86 
Zealand Alps to the West coast of the Province of Nelson, carried 
through with a great deal of courage and perseverance, extensive 
coal fields were discovered on the Butter (or Kawcitiri ) and Grey 
(or Mawhera) Rivers. On July 28 Ul 1860 my friend wrote to me 
from the mouth of the Ngakuwaho River, 18 miles North of the 
Buller: “Since the date of my last letter to you, I have made 
an exceedingly interesting and instructive tour into the Papahaua 
range North of the Buller. — Once before I had travelled about 
ten miles up the Buller River, and found on both sides granitic 
and syenitic rocks; I was therefore not little surprised on finding 
this range to consist of coarse sandstone, conglomerate, and bitu- 
minous shale, and I was really lucky enough to discover a mag- 
nificent bed of coal 8 feet thick, at a height of about 1500 feet 
above the level of the sea, the strata resting on granite, and form- 
ing in some places perpendicular walls 1 000 feet high. The coal 
extends over an area estimated at 8 miles in width and 15 miles in 
length. This coal field is sure to grow into importance during the 
future development of New Zealand. Is is quite probable that there 
exist numerous other beds; for the boulders of rivers and creeks, 
which empty into the sea North of the Buller, consist nearly all 
of coal and bituminous shale.” 1 
Of still greater importance are the discoveries on the Grey River 
emptying South of the Buller on the West coast. The untiring 
Mr. J. Mackey already, on his excursions through the Southern Alps 
and along the West coast, had found coal there. But it was my 
friend Uaast who succeeded in proving the existence of four workable 
seams, the main seam being fifteen feet three inches in thickness. 
The coal lies between micaceous sandstones, coarse, hard sand- 
stones and between shale. The latter is said to be abounding in 
fossil plants. Dr. Haast speaks of leaves of dicotyledons, and also 
of Cycadese, Zamites, Pecopteris and Equisetum. The coal, as to 
quality and appearance, is said to be so much like the Austra- 
lian coal of Newcastle, that it can be scarcely distinguished 
1 Mr. Barnett in 1862 found in the neighbourhood of the Buller River four 
seams with a thickness of 5 feet to 12 feet. 
