KAKAHU COAL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1412, 31 October 1885, Page 2

KAKAHU COAL.

A meeting of persons interested in the developement of the. Kakahu minerals was held yesterday at Temuka, at which Mr Talbot presided. The following report supplied by Mr Hunt, was read ; '• W»imate, 19th October, 1885. "To the Chairman of the Kakahu Coal Promoter. " Sik, —I hare much pleasure in writing tou this report, upon the coal deposits of the K'.hahu district as far aa seen by me yester- ■ lay. 1 was taken there by Mr Barker, one uf the promoters. From what I saw of the coal ou'crops, and the premier formations which underlay the coil, I am under the impression that there exi-ts in this locality a true coal. The premier formations consist of basaltic rook, clay, elate, and mountain hmest.onn (which is termed Kakahu marble). These premier rocks lay under the coal. The next mitter we bavo to deal with is the coal, which may thicken in a very short distance from 6 inches to 25 or 30 feet. We hare a lignite h"re, on the Waihoa, that thickens from 2 feet to 27 feet in 6 chains—the sharper the angle the quicker the coai ; hickena as a rule. I found one seam of coal, which I should term the upp-jr seam, dipping st angle of about 45; this coal appears to be in a true position, baring its natural covering over it. Immediately uoJ-mieath this it a second seatr, whioh is shown in the river-bed in about balf-a-doxen different places, thi« appears not to lay at such an acute angle as the upper se*m, and I would be inclined to take from that that the two seams run together at no great distance from their outcrop. Farther up the gorge of the Kakahu we met, with an excelkat Jample of pipe clay, nnd beyond this again I came across 'he same upper seam of conl plainly traced along the face of the bill, which had upp-ireutly been worked by someone at a former date. T'us learn could be easily traced into the hill by driving or boring from the eastern face. There is a second seam underneath this one, which i» hidden by the river. Tbo first on th s lower s»*m that is seen is in the river-bed immediately below the brick kiln, i find by going lower down the river a blue j underneath this formation the coal is to be met with in its natural form. As no reliable information can be gathered from the coal that is lying in the river-bed, because *ll its natural coveang has been washed off it, md in many places the coal itself washed away, I would recommend a boring to be put down through the blue mica-nchist as ojnvenienrly a§ possible to whe»e the coal U aen in the river so as to try i's thickne*<" arid qU'ili'y in its natural slate. From this pointwe went towards the north-west, and there is ■very appearance of a coutinuation of the n'lrae seams until we come to'he top of the hill at Mr Hesket-h'* and there we met with the south-west outcrop that dips through the valley on the lower side of his hoase. •he coal along this line of ridges and formation will show up at almost all sorts of tngi'*, depending entirely on the formation if the lower strata*, and then leaving the'e nils after their extraordinary angles and ips angling away to the nouth-east until hey are 10-t altogether in de»p ground or get twuy to st-a. All coal and lignite deposits on he east cast of New Zealand dip away ;oward» the south-east." The report then gave several of Mr Hunt's experiences in the way of pinking ind hiring, together with the. cost of <ame, but as the report stated that the information given on the subject was strictly private vre are obliged to omit it, Mr Hunt, who was present, alß'> submitted sarr-pk's of the ligniie i»t at Waitnate, to show the lifference between it »ud the Kakahu coal. Vlih (liffrr'nee was »t nice noticeable, the Wainut© specimens >eing of a dull brown color, while the Kakahu coal waa black and lustrous. Mr Hunt was certain that true coal agisted at Kakahs.

Mr Ashwell stated that be bad written to the Hon. T. H. Wigley, asking him for an answer to previous communications in reference to the termf on which he would allow his land to be worked, and that he had received no answer. The meeting came to the conclusion 1 hat nothing could be done nntil some definite information had been received from Mr Wigley. The meeting then adjourned.