C—2b

9

and south of Mr. A. Barnett's homestead the coal crops out at short intervals for two miles approximately along the strike, and in an east-and-west direction the coal is exposed for nearly a mile; but the coal extends farther than it was followed, and the area of the coalfield is not known. To the northward of Mr. Barnett's farm the coal outcrops almost continuously as far as the school, where stream-level rises above the coal horizon; other outcrops were visited two, seven, and nine miles farther north. The coal crops out on the hill east of Waitewhena Valley, but was not followed farther. Here the coal is near the hilltop, and as it is rising to the east it cannot extend much farther unless preserved by downfaulting. To the south the coal was followed to Pura Hill, where it had not thinned at all, and to the west the coal was followed up the tributary streams till the stream-level rose above the coal horizon. The Waitewhena area is thus only the outcrop part of a much larger coal-bearing area which extends farther northward and southward along the strike, and as the beds dip to the westward an extensive body of uneroded coal may reasonably be expected to exist in that direction. Within the Waitewhena area the outcrops are numerous, because the streams have eroded their valleys through the seams; as a result the coal has been washed away from the valleys, and is preserved only in the spurs. In the upper part of Marco and Pura streams, and in the north branch of Pura Stream half a mile south-south-west of Khyber Pass, two seams crop out, but the upper is not more than 4 ft. thick. Along the south of Mangarohe Stream there is a difference of level of 100 ft. between two neighbouring outcrops, but as the higher seam cannot be found to the west, and the lower cannot lie found to the east, it is better to regard those as parts of the one seam that have been separated by faulting. In no locality are two thick seams exposed in the same vertical section. Eight samples taken from Waitewhena area by the writer and one from Morgan's, nine miles to the north of Waitewhena, were analysed in the Dominion Laboratory and found to be brown coals of good quality. The results are shown by the following table, which includes also analyses of Waikato and Mokau coal for comparison : — (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) ((>) (7) (8) (!)) (10) (11) Fixed carbon .. 39-05 39-09 34-55 39-40 42-08 42-29 42-01 42-78 42-45 40-00 42-92 Volatile hydrocarbons 40-08 43-90 44-77 42-40 41-24 38-80 39-23 39-41 37-90 40-51 42-12 Water .. .. 14-87 14-23 1307 14-98 15-15 15-89 1.5-23 15-05 17-09 L6-&2 12-90 Ash .. .. 4-50 2-78 7-01 3-22 0-93 2-90 2-93 2-10 2-50 2-27 2-00 100-00 100-00 100-00 10000 100-00 10000 100-00 100-00 10000 100-00 10000 Sulphur (pot- cent.) .. 1-44 2-34 3-34 21)0 1-19 1-49 1-10 1-37 0-57 0-80 0-35 (1) Marco Creek, 27 chains from Waitewhena Stream; 13ft. seam. (2) Marco Creuk, 27 chains from Waitewhena Stream; sft. seam. (3) Marco Creek, 30 chains from Waitewhena Stream ; 3 ft. scam. (4) Half a mile oast of Barnett's homestead; 5 ft. seam. (5) Pura Stream, west of the wool-shed at outcrop No. 08; oft. seam. (0) Upper seam on ridge east of the wool-shed; 3 ft. seam. (7) Pura Stream, across stream from (5) at outcrop No. 84; 15 ft. scam. (8) Knight's outcrop 87, north-east of Trig. Wa; 10 ft. seam. (9) Morgan's outcrop, two and a half miles south of Aria, Totoro S.D.; 12 ft. seam. (10) Mokau coal. Quoted from 40th Annuai Report, Dominion Laboratory, 1913, p. 13. (11) i iiintly coal. 40th Annual Report, Dominion Laboratory, 1913, p. 1.2.

11. NIGHTCAPS-MOUNT LINTON COALFIELD. (Summary of Report by M. Qnglby.) The coal-measures of the Nightcaps - Mount Linton district were deposited over a large area, and in patches in this area several coal-seams wore formed, lenticular in shape, overlapping, thickening, thinning, and dying out in different directions. At a later time the whole area was disturbed by faulting, the sedimentary beds were broken into separate pieces and tilted at low angles in different directions, thus turning up the broken ends of the coal-seams to the surface and affording numerous coal-outcrops. But the abundance of outcrops, far from indicating that the whole area is underlain by continuous seams, actually shows that the original coal-patches have been broken into several smaller areas, so that now the seams are continuous for only short distances. One of the coal-patches has been mined at Nightcaps for thirty-six years, and from seams aggregating 36ft. in thickness 1,181,011 tons of coal have been won; another patch, where the coal varied from 9 ft. to 22 ft. in thickness, has been worked for eleven years at Wairio - New Brighton, and 95,000 tons taken out. Other patches are now being opened, but in all cases the work is being done at or near the outcrop or opening; no systematic prospecting lias been done, aud, apart from what can be seen in the quarries opened, the thickness oi' coal and the extent of the patches are unknown. At the patch now being opened by Tinker Bros, and by the Nightcaps Coal Company the coal is at least 20 ft. thick; at the Wairaki patch the seams are 9 ft. and 7 ft. thick; at the Mossbank patch the coal is 40 ft. thick; at the Linton patch the lower seams are 9 ft. and 9 it. thick; another is in two splits 10 ft. and 23 ft. thick, with a 2 ft. parting of mudstone, and two more seams 6 ft. and Bft. thick are known; at the Mount Linton patch the coal is at least 20 ft. thick. Between these known coal-patches the country has in many places been shown Io be coal-bearing, and in no place has it been proved barren. Outside the area containing the coal-patches now being opened many other outcrops of coal are' known, but owing to the lack of means of communication no work has been undertaken at these outlying outcrops. Promising coal-mines, with thick faces of coal already opened, and a good coalfield are being held up for want of a railway. More geological work is required in this district.

_—C. 2b.