26

from the workings further in, is brought to this water
front drift in wagons, three men being employed
at this work night and day; but a new drift is in pro-
gress from a lower level still, which will drain a con-
siderable breadth of coal further to the dip. The
coal is brought out of the mine up a slightly rising
tunnel by an ingenious arrangement of an extra
drum on the self-acting incline, (which conveys the
coal down the same at the mine to the level land
below,) by which the full wagon going down, not
only draws an empty one up from the bottom of the
hill, but also a train of six half-ton wagons out of the
mine at the same time. At Mount Keira a small
steam engine is employed for that purpose.

The coal from both these mines, is conveyed down
self-acting inclines to the level railway, in one case,
(Mount Pleasant) by a single plane about half-a-mile
long, at an angle of about 1 in 4½ but the gradient by
no means regular, the line, however, is perfectly
straight, with three rails from top to bottom, and a
short piece of double way in the middle; only one
wagon containing 25 cwt. of coal is sent down at
once, and requires 2½ or 3 minutes to make the trip.

From Mount Keira, the coal is taken down from
about the same height, by a series of three inclines, to
suit the natural slope of the ground which has been
very little changed, the rails being laid almost on the
natural surface. The first of these, has a gradient of
about 1 in 3 or 3½, the second, 1 in 5 or 6, and the
third so flat that it can scarcely work with good effect.
Those gradients are not from accurate measurement,
but roughly estimated, for in no case is it at all
regular from top to bottom, but invariably the lines
are perfectly straight. From the bottom of the hill
the coal is drawn by horses about 2½ miles along
separate lines of tramway to the shipping place at
Wollongong. These tramways are by no means
substantial, being merely bars of iron fixed on wooden
rails; and I was very much surprised to find the
same rails not only on the level, but also on the
remarkably steep inclines. I have just described
certainly the traffic is not heavy, 100 tons a day
being, I should say, very much more than an average
level daily being.

At Wollongong there is no natural harbor, but a
roadstead, rather sheltered from the S.E. by a point
of land and a reef of rocks. An artificial basin of
small extent has been formed, where vessels of 80
and 100 tons load; and a new one is at present being
made by the Government, at an enormous expense,
as the whole is cut out of the solid rock, and the
stone for the quay walls, &c., is brought from Syd-
ney. The new basin is to be six feet deeper than the
old one, which is to be made the same depth,
and the two united so that of this course it will be
there will be anchorage for a few vessels in still
water, behind the mole formed by the debris from the
harbor excavations.

About 8 miles north of Wollongong are the mines
of Bulli and Bellambi, the former of which are examined
both above and below ground, the seam worked is
the same as at Wollongong, but here it is only about
400 feet above the sea; it is about 6 feet thick with
a dip of 1 in 20 in a northerly direction, and as it
rises into the hill the water runs out of itself. It is
clean coal the whole thickness, but very much dis-
turbed by what the miners call rollers, which are
formed by the floor of the seam rising in some cases
nearly to the roof, and stone taking the place of coal;
the roof is not altered in position by these irregulari-
ties, but is often soft and broken where they occur,
and the coal itself is always injured a few feet on
each side of them. These rollers appear to be nearly
parallel, and the idea suggested by them is that the
coal has been deposited on a series of sandhills; of
course, in the main roadways, these rollers must be
driven through, and as the rock is often hard and diffi-
cult to work, this operation sometimes costs from £20
to £30. The coal between them is worked in places 6
yards wide; but the quantity lost and injured, over
and above the trouble and expense, is a very serious
drawback to the profitable working of this seam.

The coal is brought out of the mine in half ton
wagons, six drawn by one horse; it is then screened
into wagons holding 65 cwt., very strong and ponder-
ous, and sent down a self-acting incline, one wagon
at a time; this incline is about 600 yards long with
a gradient of nearly 1 in 6, perfectly straight and
with a double line of rails the whole distance. From
the bottom of the incline the railway falls about 1 in
40 for a little more than a mile to the shipping place,
so that the full wagons run down by their own
weight, and are taken back when empty by horses
and bullocks. All the railway work is good and sub-
stantial, the rails are malleable iron strong enough
for light locomotives.

The shipping place is merely an open roadstead
with no shelter whatever, and yet over the bare flat
rocks a very fine jetty has been run out into the
open sea. This jetty was originally constructed of a
number of separate frameworks of four posts each,
strongly braced together, and supporting a heavy
beam on which the roadway (consisting of a double
line of rails) rested; these frameworks were placed
one in front of the other at intervals of 10 feet,
strongly braced, but merely resting on the rock, with
nothing to keep the whole fabric in its place but its
own weight, and the way it was united into a com-
pact and solid mass. A short time ago, the end of
this jetty was washed away in a storm, and has since
been replaced by a modification of the same plan,
each framework having only two posts instead of
four, placed at intervals of 25 feet instead of 10 feet,
braced with iron, and the whole of the upper part of
the roadway, &c., being very heavy. By this plan
not only is there a great saving of timber, for in a
length of 50 feet only six posts are required instead
of twenty-four,) but the whole thing offers much
less resistance to the waves; and as it has stood
several severe storms since it was repaired, san-
guine hopes are entertained that it will be perma-
nent. At the end of this jetty at high water there is
a depth of 25 feet. It is a bold and spirited under-
taking, and deserves success, and is another example
of the difficulties which are met and overcome in de-
veloping this great coal-field.

The Bulli mine is let from year to year to a con-
tractor, who delivers coal on board ship at 3s. 11d.
per ton, the owners of the mine finding all the plant,
and the contractor keeping everything in good order.
Coal is put on board vessels of 80 or 100 tons here,
taken to Sydney and there reshipped; a considera-
ble quantity goes to China, where it is said to be in
good demand, though it is inferior to most of the
Newcastle coal.

The whole of this district is peculiarly interesting
to us, for the position of the coal seams is very simi-
lar to those on the West Coast, and the mode of
working is very much the same as must be adopted
there.

With regard to the quality of New South Wales
coal, the following tabular statement (copied from
the Sydney Morning Herald, of Sept. 20th, 1862,) of
the result of a series of trials made by order of the
Lords of the Admiralty in 1862. And also some ob-
servations on these trials by Mr. H. Keene, Govern-
ment Examiner of Coal Mines, will give a better
idea of its value than anything I can say.