22; The N.Z. Journal of Science and Technology. [Mar. 
across the hills a seam, from 8 ft. to 10 ft. thick, and on the north side of 
the valley of Devil Creek, is being worked. This is the most southerly 
coal-outcrop known on the coalfield. 
In view of the lenticular nature of the seams the correlation of different 
outcrops is difficult and uncertain. Near Reef ton the highest workable 
seam known in the sequence is the 4J ft. seam worked within the town 
boundary in the north-east comer of Reefton. This is correlated .with the 
6 ft. seam (known as Leishman’s) worked 50 chains to the north-east on 
the south-west side of Ajax Creek. The 7 ft. seam exposed at the mouth 
of Lockington’s old mine-tunnel is the same seam. Northward the seam 
is not certainly known, but probably the 2J ft. outcrop in a small south 
branch of Stony Batter Creek belongs to it. In the table below, this is 
termed the “ No. 1 seam.” 
The 16 ft. seam worked within the Reefton town boundary is the same 
as the 17 ft. seam worked years ago on the right side of Ajax Creek by 
E. Lockington, sen. Much coal has been extracted from this seam on both 
sides of the valley of Burke Creek, and at the present time the Reefton Coal 
Company is working the same seam on the southern side of Stony Batter 
Creek. An outcrop opposite the company’s adits on the spur to the north 
of the creek probably belongs to this seam, which, however, is not certainly 
known farther north. This is the No. 2 seam of the table. 
The 6 ft. layer of carbonaceous shale with coaly bands exposed on the 
north-east side of Ajax Creek valley undoubtedly represents the 5 ft. seam 
of coal worked in Burke Creek. The same seam shows a similar thickness 
on the south side of Stony Batter Creek, and the Reefton Coal Company’s 
stone drive at the time of the writer’s visit had reached this seam but had 
not penetrated it. This is the No. 3 seam of the table. 
The large seam a few feet above the basal rock worked on the north¬ 
east side of Ajax Creek and exposed on the other side of the same valley 
is probably the same seam that was worked at Reefton many years ago in 
the old Dudley Mine. North of Ajax Creek this seam is exposed in Burke 
Creek and in the spur to the north, but a fault, probably unimportant, 
prevents its appearance in Stony Batter Creek. The large outcrop in the 
branch of Madman Creek probably belongs to this seam, as does the 
outcrop in Painkiller Creek farther northward. The thick coal exposed 
immediately above the basal slate on the north bank of the Waitahu 
River is thought to belong to the same seam. This is the No. 4 seam 
of the table. No correlation of the other seams in the Waitahu section is 
attempted. 
The coal-measures of the Boatman Creek area consist for the most part 
of quartz-conglomerate and coarse grit. They are of a much coarser texture 
than those in the valley of Burke Creek, where fine sandstones predominate, 
and where one thin band of coarse grit and no conglomerate was observed. 
The coal-measures north of the Waitahu consist of a mixture of quartz- 
conglomerate, coarse grit, and sandstone, and, on the whole, are intermediate 
in texture between those at Boatman Creek and those at Burke Creek. 
Only the largest and lowest seam of the four workable seams exposed in 
Little Boatman Creek was traced south of Boatman Creek, where it is from 
5 ft. to 7 ft. thick, and this seam is undoubtedly at a higher horizon than 
the outcrop exposed in Flower Creek. The relationship of the Flower Creek 
seam to those cropping out on the north bank of the Waitahu is unknown, 
as is the precise connection between the Waitahu River seams and those 
of Burke Creek valley. 
