PAiiK. — On the ximount of Coal in Neiv Zealand. 329 

 Bituminous Goad (Table No. 3). 



Total amount of coal — Tons. 



Brown coal 506,289,000 



Pitch-coal 525,000,000 



Bituminous coal 187,000,000 



Total 1,218,289,000 



After all necessary deductions for losses in working, &c., 

 the total quantity of available coal may be set down at a 

 thousai:id millions of tons, which at the present market-value 

 of coal would represent about £750,000,000. 



Until actual surveys are made, the above figures must 

 only be looked upon as approximate estimates, but in most 

 cases they are well within the mark. Most of the coal is 

 level-free, and only such seams as are w^orkable at the present 

 time have been included in these returns. Ample allowances 

 have also been made for areas of coal removed by denudation. 



In addition to the coalfields mentioned in the above 

 tables, small patches of coal-bearing measures occur at 

 Takaka, Baton, Tiraumea, Karamea, and Lyell Mountains, in 

 Nelson ; at Waihaoa and Waipara, in Canterbury; and at Pre- 

 servation Inlet in Otago. 



Several thin seams of bituminous coal, ranging from a few 

 inches to 15in. in thickness, occur in Jurassic rocks at the 

 Hokonui Range, Waikawa, and Mataura. At the two former 

 places prospecting operations were at one time undertaken to 

 prove the extent of the coal, and quite recently a bore 131ft. 

 deep has been put down at Eocklauds, near Fortrose, with 

 the same object. The seams in this formation are everywhere 

 too thin to work, and, judging from the rapidly-alternating 

 character of the strata, the land-movements at this period 

 were too frequent to permit of the accumulation of large car- 

 bonaceous deposits, and for this cause little hope can be held 

 out of thicker seams being found at these places. 



Having determined the probable quantity of coal contained 

 in our coalfields, we now arrive at the important problem, 



