C—2

44

being worked in the dip sections contains an intervening band of fireclay from 1 ft. to 2 ft. in thickness, and only the top portion of the seam (5 ft.) has so far been worked. The management is contemplating the use of coal-cutting machines for the purpose of recovering the bottom seam, by means of machine mining, either by holing on the floor, or by a machine designed with a scrapper attachment to cut and hole out the clay band. Should the operation be practicable it would result in prolonging the life of the mine by six or seven years. The parallel return airways from the working sections in No. 1 junction have been rewidened and reheightened during the year to provide more roomy passages for the aircurrent and to facilitate travelling by means of the return airway to the shaft-exit. Silverdale (Foot's Crown Lease). —Operations during the year were confined to working out the shallow coal. The seam is 4 ft. in thickness. The roof is supported with abundance of timber, and generally the workings have been maintained in good order. Northern Co-operative Colliery (Cunningham's Crown Lease). —Several drives have been driven to provide water-free roadways for the working of isolated blocks of pillar coal. The workings are of small dimensions, and have been safely timbered during the year. Seventy tons per week are carted to Hikurangi. Glen Nell Colliery (Crown Lease). —This mine was formerly worked by McTntyre and party. Subsequent to a cessation of operations for ten months S. Foot secured a sublease with the right to win the remaining coal on the property. A new drive was driven to reach the coal-seam at a lower level where the exposed seam is 4 ft. in thickness overlain by a strong limestone roof. The output is conveyed over three miles of county road to Hikurangi Station. Belton's Colliery. —Pillars remaining from a working of the field by the Hikurangi Coal Co., Ltd., have been successfully recovered by drives directed by advance boring. Thirty chains of ground tramway connects the mine to the county road from where the output is carted to Hikurangi Station. Christie's Colliery. —An output of 40 tons per clay has been maintained from two mine-sections connected by tramways to a private railway-siding at Hikurangi Station. The pillars have been extracted from the Hill Mine under good pillaring conditions. The section on the flat has been flooded several times during the year, due to inrushes of water from an old creek-bed. The roof cover is composed of gravel and boulders of stone. Phoenix Colliery (McKinlay's Crown Lease). —After several months of idleness a new mine was opened out from the eastern boundary of the lease. A 4 ft. seam has been proved over 3 acres. The roof is remarkably strong, requiring few timber supports in bords driven 6 ft. in width. An output of 60 tons per week is removed by motorlorry to Hikurangi for use in railway-locomotives. Ruatangata Colliery. —The workings are still proceeding through the pillars of the old abandoned Kamo Colliery. A larger ventilating-fan was installed during the year with beneficial effects at the faces. Thirty tons of coal are produced from splits driven through the pillars, and ten miners are steadily employed in the mine. Harrison's Waro Colliery. —A new fan-drift, constructed in brick, with arrangements for reversing the air-current, has been completed, and affords a marked improvement in the ventilation of the dip places. The seam has been recovered through the fault in the north section. In the south section it thinned to 3 ft., resulting in the suspension of the workings. The mine worked intermittently during the year, averaging less than three days per week. Muir's Colliery, Tauranga Block (Sublease Wilson's Collieries, Ltd.). —One mile of private road was formed to afford a passage for motor-lorries from the county road to a thin seam outcropping on the western boundary of the block. A drive on water-free course drained the Northern Coal Co.'s old workings, and several pillars have been extracted. Clark and Party's Colliery, Tauranga Block (Sublease Wilson's Collieries, Ltd.). —A party of three miners was engaged in winning isolated blocks of coal from a seam 3 ft. in thickness. One of the miners sustained a fracture of his right leg through falling in front of a coal-skip which was being drawn by a horse along a surface tramway. Nesbitt and Party's Colliery (Sublease Hikurangi Coal Co., Ltd.). —A dip 2 chains in length through stone was driven to a coal-seam proved ahead by boring. The drive was properly timbered with heavy sets well covered with lathes on top and sides. A connecting-drive to a ventilating-shaft was also constructed for ventilating purposes. Plant, comprising steam boiler, winch, pump, and pipes, was also installed. The May Mine (Newby and Party ; Sublease Hikurangi Coal Co., Ltd.). —This is another small colliery opened out in a thin seam on the fringe of an area abandoned in the early days of mining. Four miners produced an average output of 12 tons per day for the use of the Hikurangi Coal Co., Ltd., in dewatering the flooded Shaft Colliery. The workings were maintained in good order, and the ventilation was satisfactory. Fearnley's Colliery (Sublease Hikurangi Coal Co., Ltd.). —Two mine-sections were worked. At the beginning of the year several hundred tons were got from under an unformed road under lease from the Crown. Subsequent prospecting revealed an area of coal 4 ft. in thickness north of the Rocks Mine workings. Eight miners were employed during the stoppage of work in the Hikurangi Shaft Colliery. Goutt's Colliery (Sublease Hikurangi Coal Co., Ltd.). —An isolated block of coal is being worked by a party of miners. A surface tramway, haulage winch, and boiler were assembled to operate the mine and place the output on the Marua Road for road transport to Hikurangi Railway-station. Due consideration was paid to the support of the roof by the miner owners. Jackson's Rocks Colliery (McLeod's Freehold). —Pillars were recovered from an area abandoned during a former working. The seam is 10 ft. in thickness, and of good quality. The output is carted to Hikurangi along the main road. Glenbervie Colliery. —This is situated on Douglas's Estate, a few chains off the main Whangarei-Kiripaka Road. Boring operations proved the continuity of the seam over several acres of rise ground. A stone drive 110 ft. in length has been driven to reach the seam under free drainage conditions. The quality of the coal is good. The output is carted seven miles to the railway-station for use in railway-locomotives. New Kiripaka Colliery. —This is a small mine operating on J. Webber's land by a party of Hikurangi miners. The workings are on the Ngungaru Hill, three miles from the main metalled road. Ten chains of tramway have been laid down an incline to a drive on water-level. The output is conveyed over ten miles of county road to Mair Railwaystation. Avoca Colliery. —A small area was worked during the years 1912 and 1913, and subsequently abandoned due to faults and the inaccessibility of the field. A party of Hikurangi miners bored an area in close proximity to the county road and proved the seam to exist to the rise of the old workings. A winding-engine was installed, and 12 chains of surface tramway were laid down to connect the mine to the county road. The coal-seam is crushed and friable, and is intermixed with clay and stone. It has also a high-water content, and is only marketable within a radius of twelve miles from the mine. Rotowaro Collieries (Taupiri Coal-mines, Ltd., Owners). —The mine equipment has been maintained at a high standard of efficiency, and during the year many additions have been made to the surface machinery. The pillars have been successfully extracted from several sections in Nos. 1 and 2 Mines, and, where the depth of the seam from the surface does not exceed 200 ft., little crushing of the supporting pillars has been experienced. The working-seams are of moderate thickness, depth, and gradient. Variable natural conditions, such as undulations of the floor, faults, and stone bands, present difficulties in the way of keeping haulage-roads on straight courses, and many deviations have to be made from the predetermined directions. The bord-and-pillar method of mining on the panel system is practised throughout the mine, with areas varying from 3 to 5 acres for each district. Work in the main dip of No. 3 mine is temporarily stopped pending results ascertained from a slant dip set off to prospect the eastern side of the field. Inflammable gas has been frequently detected in advance places in No. 3 Mine section. In No. 2 Mine the dip heading has proved the continuity of the seam along the ridge towards Pukemiro. The average daily output during the winter months was 840 tons. The average daily output per miner engaged was as follows : Machine miners, 12T tons; hand miners, 7-3 tons; total miners, 8-1 tons. An increasing quantity of surface water is fl owing into the mine through the crevices caused by pillar extraction, and during periods of heavy rainfall the pumps are run almost continuously.