OS 
THE GEOLOGY OF NELSON. 
confer upon this coal a high character as fuel; but this low 
per-centage probably arose from the piece submitted to analysis 
being mixed with shale. To me it appears that the coal must 
contain at least 70 per cent, of carbon, and that it will be found 
a very excellent coal for steam purposes. 
On the southern side of the stream, the old workings exhi¬ 
bited the following sections : — 
O 
Shale 
Coal ... 
Shale ... 
Coal 
Sandstone 
Coal . . . 
Shale 
Thus, the natural sections and the old workings show various 
seams, hut none of them of great thickness, and in all of them 
more or less bands of shale. 
The dip of the seam is towards south-west — that is, towards 
the West Wanganui harbour, at an angle of twenty degrees, 
and the coal-field reaches, undoubtedly, from Pakawau to West 
Wanganui. In a coal-field of such extent, it may be with 
confidence affirmed that seams of much greater thickness exist, 
and the way to ascertain their existence, is to make borings. 
That is the first thing for any company to do which undertakes 
to work this very valuable coal-field. My reason for assigning 
to this coal-field a secondary age, is the existence of impressions 
of fossil plants, referable to calamites, ferns, and dicotelydones- • 
Although the Pakawau coal-field does not belong to the 
carboniferous period, experience will show that the coal will 
rank in quality with the black coals of older date. 
I proceed from these older coals to the tertiary period and 
the brown-coal formation. 
(4.) Tertiary Formations. 
The tertiary formations which I observed in the districts of 
Golden and Blind Bays belong to that group which I men¬ 
tioned in my Auckland lecture as the older one. All the wide 
valleys and basins which from the shores of Cook’s Straits run 
inland between the high primitive and primary ranges, are 
