10

THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

10° towards south-west. The roof is a soft
argillaceous sandstone which passes above into
bituminous shale, containing vegetable impres-
sions. The bottom was not exposed, but large
basaltic boulders, filling up the bed of the
creek and lying on the brow of the hill at the
edge of the forest, seem to belong to a basaltic
conglomerate below the coal.

2. Some openings at Mr. Hall's and Mr.
   Pollock's farms.

(a.) A small hole near Mr. Hall's house just
at the foot of the range exhibits a decomposed
basaltic conglomerate, large boulders of which
are lying for some distance along the face of
the hill, extending as far as Mr. Pollock's house;
where an abrupt hill seems to consist of a com-
pact mass of eruptive basalt.

(b.) At a somewhat lower elevation and a
little farther on to the north, a shaft has been
sunk to the depth of thirty-eight feet, with the
following section:-

Yellowish clay feet. 10
Fire clay, of a bluish grey color 8
Shales, alternating with a hard
argillaceous sandstone, both
containing fossil plants, and
very thin layers of coal 20

(c.) Still farther to the north, and at a level
of about 200 feet below the last-mentioned
stratum, a tunnel has been excavated by Mr.
Pollock through basaltic conglomerate inter-
spered with large boulders. It was reported
to me that a few marine fossil shells were found
in this conglomerate, but I did not see any
specimen of them. If a coal seam exists in
this portion, I think it will not be found below
the last-mentioned basaltic conglomerate; but
in the strata not yet exposed, lying between the
conglomerate and the shales found in the lower
part of shaft (b).

3. Symond's Creek:-

(a.) On Mr. Symond's farm, just at the
point where the creek which bears his name
emerges from the gorge on the right bank of
the stream, I saw some rocks of a soft tuface-
ous sandstone, containing numerous small
marine shells, and gravelly particles of various
basaltic and aphanitic rocks. This is the
lowest exposed stratum in this valley. Higher
up in the forest we find on the surface of a
stiff clay soil the same large boulders as at Mr.
Pollock's.

(b.) Farther up the stream, near Mr. Camp-
bell's house, seams are exposed at three
different points almost close together, just at
the level of the stream on its right bank. At
the first point in going up, the coal is about
two feet thick, a few feet above the water; at
the second point the coal is in the bed of the
stream, and therefore its thickness could not be
aseertained; at the third point, at a bend of the
stream, the coal is seen again of a thickness of
about seven feet, part of which is below the
level of the water. As on this place the layers
are nearly in a horizontal position, I am of
opinion that the coal on these three points
belongs either to one and the same seam,

varying in thickness, or to a set of seams
similar to that described in Section 1.

The roof of the Coal was on all places a soft
yellowish-white sandstone.

(c.) Another point visited by us, also on
Mr. Campbell's farm, is a short distance before
one comes to Mr. Clare's house, and at
a considerable height above the last-mentioned
places, where, in a small gully, the Coal was
first discovered a few months ago by the Rev.
A. G. Purchas, and opened, at his direction,
by Mr. Campbell. The Coal has here a
somewhat different appearance from that of the
other places, its structure being mere laminated.
The first specimens brought to Auckland were
obtained from this seam.

4. Mr. Fallwell's farm:-

(a.) A shaft, 25 feet deep, southward from
the house, in the forest, on the other side of a
small gully, contains in the upper part fire-clay
and in the lower dark-gray bituminous shale,
with fossil plants and thin layers of Coal. In
the valley between this and the house occurs,
in the bed of the stream, a dark aphanite in
rocky masses of a considerable size.

(b.) On the northern slope of the hill on
which Mr. Fallwell's house stands, this
gentleman has made a cutting, affording the
best view of the strata that can be obtained in
any of the places we visited. The section is
from the surface downwards as follows:-

On the surface, stiff clay soil,
with nodules of argillaceous
iron ore, about feet 3
Soft shales, with vegetable im-
pressions, more or less sandy,
about 30
Coal, about 6

This seam consists of three portions; the
upper part a laminated coal of inferior quality,
one foot; then a band of shale, two inches; the
middle part coal of a good quality, one and a
half feet; then a band of bituminous shale, six
inches; the lowest part, coal of the best quality
I have seen, two and a half feet. Thus the
whole thickness of the Coal itself may be
considered to amount to about five feet. The
floor of the Coal consists of bituminous shale,
with fossil plants, passing into yellowish clay,
(*Thoumergel*).

The strike of the strata is from W. 20° N.,
to W. 20° S.; -the dip 20-30 to S.
20° W.

(c). A shaft North from Mr. Fallwell's
house at a lower level on the left bank of
Symonds' Creek, twenty-six feet deep, shows
in its upper part nearly horizontal strata, con-
sisting of three bands of bituminous shale,
alternating with sandy layers;-in the lower
part greenish earthy tufas of a dioritic cha-
racter, which I take to be the bottom of the
coal formation.

(d). The same dioritic tufas, unstratified,
occur in another pit, which is sunk at a lower
level on the left bank of Symonds' Creek, near
Mr. Clare's house. I do not believe that
Coal will be found even if this pit should be