148 COALFIELDS AND COLLIKUIKS OL'' A1STKALIA. 



is for the purpose of noting- the weight of coal shipped, and it 

 has a capacity of 300 tons an hour. Below the 

 weighing machine is a hopper from which the coal 

 is fed down a spout on to a double strand scraper 

 conveyor, mounted on two strand Jeffrey steel thimble 

 roller chains. The conveyor is 3ft. 6iii. wide, and 

 travels at the rate of 75ft. per minute, up an incline 

 of 38 degrees, to the top of a hardwood tower 50ft. above the 

 wharf level. It has a capacity of 300 tons an hour if neces- 

 sary, but that rate is not required, as the coal cannot be trim- 

 med so fast. There are three points on the tower from which 

 coal may be delivered, according to the height of the tide, and 

 the size of the vessel. The conveyor is driven from the top of 

 the tower by a small steam engine at the base of the bin, 

 through the medium of a rope, which has three turns round the 

 pulleys, and a tension wheel to take up the slack: by having- 

 one continuous rope, on the American principle, instead of three 

 separate ropes, as is the usual English custom, each turn does- 

 its fair share of work. 



The Metropolitan Colliery. 



The Metropolitan Colliery is situated at Helensburgh, about 

 28 miles south of Sydney. Operations started here in 1887, but 

 the first five years were occupied in shaft sinking and equip- 

 ping the mine. This colliery has been worked constantly now 

 for many years. The area controlled by the Metro- 

 politan Coal Company of Sydney Limited is about 22,000 

 acres, which is the largest area held by any coal 

 mining company in New, South Wales. Some of the land 

 is leased from the Crown, and some from private individuals. 

 The present general manager, Mr. D. A. W. Robertson, has 

 been in charge for nearly 19 years, and great credit is due to 

 him for the way in which he has overcome the difficulties met 

 with. This colliery is admitted to be the most gassy mine 

 in New South Wales, yet there has never been an ex- 

 plosion, which speaks well for the care exercised by those 

 in charge. Subsequent developments have proved that the site- 

 selected for the shafts and surface works would have been bet- 

 ter situated about two miles nearer Sydney. The shafts were 

 sunk in a gully which leads nowhere, and the only get- 

 away is by a short private line connected to the main line about 

 a mile south of Helensburgh. Certain first costs were saved in 

 the sinking, but these were more than counterbalanced by the 

 fact that all the ground required for buildings had to be made, 

 also the shafts are so far apart that an entirely separate nest 

 of boilers was required for each. Below they were unfortunate 

 enough to encounter a fault which limited developments at 

 first, but now they have three districts to work from, and have- 



