OWEN AND RICHMOND COAL.

Westport Times, Volume VII, Issue 1095, 5 August 1873, Page 2

OWEN AND RICHMOND COAL.

Dr Hector has reported on the above coalfields. The Owen coal he describes as a semi-bituminous Coal, resembling in outward appearance the coal from the Collingwood and Mount Eochfort seams but differing from them in not being a strong caking coal, It is, howeverj homogeneous, hard, and lustrous \ colour, black in mass, —in powder, brown. Its structure is laminated) with a rhomboidal fracture. It cokes very imperfectly, and does not puff up. Its ash is light, and of a pale brown colour, showing the presence of iron iu small quantity. Composition Water ... ... , ti 4.52 Fixed Carbon 52.85 Hydro-Carbon 38.21 Ash , ... 4.12 100. Evaporative power >i4 6.87 This coal is therefore of medium j quality as a steam-generator, but useful as a household coal. Its value is about the same as the coal that was formerly worked at Pakawau ; The Richmond coal he describes as A brown coal of a very soft and friable nature, its inferior appearance oeing due to its being taken from a portion of the seam that had been exposed to the weather. It burns freely, with a cleaf voluminous flame, but does not yield any coke. The ash is reddish COMPOSITION. Water ... iQ-tf Fixed Carbon ... ./, 2916 Hydro-Carbon ... .>. 4S2L Ash 5 96 100Evaporative power ... 3.76 Except in the rather low per centage of water, it agrees with the brown coal found in Southland.