Fuel Trade.

SHAG POINT COAL COMPANY (Messrs. Ross and Glendining, proprietors). Head office, Vogel Street, Dunedin. Telephone, 602. Post Office Box, 251. Bankers: Bank of New Zealand. Mr. G. R. Cheeseman. general manager. Private residence, Royal Terrace. Colliery, Shag Point. This mine, which is 320 acres in extent, has been worked for thirty-four years, the output ranging from 25,000 to 30,000 tons per annum. The coal is known as a pitch coal and is valuable for both steam and household purposes.

Mr. GEORGE ROBINSON CHEESEMAN, General Manager of the Shag Point Coal Company, was born in 1860 in Auckland, and was educated at the college and grammar school in that city. After two years’ ex­perience in the National Bank of New Zea­land, he went to Dunedin In 1880 and became accountant at the Shag Point coal mine for a former proprietary. Mr. Cheeseman was appointed general manager in 1889. He has long been interested in athletics, and is a member of the Otago rowing club and the Carisbrook cricket club

WESTPORT COAL COMPANY, LTD. Directors (Dunedin) : Hon. H. J. Miller, M.L.C. (chairman), Hon. W. H. Reynolds, M.L.C., and Hon. W. D. Stewart, M.L.C., and Messrs. E. K. Cargill, P. C. Neill, K. Hamsay, and A. Bartleman. Melbourne Local Hoard: Hon. J. Balfonr, M.L.C., and Mr. W. Smith. General Manager, Mr. George Joachim. Head office, Vogel Street, Dunedin. Rankers: Bank of New Zealand. Private residence of general manager, Mornington. This prominent company, which is by far the largest producer of coal in New Zealand, was formed in 1881 to acquire the mines then owned and worked by the Westport Colliery Company, Ltd. Of its capital—£300,000— £311.787 is issued, £257.8-15 10s. being on the Dunedin register, and £53,941 10s. on the Melbourne register. On the incorporation of the company, the property comprised 5,430 acres of the Buller coal country, being two leases held for ninety-nine years from the Government and known as the Coalbrook-dale and Granity Creek leases. Unlike most collieries where expensive sinking, pumping, and haulage are necessary, the company’s works are on a steep hill, the top of which— where the coal outcrops—is 1,800 feet above sea-level. Already more than 2.000.000 tons of splendid coal have been produced, and it may here be remarked that its quality is considered by the most competent authorities to be superior to any other known kind. H.M.S. “Calliope,” for example, which successfully steamed out of the harbour of Apia during a hurricane in 1889, where several German and American war-ships were lost, used coal from this well-known mine. The output for 1883 was 34,997 tons, and a steady increase has been maintained up to the present time, the total for 1897 reaching 243.109 tons. The black diamonds are conveyed from the mines by inclines and railway trucks to the ship’s side at the mouth of the Buller river. The company has expended vast sums of money in opening up the property, and in providing trams and railways, rolling-stock, and plant, to bring its products to market; and it is gratifying to note that the shareholders have reaped dividends varying from two and a half to seven and a half per cent. It is estimated that over 50,000.000 tons of first-class market­able coal is yet to be won from these mines. More than 400 hands are engaged, and, as the works are more fully opened up, the number of employees will be largely increased. The Union Steam Ship company, who purchase largely from the Westport Coal company, provide means of transportation from West-port to the various colonial and intercolonial ports. Depots are maintained in New Zealand at Christchurch, Dunedin, Gisborne, Napier. Timaru, Oamaru, Wanganui, Westport, and Wellington.

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Last modified: 11/15/07