The Westport Times. AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. In the cause of Truth and Justice we strive. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1871.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 887, 14 November 1871, Page 2

The Westport Times. AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. In the cause of Truth and Justice we strive. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1871.

The news we published in a second edition on Saturday that the Assembly had authorised an expenditure of £60,000 for a line of railway connecting the Mount Rochfort coalfield with the port, is of a highly satisfactory character. Apart from any temporary advantage that would accrue locally from the proposed expenditure, there is an immediate prospect of a long neglected and valuable source of mineral wealth being turned to advantage. With the prospect of the coalfield becoming shortly available for working, a short reference to the explorations that have been already made, and the estimates of the cost of a line of railway will not be without interest. Going back as far as 1862 we have the report of Mr James Burnett, colliery engineer, who in the course of a survey examined the side of Mount Rochfort from the Buller to the Wariatea. The mountain chains, of which Mount'Rochfort, Mount "William, and Mount Frederic form the conspicuous landmarks, are composed almost entirely of coal-bearing strata, as is also the elevated plateau lying between them, and this is only a small part of the whole field, which extends to the east at least to the Orikaka river, and towards the north beyond the Mokikinui. The whole of Mount Rochfort, says Mr Burnett, is an available coalfield, and a great part of it capable of being worked by free level. Speakiug from the results gathered during an examination of a portion of the field only, which would be most easily worked, and presenting the greatest facilities of transport to the Buller river, he concludes that in 10,000 acres there are not less than 290,400,000 tons of coal. Assuming that only half this quantity cau be calculated upon, and that half of the latter amount were lost in working, we still Jiave 72,600,000 tons of available coal which may be brought to the Buller harbour, by means of a railway in no place exceeding eighteen miles iu length ; while for many years twelve or thirteen miles would be sufficient, and possibly only nine. This quantity would supply 2000 tons a day or 000,000 tons a year for 121 years. Passing on to the road necessary to make this portion of the coalfield available, Mr Burnett describes the first mile and a halt of railway as passing along the skirts of the bush over a level stretch of loose shingle and sand. The Orawaiti river he proposes, to cross by a viaduct twentyeight chains long, and thence to carry the line by a bank thirty feet in height over nearly a' mile of. flat bush land. For the next two miles the line would pass over flat open land, free from swamp, and with a hard, sound bottom eighteen iuches From the .. surface. At a, distahice of seven and a, quarter 'inifes' frdm the Buller-the line would sweep reund the base of the trills to

theWariatea river, eight miles from the Buller, up to which point there are no difficulties in making either a horse, stationary engine, or locomotive line almost level and at very moderate expense. From the Wariatea river the difficulties commence. Thence to the lowest part of the plateau is a distance of a little over a mile and a quarter in a horizontal straight line, and in this distance there is a rise of 1,450 From the nine and a half mile point the rise for one and a quarter miles is one in ten, and thence for a distance of fifty chains one in sixtysix, where the highest point, 2,129 feet is reached. For a distance of sixty-four chains to the proposed mouth of the mine there is a fall of 265 feet, giving a gradient of one in sixteen or thereabouts, and to draw up the waggons from the mine a stationary engine would be required. From this point the line could be extended both north south so as to command the whole field up to the sources of the "Waiinangaroa, Ngakuwaho, and Orikaka, by locomotive line ; and beyond there towards Mokihinui on the north, and Orikaka Ton the east, by railways worked by stationary engines. Mr Blackett taking Mr Burnett's plans and descriptions of his explorations went over the same ground, and testified to the accuracy of his examinations in a report compiled the following year (1863). The cost of a line of railway, twelve and a half miles long, is approximately set down at £IOOO per mile—£so.ooo ; stationary engines and other machinery £6OOO ; locomotive engines, waggons, shipping place, &c. £14,000 ; or a total of £70,000; and assuming the annual production to be 100,000 tons, the cost per ton is estimated at 7s 11-jd, made up as follows : luteiest on capital at 10 per cent- ... £7,000 Cost of working, 2s 6d per ton ; other expenses, royalty, agency, management, and contingencies, say 2s 6d per ton 25,000 Cost of haulage lid per ton per mile 7,812 Total on 100,000 tons ... £39,812 Necessarily the above computations are entirely approximate, at the same time care has been taken not to underrate the difficulties of the undertaking nor its probable cost. Although Mr Burnett refers to the probability, amounting in his opinion almost to certainty, of coal being discovered in large available quantities much nearer to the port and in more accessible localities, yet he has not ventured to assume this. His calculations and report are based only upon what he has proved to be actual facts, and any contingencies, therefore, that may arise can only serve to place the undertaking upon a more favourable footing. It is certain also that Mr Blackett's figures in respect to the approximate cost would be capable of considerable reduction, in view of the revolution which has taken place of late years in the cost of railway construction. In 1863, the wonders of the Fairlie engine were unknown ; and if £70,000 would then cover the cost of a railway such as is necessary, it is very certain that the £60,000 voted by the Assembly will prove ample with the greatly increased facilities and knowledge of the present day.