The Westport Times. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1874.

Westport Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1148, 6 February 1874, Page 2

The Westport Times. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1874.

Notwithstanding the efforts made to bring New Zealand coal into general une, the monthly rveOrd of imports shows there has been no perceptible decrease in the supplies drawn from New South Wales. In Otago household consumers, notwithstanding the plenteous and comparative cheapness of coal found in the immediate neighborhood of Duriedin, still prefer to buy the Newcastle coal, and in Auckland and other localities the lignite fuel placed in the local marlet does not find increasing favor. On the West Coast of the Southern Island the vast qualities of eo»l equalling in quality any Known coal in the world, and existing in illimitable quantities, have as yet been worked but in fitful fashion, and the public to whom delay means vexation, if not losing hope in the profitable development of the mines and expansion of the coal trade, have become less sanguine as to the immediate benefits therefrom. Despondency in this respect is to be deprecated, and comparison between the present coal trade of New South Wales,and the trade expectant of New Zealand is invidious. It must be remembered that before the trade of the former was established it was but slow in progress and has been gradually built tip to its present greatness, bit by bit, during a long series of years, and it is only by similarly slow and sure degrees that the New Zealand coal trade will attain a like position. A paper on the Newcastle coalfields was recently published in the Sydney Morning Herald, and as proving the gradual development of the trade to its present dimensions, some extraets therefrom will be of interest. As far back as 1827, an association known as the Australian Agricultural Company obtained from the Imperial Government the fee simple of 500 acres of the coalfield, and decided to work their mines by improved machinery. A.t that date the only countries supplied with New South "Wales coal were India, the Island of France, and some of the South American States, and the operations of the company were not large by reason that the Imperial Government still held and worked the greater portion of the field, having done so from 1801. In 1829 the whole field of 5000 acres was handed over to the company in fee simple, but even with that advantage the mines up lo IS3I bad not been worked to the company's advantage. Still the consumption of coal kept steadily increasing in demand. "In 1834 the production of the mines amounted to 8190 tons, and in the following year to 12,392 tons. In 1843, they produced more than double the latter amount; and five years later the production was 34,381 tons. In 1849, there was no increase in the quantity produced ; but in 1850, there was an increase of 12,000 tons ; and in 1851 a further increase of 11,000 tons." Then came the sudden subversion of all regular industry consequent on the Victorian gold discoveries, and in 1853 the production fell oft considerablv, while the cost of production rose from 4s 6d to 12s ,9d per ton. In 1855. a reaction in favor of the company set in, wages were reduced and the demand for coal increased until in 1857 the receipts exceeded the expenditure upon the mines by £20,000." With a fluctuating trade, but still progressing, the company gradually made headway, and since 1872 a gradual rise has taken place in prices, as instanced by the fact in that year, that the best screened coal could be had at Newcastle for 7s to 8s per ton, while present quotations are 14s for large and 7s tor small coal. Concurrently with the operations of the Australian Agricultural Company, other coal mines are being worked at Newcastle, and it is estimated that at least a million tons of coal were raised and exported by these mines last year, iu addition to the quantity produced by the company under notice. The precise quantity for 1873 is not stated, but in 1872 the company raised 184,272 tons, bringing in a revenue of £05,220. These results have been obtained only by patient struggling with adverse times and circumstances, and those who despond at the apparently slow progress of the coal industry in New Zealand may take heart of grace and bide their time patiently.