168 DR LAUDER LINDSAY ON THE 



rule, there are few of the gold-fields destitute of local deposits of Tertiary or 

 brown coals. The discovery and rapid development of the rich and extensive 

 gold-fields of Otago are the main causes why in this province the coals in question 

 have been more largely worked than in any other part of New Zealand. * 



Throughout the province of Canterbury similar coal-deposits occur, and more 

 especially in— 



1. The valleys or beds of the Selwyn, Upper Waikamariri, Rakaia, Rangitata, 



Ashburton, Northern Hinds, Potts, Tenawai, and other rivers. 



2. The Malvern Hills, Mount Somers, Big Ben Range, Thirteen Mile Bush, &c. ; 

 all mostly in the central or eastern districts. 



In the province of Nelson, Tertiary coal-deposits stretch along the— 



1. West coast, from Cape Farewell with little interruption to the Grey river 



on the Canterbury boundary line — overlying unconformably the secon- 

 dary Coal-measures of the Buller and Grey rivers. 



2. On the northern and north-western coasts, they occur at Motupipi in Massacre 



Bay ;Ennerglyn, near the town of Nelson, &c. 

 In the province of Auckland they stretch along the — 



1. West coast with little interruption from Kawhia to Hokianga (including 



Aotea, Raglan, Manukau, and Kaipara). 



2. On the east coast they show themselves at Mongonui in the north, and 



further south at Wangeroa and Matakana, &c. 



3. In the interior they abound in the Upper and Lower Waikato ; Waipa ; and 



Drury (or Hunua) districts. 



Towards the close of 1861 I lived for three months in the centre of the 

 Saddlehill Coal Basin in the immediate vicinity of Dunedin. Within a couple of 

 miles of my residence (ten miles from Dunedin) an excellent artificial section of 

 the brown coal strata was exposed in the Saddlehill Colliery, on the flank of the 

 conical basaltic mass of Saddlehill (height 1565 feet). There is here a regular 

 adit of considerable length, with relative tramways and other works. This 

 colliery had been in successful, though limited, operation for several years ; but 

 at the period of my visit the superior attractiveness of the recently discovered gold 

 field of Tuapeka had absorbed all available labour, and the works were conse- 

 quently temporarily stopped. A semi-artificial section I also found in the imme- 

 diate neighbourhood of my headquarters (the farm-house of Fairfield^ — viz., in 

 Abbott's Creek, where brown coal had also been worked for a very short time, 

 and on a very limited scale. Natural outcrops or sections of similar strata I 



* In all probability it •will yet be found that the Tertiary coals of New Zealand are referrible 

 to groups of three distinct ages, — corresponding so far to our Eocene, Miocene, and Pliocene subdivi- 

 sions. Dr Hector already regards the Otago brown coals as of three distinct ages, and Dr Haast those 

 of Canterbury as of at least two. Those which are mined as fuel are — for the most part at least — 

 apparently referrible to the older or lower groups, or subdivisions, of the New Zealand Tertiaries. 



