C—2.

Pukemiro Junction Colliery (Party of miners, Owners). —Mining operations were discontinued during the year, due to the exhaustion of the narrow field. The plant was removed, and the Crown lease surrendered. Total output to 31st December, 1932, was 113,261 tons. Waikato Extended Colliery (Roose Shipping Co., Ltd., Owners). —Operations have been continued on the pillars remaining on the Old Waikato Mine section under lease from the Taupiri Coal-mines, Ltd. The mine is situated on the west bank of the Waikato River, three miles south of Huntly. The output is conveyed by riversteamers to meet the requirements of river settlers, and for bunkering use in the company's steamers. Huntly Brickworks. —The fireclay quarry, opened to a height of 70 ft., being worked for the manufacture of firebricks, tiles, &c, has been maintained in good order. Taupiri East Colliery (Auckland University Council Endowment Lease). —Operations have been confined to the splitting of pillars recovered from the old Kimihia Mine. Two electrically driven pumps have been employed in lowering the water in the old mine-workings. A total of 17,194 tons has been won by the miner owners of the mine. Campbell Colliery (Crown lease, Whatawhata). —A new dip has been driven from an outcrop for a distance of 6 chains in the coal-seam. Six working-places have been turned off the dip. The seam is of good quality, and finds a ready market in Hamilton and surrounding districts. A total of 39,780 tons of coal has been won from the Crown lease, and the future prospects of the mine are quite satisfactory. Renown Colliery (Renown Collieries, Ltd., Owners). —Mining operations, following the general slackness of trade, have been confined to No. 2 south section, and to eight headings being advanced for the future development of the mine. With the exception of four headings, all the faces are machine mined, and a daily output of 400 tons is being got from twenty working-places on one shift. No inflammable gas has been reported from the mine over a period of two years, but safety-lamps are used in the main headings, as a precautionary measure against the danger of meeting isolated blowers of gas. Mine-developemnt, ventilation, and haulage have been maintained at a high standard of efficiency, and the daily output could be doubled within a few days to meet any improved demand for coal. Total output up to 31st December, 1932, 323,391 tons. Wilton Colliery (Wilton Collieries, Ltd., Owners). —This colliery produced 66,801 tons for the year 1932. Three separate sections have been connected to the mine-system of haulage and ventilation, and two are proceeding to the dip in a westerly direction towards the boundary. The rise section is being reduced in area by a converging outcrop which is narrowing the field in the direction of the main headings. The pillars in both No. 1 section and the east section are being extracted following the first working. The coal pillars are being recovered in good condition as they have not been affected by the progressive roof movement which tends to cause fretting and disintegration of the coal structure. The seam averages 5 ft. in thickness in the east section, and in the dip section it varies from 7 ft. to 9 ft. Two headings to the north, skirting the outcrop on both sides, are being advanced into Holmes's area, where the thin coal has been proved to exist at shallow depths along the spurs of the hills. During the year I have impressed upon the management the need for reducing the width of the working-places. The bords are usually driven 14 ft. wide, requiring three rows of props, or sets with covering, in support of the roof. The coal is easily mined, and, if the bords could be driven to a width of 11 ft., one row of props would be ample to support the roof, and the narrow places would afford safer roadways for the extraction of the pillars. A Keith Blackman ventilating-fan, 4 ft. 6 in. in diameter, chain-driven by a 30 h.p. electric motor, has been installed in the return drift near the entrance to the mine, The endless-rope haulage and electrical systems have been advanced to the faces and maintained in good order. Hunua Collieries. —Three small coal-mines, known as Cowan's, Gillespie's, and Opaheke Collieries, have been opened out on freehold land at Hunua, twelve miles to the east of Papakura. Operations have been chiefly confined to prospecting, and the likelihood of locating a workable seam is not promising. This area has been previously prospected and worked by miners and companies, and only a thin seam, interspersed with stone and slate bands, has been discovered by prospectors. King Colliery (Conditional Native Lease). —A small coal-mine was opened out at Rangitoto by a party of six miners. A drive 100 ft. in length provided four working-places in a seam 6 ft. thick. The output was carted to Te Kuiti a distance of eight miles. Rangitoto Coal-mine (Native Lease, Tahia). —Pour miners are engaged in following an outcrop of clean coal. Narrow places are driven in a level coal-seam. Output of 1,025 tons during the year was disposed of to settlers within a radius of ten miles of the mine. Taranaki District. Old Stockman Colliery, Mokau. —This mine is situated on the west bank of the Mokau River at a distance of twenty miles from the Mokau Heads. The seam is 4 ft. thick, and the output is shipped down the river in launches for the requirements of a dairy factory and local settlers. Mokau Colliery (Mokau Collieries, Ltd., Owners). —During the year the company mined and shipped 765 tons of coal from a Native lease (Block lα, Maunga-Awakino) situated thirteen miles up the Mokau River. A tramway three miles and a half in length has been laid down to connect the mine to the wharf. The company has purchased a small steamer for the purpose of shipping coal to Waitara and New Plymouth. Paparata Coal-mine (Crown Lease, Taranaki Coal-mining Company, Ltd., Owners). —The mine is situated eleven miles from the railway. The output is carted over clay roads, and operations are confined to the summer months. The seam is 3 ft. thick, and is got by holing out 2 ft. of the soft fireclay lying immediately above the seam. Egmonl Colliery (Crown Lease, Egmont Collieries Ltd., Owners). —The mine is situated on the banks of the Tangarakau Stream, seventy miles north of Stratford. The average daily output is 120 tons, and forty-six miners are employed in the mine. Twenty-four working-places are available for production by machine mining in a seam 3 ft. thick. The long-wall method of mining was employed in the pillar section, but it was discontinued, due to the fact that the weight of the superincumbent strata extended over the roadside pillars, and could not be confined to the goaf. The roof-cover and floor is massive sandstone, which does not yield until a large area of coal is extracted. The quality of coal is not improved by the numerous bands of stratified shale which divide the coal-seam, and present a problem for the clean marketing of the output. Gilberd's Colliery (Crown Lease, Tatu). —Two prospecting-tunnels were driven during the year, but owing to defective timbering they both collapsed. Another attempt is being made to follow the outcrop at a higher level. The seam is highly inclined, and the coal is soft and friable. The output is conveyed to Ohura, a distance of seven miles. Fatal Accidents. On the 4th February, 1932, George Scott, underviewer, Mac Donald Colliery, was fatally injured as a result of a haulage accident. From evidence tendered by the rope attendant, who actually witnessed the accident, it appeared that the deceased had entered the mine at mid-day and was struck down by a descending race of skips controlled by a jig wheel. The accident happened 2 chains in from the entrance, and the attendant had warned the underviewer repeatedly, until he himself had to take shelter, that the race was in motion.

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