866 Transactions.— Geology. 
b. Brown Coal.—Rarely shows vegetable structure. Fracture irre- 
gular, conchoidal, with incipient lamination ; colour dark brown; 
lustre feeble ; cracks readily on exposure to the atmosphere, losing 
5 to 10 per cent. of water which is not reabsorbed; burns slowly ; 
contains resin in large masses. 
Pitch Coal.—Structure compact; fracture smooth, conchoidal ; 
jointed in large angular pieces; colour brown or black; lustre 
waxy ; does not desiccate on exposure, nor is it absorbent of water ; 
burns freely and contains resin disseminated throughout its 
mass, 
II. Awnvpnovs (coal containing less than 6 per cent. of water). 
a. Glance Coal.—Non-caking, massive, compact or friable; fracture 
cuboidal, splintery; lustre glistening or metallic; structure ob- 
viously laminated ; colour black; does not form a caking coke, but 
slightly adheres. This variety is chiefly brown coal altered by 
igneous rocks, and presents every intermediate stage from brown 
coal to anthracite. 
Semibituminous Coal.—Compact, with laminæ of bright and dull coal 
alternately ; fracture irregular; lustre moderate; cakes moderately 
or is non-caking. 
Bituminous Coals.—Much jointed, homogeneous, tender and friable ; 
lustre pitch-like, glistening, often iridescent ; colour black with a 
purple hue; powder brownish; cakes strongly, the best varieties 
forming a vitreous coke with brilliant metallic lustre. 
Hyprovs Coats. 
Lignite.—Deposits of lignite occur widely distributed throughout New 
Zealand, and in Otago and Southland, as pointed out by Dr. Hector 
(Jurors’ Rep. N.Z. Ex., 1865, p. 974); they occur scattered over the surface 
of the primitive slate rocks of the interior. They are of recent tertiary age, 
being only overlaid by the newer drifts in the form of brick clays, ferru- 
ginous gravels, silts and shingle terraces. One of the most important of 
these lignite deposits is that near Mataura, in Southland, where a seam 
from 6 feet to 20 feet in thickness is worked by a number of small open 
casts for the local requirements of the district, and another important 
deposit of a similar nature, but from 9 feet to 30 feet thick, is also worked 
in the interior of Otago at Naseby, Kyeburn, and Hyde. Besides these, 
many less important deposits of lignite occur throughout New Zealand ; 
thus near Te Anau Lake there are seams about 2 feet thick, and throughout 
the Lower Waikato basin and near Raglan further deposits occur, some 
of the outcrops being several feet in thickness, but they are not worked 
owing to brown coals being more accessible and of better quality. Between 
2 
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