﻿George. — On Coeds as Gas-jjroducing Materials. 



U9 



was charged for the coal per ton, but I believe the price has lately been 

 reduced. A more melancholy example of the result of incompetent manage- 

 ment and want of means it was never my fortune to witness, than was 

 exhibited at this mine in 1868. A Seam of cOal, twenty-four feet thick, only 

 covered by an earth crust of a few feet in thickness, Was being tunnelled, and 

 in some cases the roof or covering had fallen in, leaving the coal exposed to 

 daylight. After the coal had been obtained from the mine it was cariied on 

 a tramway worked by horses, a distance of about three miles, to the side of 

 a tidal creek ; the coal was then transferred to flat-bottomed punts, and at high 

 water these proceeded about four miles down the creek, and delivered the coal 

 at the vessel's side^-a staff of about fifteen or twenty men, thirty horses, and 

 six or eight punts, being employed on the transport after the coal had left the 

 mine. By extending the ti^amway little more than a mile, and erecting 

 a small bridge about 150 feet in length over the creek, the anchorage 

 of the colliers Woidd haVe been reached, and the coal could have been 

 delivered from the trucks to the vessel. 'Three men and one locomotive 

 would have done the work, and about six shillings per ton expenses would 

 have been saved ; the expenditure required being about three thousand 

 pounds to remove all this great expense, risk, and delay. 



In New South Wales none of these disadvantages exist. A convenient har- 

 bour allows large vessels to enter, which are loaded at a very short notice, the 

 coal on board costing only seven shillings and six-pence or eight shillings per ton. 



I trust means will be adopted to develope the New Zealand mines, and so 

 enable New Zealand coal to compete on more equal terms with the imported, 

 with advantage both to the colony and to consiimers. 



Table showing Gas-producing Qualities of various Coals. 

 NEW SOUTH WALES COAL. 



Date 

 of 



Test. 



Name of Mine. 



Weight 



of 

 Sample 

 tested. 



S,ce o 

 oi; ■fi 





S3 -2 





Weight of 



Coke per 



Ton of Coal, 



in lbs. 



Remarks. 



1871. 

 Jan. 30 

 Mar. 17 



July 26 



Feb. 23 

 July 28 



Feb. 23 



Australian Agricultural Co. 



Co-operative Co. 



Old Lambton Co. 



7 lbs 



27 



8,640 



13 



14 lbs. 



— 







17 



mixed 









withjoz. 









Kauri 









Gum 









Dust. 









112 lbs. 



605 



10,100 



17 



10 lbs. 



40-85 



9,150 



11^ 



112 lbs. 



500 



10,000 



16i 



7 lbs. 



33-4 



10,700 



0to7 



1,600 



1,580 



1,680 

 1,000 



1,760 



Obtained at high tem- 

 perature, 1,700° or 

 1,800° Fahr. 



Obtained at high tem- 

 perature, 1,700° or 

 1,800° Fahr. 



This gas had been 

 stored several days 

 before testing, and 

 in consequence lost 

 lan^ely in illuminat- 

 ing power. 



