104 COALFIELDS AND COLLIERIES 0V AUSTRALIA. 



made from material obtained on the company's property. They 

 use a patent Sercombe kiln, with eighteen chambers for brick 

 burning. 



The Hermitage Colliery. 



This is one of the collieries of the Lithgow Valley Colliery 

 Company, and is under the general management of Mr. J. 

 Campbell. In many respects it is a duplicate of the Lithgow 

 Valley Colliery. The colliery is worked from tunnels driven 

 from the outcrop; the coal is extracted by the ordinary pillar 

 and bord system, but the winning of pillars has not yet been 



Fig. 41. Tension Pulley. 



commenced. The hauling is done by an endless rope, which 

 rests in jockeys above the skips, but only; one size of jockey 

 is employed, for as no end gate; is on the skip, a place is pro- 

 vided at either end for the jockey, which can be changed from 

 one to the other according to which way the skip is travelling, 

 so there is not the same fear of the skip tipping up when 

 empty, as at the Lithgow Valley Colliery. The jockey con- 

 sists of an iron rod, with a hook on the top at one side, for 

 the endless rope to rest in. If this hook was in the centre of 

 the end of a skip the rope might slip through it, but. being on 

 one side, the rope, in 1 its endeavour to keep a straight line. 



