﻿152 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



No 1 gave about the same quantity and desci'iption of coal as the New 

 South Wales coal, 



Nos. 2 and 3. This coal cokes sufficiently to prevent it running through 

 the bars. If the fires are fed regularly they require no stoking, and the least 

 attention of any coal ever used by Mr. Kebbell. The clinker is similar in 

 quantity and quality to the New South Wales coal. 



No. 4, Grey coal, is a good coking material, and cakes veiy much in 

 furnaces with a moderate draiight, requiring a good deal of attention. The 

 quantity of clinker and waste was so small as not to be worth mentioning. 



In these trials all tlie New Zealand coals give a better result than either 

 English or New South Wales coal, in work performed with an equal weight. 



New Zealand coal, as a rule, appears to be of a less specific gravity than 

 imported coal ; this, however, may in time be altered as the mines become 

 more deeply worked, and this renders them at the present time less valuable 

 for steamers, and furnaces with a strong draught, 



From inquiries made of the engineers of steamers, who have made use of 

 the Grey and other kinds of coal, it appeal's to be the fact that the Grey 

 coal is not so economical as the New South Wales for the use of steamers, 

 for the reason that it is more bulky, and with the strong draught of the 

 steamer's furnace burns away more quickly. The engineer of the steamer 

 ' Luna ' states, in his opinion, first-class New Soiith Wales coal would be 

 worth, for steamers, three shillings per ton more than the Grey, that is to 

 say, if the price of the New South Wales is twenty-six shillings per ton, the 

 Grey coal would only be worth twenty-three ; but at the same time he 

 prefers the Grey coal to much of the New South Wales coal that is sold in 

 New Zealand. 



For household purposes, all who have ti'ied the Grey and Collingwood 

 coal prefer them to any coal imported into the colony, as being cleaner and 

 burning more freely and pleasantly. 



All the expei'iments made, and information that I have been able to 

 obtain, tend to show that New Zealand possesses superior coal for steam 

 purposes, when worked with stationary engines, at a moderate draught, 

 and for household and gas purposes, to that of New South Wales ; but that 

 for steamers' boilers, working at a strong draught, the heavier coals of 

 England and New South Wales have the advantage. It is to be hoped that 

 the further development of the mines will ultimately remove the last-named 

 disadvantage. 



