1921.] 
Departmental Report. 
299 
A chain or two farther on a small seam of coal, not more than 18 in. thick, 
outcrops in the cliff above the road. It seems to dip gently towards the 
last-mentioned outcrop. 
Near the 63-mile post coal outcrops on both sides of the Tangarakau 
River. At one place on the right bank of the river a little coal has been 
mined. The seam here is at least 3J ft. thick, and dips gently down-stream. 
I have been informed by Mr. Hugh McLeod, of Tahora Road, that a large 
outcrop occurs a little down the river from this spot on its right bank. Coal 
has also been found a few chains up a small creek that joins the Tangarakau 
from the north near the 63-mile post. 
A quarter of a mile past the 63-mile post the Tangarakau River turns 
to the north, and the main road, now leaving the Tangarakau Gorge, 
continues eastward up the valley of the Paparata Stream. About 30 chains 
beyond the 64-mile post a small stream, known as Coal Creek, comes from 
the south to join Paparata Stream. Just where the road crosses, hard 
clean coal outcrops in the bed and banks of the creek. The seam lies 
nearly flat, and is a little over 3 ft. thick. Several tons of coal have been 
quarried here by settlers for household use. Not far away, in Paparata 
Stream, there is another outcrop, said to be thicker than that in Coal 
Creek. This, however, I did not see. 
Coal outcrops in two or three places along the branch road now being 
made up the left bank of the Tangarakau River from the point on the 
main road between the 63-mile and 64-mile posts where it leaves the 
Tangarakau. At one place a thin seam outcrops below the road, and a 
chain or two away another outcrop is visible on the west side of the 
river. There are presumably two seams. The larger is about 3 ft. thick. 
The strata of this locality have variable dips, and seem to be somewhat 
disturbed. About 15 chains from the main road a well-marked fault is 
seen in one of the road-cuttings. The only rocks other than coal to be 
seen in place are sandstone and a little shale, but large boulders of con¬ 
glomerate are common, and therefore a band of that rock must also occur 
(probably above the coal horizon). 
Roadmaking Material. 
A thick band of conglomerate outcrops in the south-east part of 
Section 9, Block VII, Pouatu Survey District (Kerr and Gwilliam’s 
land). As seen on the west side of a small creek flowing southward to the 
Tangarakau it is 20 ft. or more in thickness, and consists mainly of medium¬ 
sized pebbles of somewhat altered greywacke loosely set in a decidedly 
clayey base. In the creek-bed, however, the conglomerate, not having been 
affected by weathering, is hard and solid. Many of the greywacke pebbles 
are seamed with quartz. Conglomerate also appears in the Tangarakau 
Gorge two miles to the north of the outcrop just mentioned. Here it is 
more or less shelly. The conglomerate, however, is probably not continuous 
throughout this part of the district, but occurs in lenses. Many thousand 
cubic yards can be easily quarried on Kerr and Gwilliam’s land, and it 
will undoubtedly be of great value for roadmaking in the Tahora district, 
which, like other parts of North Taranaki, is very poorly supplied with hard 
rock suitable for that purpose. 
The soft sandstone of the Tangarakau Gorge as seen from the 56-mile 
post onwards makes a fairly good road for light traffic. In the Raekohua 
Valley, near Tahora, some shell rock, wdiich will be useful for roadmaking, 
occurs. 
