A VALUABLE COAL FIELD.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXIII, Issue 67, 3 April 1901, Page 2

A VALUABLE COAL FIELD.

Referring to the first sod-cutting in connection with th* Stratford-Whauga-momona railway " Geologist" writtug to the N.Z. Times says:—"The most extensive coalfield in tho Southern Hemisphere will ba served by this railway scheme, tapping a bed of cjnlf-the first outcrop within sixty milaS'of Stratford, and extending eastwards to within a few miles of the town of Gisborne, and northwards from Mokau to far below the Wauganui river—a coalfield of some 800 square miles in extent. T»e northern outcrop at Mokau is of the newer,orlatef, formation ;but at,ornear Whanganiomona, the centre of the vast coal basin, where pressure has been greater, there is found a superior deposit of aoa'. I am sending by tliis post a small sample you may examine. It is of the same diss as the f.ioious Oannel coal of Scotland. Put it into a white handkerchief, and you will find the coal makes no mark. Thits test only applies to two classes of coal—first anthracite, and, secondly, Oannel c;:al. The coil I seed you produces) 25 per cent, more gas than the best Westpo't or Brunner coal. It cak J s or cliuko's, and also foims high-grada cike. The enormous outcrops in the Whangamomona district will enable the coal to be drawn for many years to come without sinking oc any expensive machinery. Such deposits of excellent coil will make this nsw line one of the best paying lines in the colony. I may mention that the Government has recently reserved and withdrawn from disposal some 25,000 acres in the centre of this coal deposit."