ft. in.

Sands finely stratified ... 1 6
Shale ... 4 0
4. Lignite, with a great amount of sulphuret of iron ... 1 5
Pink sandy clays sometimes shaly ... 11 0
Very ferruginous sands ... 2 0
Dark shale ... 2 0
Do. somewhat slaty ... 6 0
5. Lignite ... 1 6
Under-clay ... 1 9
Ferruginous sands ... 3 6
Shale, somewhat slaty ... 2 0
6. Lignite ... 0 8
Shale ... 2 1
7. Lignite ... 0 6
Shale ... 0 9
8. Lignites, very inferior and shaly ... 1 4
Shale, enclosing remains of plants changed into lignite ... 2 0
9. Lignite, more or less shaly ... 1 9

The seams 6, 7, 8 and 9, approach each other towards the west and seem ultimately to form one single seam.

ft. in.
Shale and sand alternating ... 20 0

They are full of vegetable remains changed into lignite, but their appearance shows that they were not derived from driftwood. They are not generally interstratified, but are found dipping at various and often very high angles in many directions, so as to imply that they were marine plants (Kelp), struggling against the sands deposited in this tertiary bay, and being gradually covered by them. Impressions of smaller marine plants are also abundant, but not sufficiently clear to define any specific difference between them.

ft. in.
Dark shale ... 1 9
10. Main seam of lignite, containing nodules of pale yellow clay (bolus) and other smaller ones, consisting of retinite or fossil resin ... 4 7
Clays ... 1 0
11. Lignite ... 1 1
Clays, dark and changing into shale ... 0 6
Dark shale, or sometimes impure lignite ... 1 0
Shale, slaty and argillaceous ... 3 0
Yellow ferruginous and white loose sands ... 11 0

Inclosing driftwood (?) changed into lignite, no forms are so distinct as to be able to pronounce if they belong to cryptogamous plants, or are parts of dicotyledonous or monocotyledonous wood.

ft. in.
12. Lignite ... 0 11
Bluish clays, changing insensibly into ferruginous and argillaceous loose sandstone ... 8 0

This is the lowest stratum of this lignitiferous bed which is observable, as the debris of the higher strata which have fallen, covers everything.

In looking at the lithological character of the beds enumerated, there is no doubt that they were deposited in a very shallow bay, that several times, by oscillations, dry land appeared, the configuration and character of which gave rise to extensive swamps.

There are no indications whatever that the seams of lignite have been formed by drift trees or by submerged forest vegetation, to which latter occurrence many of the extensive lignite beds in Germany owe their existence, and where not only large stems of trees are continually met with, in which the woody structure is so little obliterated that the annual rings can be counted, but where the lower part of the trunks, with the roots, may still be seen standing upright in their original position. Were the beds formed, like those of Germany, from terrestrial vegetation, we should meet, as we do there, with impressions of dicotyledonous plants, or perhaps leaves, fruits and stems of palms, as in their German analogues.

We have sufficient proof that such impressions of dicotyledonous leaves and large drift trees do exist in New Zealand, in the fact that I discovered them in the tertiary beds of the river Buller.

As before stated, the only impressions to be met with are of such character that they can only have been produced by marine or fresh-water plants. No sign of wood structure is to be observed anywhere amongst the seams, and the appearance of the lignite is such, that the only inference to be drawn from it is, that it has been produced from submerged peat-beds, covered with marine deposits, in a shallow bay.

In conclusion, I may observe, that of the seams enumerated above, No. 10 would alone be of any value for working, because it is comparatively speaking superior to the other and smaller seams, and the strata above it will be found to be in many instances destroyed or greatly disturbed by slips, occasioned by the undermining action of the mountain streamlets.

Although a part of this tertiary basin has passed into private hands, I nevertheless think it my duty to point out to you the real character of the coal it contains, and to request you to give publicity to the results of my labours in that part of the Province, so that the question, whether it contains true coal or merely lignite, may at once be set at rest.

I beg to enclose an appendix to my report on the Kowai coal measures of January 20th, 1862.

And have the honor to be,

Sir,
Your most obedient servant,
JULIUS HAAST, Ph.D., F.G.S., &c
Provincial Geologist.

To His Honor S. Bealey, Esq.,
Superintendent of the Province of Canterbury.