866 Transactions. — Geology. 



b. Brown Coal. — Barely shows vegetable structure. Fracture irre- 

 gular, couchoidal, 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. 



c. 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. Anhydrous (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. 



b. Semibituminous Coal. — Compact, with laminae of bright and dull coal 

 alternately ; fracture irregular ; lustre moderate ; cakes moderately 

 or is non-caking. 



c. 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. 



Hydrous Coals. 

 Lignite. — Deposits of lignite occur widely distributed throughout New 

 Zealand, and in Otago and Southland, as pointed out by Dr. Hector 

 (Jurors' Eep. N.Z. Ex., 1865, p. 374); they occur scattered over the surface 

 of the primitive slate rocks of the interior. They are of recent tertiary age, 

 bejng 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 Baglan 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 



