THE LAWRENCE COAL PIT.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VI, Issue 269, 27 March 1873, Page 7

THE LAWRENCE COAL PIT.

Messrs Cormack-and Nicoll, the enterprising proprietors of the Lawrence coal pit, have iiow completed preparations for the more efficient and economical working of the mine. A shaft 12ft by 4ft has been sunk to a depth of 100 feet, and there is a well which is 12 feet deeper. The shaft is divided into three compartments — two of thorn being four feet square, and the third for ventilation purposes, 1 foot Gin. by 4 feet. The seam is being followed in a northerly direction from the shaft The depth of the seam is 17 feet, and its" width 800 feet. The workings are about 14 feet wide, and levels are being taken in from the sides. A distance of about 40 feet has been taken out, and it is anticipated that about 80 feet| further the place where the seam was formerly worked by stripping, will be arrived at. When that is done, the men will not need to be lowered down the shaft, but will be able to walk into their work from the surface. . For raising the coal and pumping, a first-class whim has been erected and works very satisfactorily. The shaft has been substantially slabbed from surface to bottom. The coal from this pit has greatly improved in quality of late, and there is very little doubt that as the depth of the mine increases, so will the coal more closely assimilate to true coal. The present seam, we may state, extends out into the flat, and is practicably inexhaustible. The mode of operations under the present prop-ietora is similar to the most improved system in vogue in the old country, and a universal practice there, viz., letting the raising of the coal by contract, is about to be adopted by them. Messrs Cormack and Nicoll were exceedingly plucky in purchasing the mine, and since they have owned it, they have spared neither money, trouble nor time to establish a proper system of working. Adjoining the coal mine is a brick field belonging to the same proprietors, who have obtained the services of competent brickmakers from Dnnedin, and have resolved to tnrn out first-class articles at a low figure. Their appliances are very complete, and they are well situated for working. If brick does not supersede wood as building material in Lawrence, it will not be Messrs Cormack and NicolTs fault.