :6rie's 'self to no little(inconvenience to see, Brunnertpn by night, when: th!e snow lies thick on the ground, and', the fire, from : the coke ovens throws its glare over the snow lying^around you ; and across the river, high, up: among the frost-covered trees, a scene is. exhibited to the lover of illuminated- nature to be seen nowhere in New Zealand but here. '■■ What will be the effect may be : imagined, but not easily described, when" the fire from a hundred such ovens' is belched up into the midnight sky : it may suggest to : the imagination the idea of some Provincial Pandemonium. There is also a palpable difference in •■'. the' : bharacter and position of the inhabitants of a colliery village. There is none of the • migratory element in the collier, attributable, no doubt; i to the regular employment and , wages obtainable. This enables t him to marry,- which is done often at a very early age, frequently before the sighs: of manhood have begun to bloom upon his cheek ; then he obeys implicitly and to the letter the Scriptural injunction to " inprease and multiply, for he multiplies exceedingly. I . : ..;, -.;:•? Thick and^thini ; : ; 4nd then all have children, too, squall through, ' , ..'. . .... ,; ; . And. seem right proud to multiply small images of sin.' 1 . . - :; -,'.'■. '■■_.:■ His daily occupation, when contrasted with that of the gold-mirier, is certainly i most enviable, instead of being compelled to work in all weathers, and most frequently in wet, the collier in his subterranean workings is indifferent to all climatic influences, whether of the. sun in : his meridean splendour, or " When deep torrents drench the swimming plain, - . And sheets of fire descend with rain." Although Nelson is parsimonious in mauy. things, there is no Province in New Zealand where the educational interests •of the people are so well attended to, or their literary tastes more sedulously cultivated.. .The large sum expended on that and the very respectable grant each year to West Coast Libraries testify to this. Brunnerton participates in both these advantages, as the scjhool and the well-filled shelves of the library show. Nor is religion unattended to, a Wesleyan Chapel has, for many year«, added to the architectural beauty of the place, and, not content with this, religious services are held in the Reading Room, and! a Sunday School . provides for the requirements of the young. Inseperable from Brunnerton'isithe •■-.:'-: /. • r 1 „ . BRONNER MINE.. v ..,. . . . ' Probably no mine . in New ■Zealand has created more interest, or been the cause of more prolific results. Legislators havedeliberated upon.it. Premiers- and Superintendents have written volumea about it, and it has been an inexhaustible theme for the airing of- Provincial Council eloquence. The tangible" consequence of this deliberation i corresporideuce ■ and eloquence, is the Brunner Railway, and Bridge, arid, what else, 'time may'develop'e. Harbor works perhaps. It has been visited by nearly all the notabilities of tjhe s Colony,., including the last three Representatives of Royalty, who, attended by the, wealth, youth, .and; beauty; of Greymouth, to the number of two or three hundred at a time, have, after exploring, its sqbterranean labyrinths^ dined with all' security and cqrafert ' within :'a ; short distance of its low entrance. ; 4nd when' th,e champag-ne the vaulted roof echoed gubernatoriel utter-

ances, and the loyal speeches of Mayors and M.H.R.s. No mine has been more worthy the attention and enconiums lavished upon it by experts ; some have praised it for one excellence, and some for another, and all have united in testifying to its unrivalled value. Hitherto, for many reasons, it has not been worked so •advantagepuAlyTas^tj-might^have been, but the r present lessees^ ,who ~fiave only recently come into posseßsiori; ; are about to J;e3t_i,ts ? _capaM Their manager, Mi' Elliott," whose Newcastle experience'sHoiild be of considerable advantage/ appears to be pushing on the works most energetically. Among the many visible improvements is a portable engine to be used for crashing fire-clay for the manufacture of bricks, .with- which several coke ovens are , to be built^j close . '. to . -the railway^ /line, f jThe building of . the pvensfwill beiprpce^ded with immediately after ,the« completion of the survey on this side. It may be presumed, this will be : done at once,., as a surveyor. and staff,, hay^the^rlast few days been distri.b'aiiing^ pegs impartially all over the ne;iglibpr hood ;,' it 'is. even rumored there is one in the parlor "pf the BifckV'Head; Hotel, 1 bu't r ithis T! mnsfc be takerfwith a grain of salt, or more -lively . with the beer barrel. '- , ' , .-;•::, -.-■; ;COAI-PIT ; HEATH,CPIiLIERY .-!,:/ Is- ' owned- 'by another' company ■'' which owes its existence' to r : 'lb6al : '; capital. : The i: _ieaße- ! '- > lies I: '-'oh! : ''the' ! ' Iwfiste'rii':Vbpun:aary;;;l wfiste'rii':Vbpun:aary;;; ana.- in ju^kj^sitipn of the BraMer,;larid;t.ieißixaft'or pit, aa'coalmines are' more >] 'cbinmbrily ' called^ is 200 yards from.. the upper, boundary^ of, Ahe lease and .300. , yards, .from the Brunner Mine,' ;a), ; .ari; ; eley;ation' of'TOft above the river, ' and the position will be remembered./by,...those whp .travelled, this/road three years ago— in the>, very ysppt where Duncan's Hotel once., stood. .This -pit opens'its' gaping 1 mbiith,' completely ''obliteratingpU. trace of the cellar " larig' s'yrle;"- was stored ihe'wer with .which the .trayeller i( . was, v wont|,to be cheered f arid often meb'ria^d^y^thjDngh barely, five „mpntha.{haye -elepsed since operations we're commenced, it will be seen that the progress has been surprisingly rapid. < Unlike' the .Grey^Cdmpany's pit, it is of an oblong shape JlOflLin length by Cjftwide. To'thdse accustomed tsl the gold-mines of Australia; the-; dimensipnay of these pits must appear, great indeed, but vyhen.it is remembered, that .^aggons containing. no r ;^^' I ' J '^^^half : .'a^ : tjOll will have to be drawn up thpni,^^ .the difference in.size is accounted for.' -it is now. over : lOOf tin depth, strongly, and: securely) ftm- ; t>ered, t and |^iyided 4 Q tp, ;t(twp r\ cpmpartmehts'/brie of which wiU 'be used,forjdrawing up the coal and the ot'ner fbr vpumping. The furtheE^jiffking of the pit is being proceeded)%i^||gorously, under the direction^f ttferilmjnager, Mr Taylor, whose lengthened" expenences in coal and gold^ mining' in England' and 1 eminently^ qualify hiinlbrthe" post* s- •"• COAt ; COMPANY. ■'' „ ;.; Workpf . an enduring and, .substantial character has,- since a recent account,^ been completed;] >Tha sinking of lthe r pitj< which was suspended during the erection of the poppet heads,' ;has beeuresumedi^aud'wiU be completed..'.this[week« / .The (little engine, .used for winding does its work admirably. It will be remembered that -a tunnebwa3;driyen; ia rthe idireqtipn, and to within a short . distance of the main workings. To utilisefthls for the ventilation of the minejtashaft 20ft in depth has-been sua.t ovec ifc ! iToiprev'enlftKe inconveniences inseparable! from employees settling va£pund-,;the workings, a township.,rpf .fifty -acres ,]wiUr fhortly be surveyed pff at a convenient distance.