Cox. — On the Mineralogy of New Zealand. 367 



Napier and Masterton, again, somewhat extensive deposits of the lignite 

 series are met with, in which, however, the seams of lignite are of no great 

 thickness and have received but little attention. 



Brown Coal. — The principal deposits of brown coal in New Zealand 

 belong to the cretaceo-tertiary formation, and, as pointed out by Dr. Hector 

 (Geol. Rep., 1878-79, p. 7), they are always at the base of the marine por- 

 tion of the series in every locality where they occur. They always rest 

 upon the basement rock of the district, marking a great unconformity and 

 a long-persistent land area at this period. 



Thus they are overlaid by the Leda marls in the Waikato, the fucoidal 

 greensands at Whangarei, and by the island sandstone in Otago and on 

 the West Coast of the South Island. 



They are the most widely-distributed class of coals, being largely repre- 

 sented in Auckland, Canterbury, Otago, Southland, and Nelson. 



In Auckland the coal from the Waikato is of an inferior character. It 

 does not stand the weather well, and has a high percentage of water. The 

 average composition of these coals is — 



Fixed carbon 47'08 



Hydro -carbon. . .. .. .. 33-24 



Water 17-60 



Ash 2-08 



10000 



Two mines are at present being worked in these deposits, one, the 

 Huntly Mine, having a seam from 6 feet to 40 feet thick, and 

 the other, the Waikato Mine, a seam from 10 feet to 18 feet in 

 thickness. Besides these, the Bridgewater Colliery, near the Miranda 

 Redoubt, which is now closed, was working a seam no less than 53 

 feet thick. 



In Nelson there are a few seams of brown coal, none of which are at 

 present being worked. Amongst these is a highly-inclined seam at Rich- 

 mond near the town of Nelson, another at Karamea, and at Charleston, near 

 Westport, a large seam of brown coal occurs over a considerable area of 

 flat country, but is not worked since coal of better quality is near at 

 hand. 



Taking an average of the analyses which have been made of these coals, 

 their composition is as follows : — 





Fixed 

 carbon. 



Hydro- 

 carbon. 



Water. 



Ash. 



Bichmond 



. . 48-82 



37-15 



9-04 



4-99 



Karamea 



. . 38-90 



37-29 



16-36 



7-45 



Charleston 



. . 40-82 



33-16 



21-09 



4-93 



