THE KAKAHU COAL MINES.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1375, 6 August 1885, Page 4

THE KAKAHU COAL MINES.

The following is the report of Mr J. J. Binns, Inspector of Mines on the subject of the Kakahu coal deposits 1 have the homr to inform you that on receipt of your letter of the 2let I revisited Kakahu and made an examination of the alleged coal discoveries, which, however, can hardly be so called, as a coal mine in this exac'jf icality was reported in 1881 (see Repo- on Control and Inspection of Mines 1881). Since that diln no mining has been carried on. The special feature to w hich it was, 1 believe, desired that my attention should be called was an outcrop of coal in the bed of the Kakahu river. At the time of my visit, however, this was coverpd with water, and it was therefore impossible to obtain any information as to its thickness or dip. Some samples have been procured and these have been sent for analysis. The dip of the measure nt this point is fifty degrees, and the sample of coal indicates clearly the proximity of a fault in a pipe tdny nutting, distant about 30 chains in a southerly direction. The other coal measures consists of beds of clay and sand with hard ferruginous bauds, and a dip of 23 degrees. At Kakahu Bush there is an old working, in what appears to be a a carbonaceous shale. As, however, there is not only a drive stiaiglit in, but a considerable lateral excavation, the material from which has evidently been taken away, 1 am obliged to believe this has been used, as I was informed, as a fuel for generating steam in a saw mill. The dip at this point is 21 degrees. Still further to the North, on Mr Heskelh’e ground, a thin seam of 2 feet of faulty coal dips at 68 degrees to the north. I Lave recommended that prospecting should be carried on, not at first by boring or sinking, but by surface exploration and machinery. When anything definite is exposed, it will be possible to give au opinion as to whether more expensive works are desirable.”