Kaitangata Coal

Kaitangata Coal Mining Company

Use Kaitangata Coal, Cheapest & Cleanest

The Kaitangata Coal Mining Company worked underground mines to extract the high quality coal found beside the Otago town of Kaitangata. First they delivered the coal to market via a paddle steamer down the Clutha River and thence coastal steamer to Dunedin; then they built a private railway and transported the coal via the main trunk line. The company advertised vigorously in newspapers, the 1893 advertisement stamps, and in the margin of the panes of stamp booklets. 

View of Kaitangata Coal mine from above, taken 1900-1909. The railway lines in the middle continued to the Kaitangata township and thence Stirling. The Matau branch of the Clutha River is seen in the distance. The covered structure straddling the railway lines protected the coal screens, which sort the mined coal by size. On the left, behind the furnace’s chimney, is a brick building with a lantern roof; this was the Engine Shed. It contained an air compressor, the shaft haulage motor and a haulage drum whose rope passed over the tower wheel (on the dark, elevated steel framework) and then down the mineshaft [BamfordTony1982, P47.5]. Credit: Muir & Moodie (Firm). Kaitangata mine. Lamond, G (Miss), fl 1966 :Postcards. Ref: PAColl-6338-03. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand [NatLibKai190x].

 

Map of the lower South Island showing river connections between Kaitangata and the goldfields, and rail connections between the coalfields and Dunedin. Credit: Google maps [GoogleMaps].

 

Introduction to Coal

Kaitangata coal is rated as sub-bituminous B with low sulphur, but what does that mean? Coal has four ranks, where the higher rank is fashioned over time from greater heat and pressure (i.e. depth). Bio-matter in swampy terrain dies and becomes first peat then:

• lignite or brown coal (difficult to make a fire), then
• sub-bituminous coal (burns satisfactorily),
• bituminous coal (burns fiercely [TeAraCoal]), and finally
• anthracite (after extreme pressure)

Credit: Kentucky Geological survey, University of Kentucky [UkyCoal].

Each of these ranks have sub-ranks that distinguish the coal according to its calorific value, volatile matter and proportion of fixed carbon. These specialised terms arise from because coal is burnt in fireplaces and furnaces, so the relevant components are:

• the constituent carbon that remains until burnt (for energy),
• moisture (which consumes energy; and indeed one reason it is difficult to make a fire with lignite is its high moisture content),
• ash (i.e. solids such as oxides of silicon, aluminum and iron, which must be disposed of after burning), and
• volatile matter (fine carbon, hydrocarbons and organic matter that are liberated from the coal as its temperature rises but before they can combust).

Higher rank fields have more fixed carbon and less volatile matter.

Sulphur lurks within the volatile matter, and its content is characterized as low (<1%), medium (1-3%) or high (>3%) [SciDirSulf]. By one nineteenth century analysis, Kaitangata coal had just 0.28% sulphur [RsnzAnalysesNzCoal1898].

For instance coking coal is a sub-rank of bituminous coal with low-ash and low-sulphur that is used in steel manufacturing. Lower rank coals are used in coal-fired power plants [UsgsFaqCoal]. Semi-anthracitic coal is food grade and may be used in activated carbon filters [NzGeoCoal].

The countries with the most coal are USA, Russia, Australia, China and India. Their coal was formed in swamps during the Carboniferous period, about 300–350 million years ago. New Zealand coal was formed much more recently, 30-70 million years ago (during the latter part of the Late Cretaceous period – i.e., until 66 million years ago – then the earlier half of the Tertiary period), from more-evolved vegetation including flowering plants. Because the source vegetation is different, New Zealand coal tends to have lower ash content, making it more valuable [TeAraCoal]. New Zealand’s coal reserves slot in at 13^th place at 1% of the global proven reserves [WikiCoalRes]. As well, to reach the higher ranks of coal, especially in countries with stable geology such as Australia, miners normally have to dig deep. New Zealand is somewhat luckier since millions of years of geological upheaval has twisted, turned and uplifted formerly deeply buried sedimentary layers; so that high rank seams of coal can be found much closer to the surface [NzGeoCoal].

New Zealand’s West Coast coal is famously well-regarded, where some seams in the Fox River coal field produces anthracite with exceptionally low ash, and the Greymouth, Buller, Garvey Creek and Pike River coalfields produce bituminous coal [NzGovWestCoaMin, pp54-56]. In the nineteenth century, the major West Coast mines were at Denniston, Brunner and Blackball [BamfordTony1982, P76.5], but until 1923 these were connected to ports rather than the Main South Island line, and so their coal had to be shipped onwards. Meanwhile Ohai coalfield, north of Invercargill is another South Island source of bituminous coal but its coal reserves were not established until 1917 and – being far from seas, rivers, roads and railways – its boom had to wait until a branch line was opened in 1925 [WikiOhai].

Otago coal reserves are more modest: ignoring the lignite deposits in central Otago, there is sub-bituminous B coal to be found north of Dunedin (between Hampden and Palmerston, and known as Shag Point coal), and south of Dunedin and around modern day Kaitangata [NzGovRegioCoal]. The bio-matter for Kaitangata coal was laid down 88.6 to 33.9 million years ago, after New Zealand had split from Australia (after both had earlier split from Antarctica); with dinosaurs and forests of evergreen conifers (podocarps and araucarian pines) and ferns. Well preserved tree leafs can still be found amongst the extracted coal. [MikePoleKai] [WikiNzNatHist]. Eastern Otago coal typically has 4-11% ash and 1.5-4.5% sulphur [NzGovRegioCoal]. The modern-day Kai Point open-cast mine just north of Kaitangata sells coal for local use with 4.7% ash and 1.5% sulphur [KaiPoint] but, as we shall see, this is inferior to the coal mined by the Kaitangata Coal Mining Co. back in the day. 

Geology map of Kaitangata and surrounding areas. The Taratu Formation (extending from top right to bottom middle) is coal-bearing.  Loess is sediment of wind-blown origin. This map suggests there is no coal on the coastal cliffs, so the map may be somewhat simplified or based on incomplete data. Credit: Macrostrat [MacroStrat].

 

Was Kaitangata Coal Cleanest and Cheapest?

“Use Kaitangata Coal, Cheapest & Cleanest” sounds like marketing puffery, but it is so not far from the truth.

Kaitangata coal was certainly described as “clean”, and one (presumably biased) newspaper article from nearby Balclutha records that “Chimneys do not require sweeping more than once in twelve months at most where this coal [Kaitangata Coal] is used” [EveningStar1875Sep01P3].

To determine the cleanest coal, we use an 1882 paper by Cox in the Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand as a near-contemporaneous and authoritative (for the time) reference of comparative coals [RoySocNz1882]. Cox describes all the coal seams and mines known at the time, and reports the average analysis of each.

 

Site*	Cox's Rank	Fixed carbon (%)	Hydrocarbon (Volatile) (%)	Water (%)	Ash (%)	Hydrocarbon + Ash (%)
Reefton, West Coast	Pitch Coals	59.54	30.93	9.07	0.46	31.39
Westport, West Coast	Bituminous coals	63.81	31.88	3.08	1.23	33.11
Kowhai, ?Canterbury	Anhydrous Coals (worst in seam)	61.10	35.40	1.60	1.90	37.30
Nightcap Hill, Wairio, Southland	Brown coals	47.81	21.04	29.24	1.91	22.95
Huntly Mine / Waikato Mine, Waikato	Brown coals	47.08	33.24	17.60	2.08	35.32
Bay of Islands, Northland	Semibituminous coals	55.59	38.10	4.19	2.12	40.22
Kaitangata, Otago (1882)	Brown coals	44.17	38.24	15.42	2.17	40.41
Kai Point, Otago (modern)#		34.10	30.80	30.40	4.70	35.50
Mokau, Waikato	Pitch Coals	52.10	34.00	11.20	2.70	36.70
Hill’s mine, [Hill’s Pit Southland?]	Anhydrous Coals (worst in seam)	53.30	33.97	9.98	2.75	36.72
Brockley, Canterbury	Anhydrous Coals (worst in seam)	49.99	35.22	11.79	2.80	38.02
Grey Coal Reserve, West Coast	Brown coals	46.93	31.13	18.42	3.52	34.65
Eliott Vale, Otago	Brown coals	41.60	35.31	19.48	3.61	38.92
Green Island, Otago	Brown coals	40.84	36.57	18.67	3.92	40.49
Springfield, Canterbury	Anhydrous Coals (worst in seam)	47.90	41.80	6.30	4.00	45.80
Malvern Hills, Canterbury	Brown coals	42.87	31.89	20.40	4.84	36.73
Charleston, West Coast	Brown coals	40.82	33.16	21.09	4.93	38.09
Richmond, Tasman	Brown coals	48.82	37.15	9.04	4.99	42.14
Whangarei, Northland	Pitch Coals	46.42	41.13	7.45	5.00	46.13
Newcastle, NSW average&	N/A	57.91	34.92	2.12	5.12	40.05
Real McKay and Bruce, Otago	Brown coals	41.29	40.19	12.37	6.15	46.34
Preservation Inlet, Southland	Semibituminous coals	61.37	28.06	4.37	6.20	34.26
Greymouth, West Coast	Pitch Coals	40.70	45.61	7.37	6.32	51.93
Collingwood, Tasman	Bituminous coals	53.29	38.18	2.06	6.47	44.65
Greymouth, West Coast [Brunner, Blackball]	Bituminous coals	53.25	38.73	1.48	6.54	45.27
Shag Point, Otago	Brown coals	43.15	33.70	16.57	6.58	40.28
Karamea, West Coast	Brown coals	38.90	37.29	16.36	7.45	44.74
Oamaru, Otago	Brown coals	39.76	35.60	17.18	7.46	43.06
Rakaia Gorge, Canterbury	Anhydrous Coals (worst in seam)	64.51	21.27	6.76	7.46	28.73
Orepuki, Southland	Brown coals	41.21	39.09	11.14	8.56	47.65
Rakaia Gorge, Canterbury	Brown coals	45.76	26.62	18.71	8.91	35.53
Williamson’s, ?Canterbury	Anhydrous Coals (worst in seam)	61.90	26.80	0.90	10.40	37.20
West Wanganui, West Coast	Pitch Coals	45.00	38.90	4.80	11.30	50.20
Buller, West Coast [Denniston]	Pitch Coals	42.40	36.60	9.20	11.80	48.40
Mt Somers, Canterbury	Brown coals	39.60	39.20	8.80	12.40	51.60
Malvern Hills, Canterbury	Anhydrous Coals (worst in seam)	67.49	17.89	2.12	12.50	30.39
Hart’s mine, ?Canterbury	Anhydrous Coals (worst in seam)	69.62	14.92	2.77	12.69	27.61
Kanieri, Westland	Bituminous coals	47.50	30.17	1.87	20.46	50.63
Acheron, Canterbury	Anhydrous Coals (worst in seam)	65.80	5.38	4.57	24.25	29.63
Ayers, ?Canterbury	Anhydrous Coals (worst in seam)	52.01	3.69	4.89	39.41	43.10
*Some the locality names that were obvious to Cox have since been replaced or fallen into disuse, so provinces must be estimated from context or assuming name persistence (with some potential for error). #From [KaiPoint]. &Calculated as the average of the 12 Newcastle mines mentioned in the 1890 work [CoalMinNewc1890] (albeit without regard to which mines exported coal to New Zealand).

 

“Cleanest” in the nineteenth century could be interpreted in several ways: least soot in the chimney, least smoke in the air, or least ash in the grate. Soot comes from partially combusted fossil fuels, where the volatile hydrocarbon (organic) material acts as both a precursor to the soot particles as well as a partly combustible fuel, and then the inorganic chemicals (ash) can clump to the particles too [FuelPropSoot]. Thus, to this layman author at least, the volatile material and – to a lesser extent – the ash seems to be implicated in soot.

When we consider soot, we a) sort these coal sources by increasing hydrocarbon content, and see that Kaitangata comes out dismally, at 30^th position out of 38 behind major competitors such as Shag Point, Newcastle and Green Island coals, then b) sort these coal sources by increasing total hydrocarbon plus ash content, and see that still Kaitangata comes out poorly, at 22^nd position out of 38. So it is unclear that Kaitangata coal would have a lower propensity to generate soot.

Kaitangata did claim an “entire absence of dirty smoke” from their coal [EveningStar1889Apr23P1] yet when modern technology is applied to create low-smoke coal, it is the volatile hydrocarbons that are removed, via pyrolysis (sustained heating in an inert atmosphere) [CoalLowSmokeFuel]. So again it is hard to support a claim that Kaitangata coal produced the least smoke.

What we do find is that, when sorting by increasing ash content as shown in the table above, Kaitangata appears at an impressive 7^th position out of 38. Moreover the seams and mines in the top six places:

• Were found on the West Coast, the Waikato or in Northland, and so needed coastal streamers to reach the east coast of the South Island. These are advertised by the Dunedin Coal merchants as somewhat of a boutique afterthought [EveningStar1885Dec19P4]
• Offered coal with a relatively high water content, namely Nightcap Hill near Wairio, Southland [NzHistNightcaps]. The inland mine had a rail connection from 1882 [WikiWairioBr], there was an attempt to drum up demand in Dunedin in 1884 and they did secure one local agent [EveningStar1884Jul24P3] [EveningStar1884Oct09P4] but then no Nightcaps adverts are found in the main Dunedin newspapers thereafter
• Had an unworkable seam (i.e., Kowhai) [RoySocNz1882, P371]

Thus it seems very fair to describe Kaitangata coal as “cleanest” in the narrow sense of the ash left in the grate after burning for Dunedin customers (and likely Christchurch customers too). Certainly the ash content of Kaitangata coal was significantly lower than the local competition from Green Island (near Dunedin) and Shag Point (north of Dunedin).

Was Kaitangata coal the cheapest? But that begs the question: cheapest per ton, or cheapest per unit of energy? Kaitangata coal certainly is not the cheapest per ton given the following snapshot, which comes from the retail tariffs of the Dunedin and Suburban Coal Merchants’ Association from March 1893 [OtagoDaiTim1893Feb18P3]:

• Newcastle, NSW coal: 30-32/- per ton
• Kaitangata  20-23/- per ton
• Shag Point 23/- per ton
• Walton Park and Freeman’s (both of Green Island) 18/- per ton

We see that lignite coals go for much cheaper. At the same time Kaitangata coal had to be priced cheaper than Newcastle coal since it didn’t have the same calorific density: “one and a half tons of Newcastle coal will generate as much steam as two tons” of Kaitangata coal” [CluthaLea1875Mar11P6]. Put another way, the cheapest coal per unit of energy is really the primary metric.

The Dulong formulas approximate the gross calorific value (i.e., kJ/kg) of coal according to its percentage of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and sulphur components via GCV = 339%C + 1427(%H - %O/8) + 92%S (where H - O/8 is the excess hydrogen not converted to water), but then heating the moisture and volatile matter consumes energy of 22.44(9%H + %M) [WikiEnergyCoal] [NptelLect]. Since we have proximate rather than ultimate (elemental) analyses for the coals, and in the absence of a better formula we (very crudely!) map %C to the fixed carbon and completely ignore the volatile matter so then we obtain the following approximate net calorific outputs for these coals as NCV ~ 339%C -24.44%M. Plugging in the numbers, we see that Kaitangata coal has about 75% the net calorific value as Newcastle coal, which closely aligns with those early reports, so this approximation is not completely astray [CluthaLea1875Mar11P6].

 

Coal source	Approx. kJ/kg	Relative energy  per ton (Kaitangata = 1)	Price (sh) per relative energy
Newcastle	19060	1.339	23.90-22.40
Kaitangata	14230	1.000	20-23
Shag Point	13870	0.975	23.59
Green Island	13060	0.918	19.61

 

Of course there are other prices published by other merchants or at different times (e.g. [EveningStar1890Jul10P3] [EveningStar1891Jun03P2]), and the coal analyses are variable also, according to seam being mined and whether the coal comes from the top or bottom of the seam (e.g., [RsnzAnalysesNzCoal1898]). With those caveats, in this data-set we see that Kaitangata coals are cheaper per unit of energy than coals of similar or better rank; yet not as cheap as the lignite coal from Green Island even when factoring in their inferior quality.

 

Kaitangata Stamp Advertisements Provide the Clue that Exposes a 1893 Case of Fraud

Before we start on the history of the Kaitangata coaling, there is a short tale from 1893 of some interest to philatelists: “In the Resident Magistrate's Court, Milton, the other day, a receipt dated July 10th, 1892, was produced. A penny stamp was on the receipt, and across it was written ' 10/7 92,' and the signature of the giver of the receipt, but the Magistrate saw that the back of the stamp bore the legend 'Use Kaitangata coal, cheapest and cleanest.' The stamp was one of the new advertisement stamps. The Kaitangata Company’s manager was communicated with by telephone, and the Chief Secretary of the Post Office in Wellington by telegraph. The former answered that the company gave no instructions for the advertisement till December 18, 1892. The result was not favourable to the producer of the receipt.” [TaranakiHer1893Oct03P2]

 

First Coal Mine Near Kaitangata 

Modern science records that burning coal is a big problem. There is the sulphur content that leads to acid rain, but that can be largely mitigated by scrubbers. Worse is the high ratio of greenhouse-causing chemicals: coal, being predominantly carbon (and water) rather than hydrocarbons, emits proportionally more CO2 when burnt than alternatives such as natural gas and vastly more that green technologies. Still, in the nineteenth century, coal was relatively local, had a high energy density, could be stored and transported with the available technologies, was familiar to the British immigrants, and was suited to home heating, transportation (steamers and locomotives), and industry (using the steam cycle). Although we have many better options today, they are built on many decades of engineering advances and were utterly infeasible in earlier times: Through waterwheels, hydro power has always been used for industry (mills), and helped initiate the industrial revolution [AlbertaHydro] but it is an inflexible energy source compared to coal. It found some use on the farm for instance [TeAraFamMech]. Electricity provides flexibility, but first it needs generators, transformers, motors, distribution networks and reticulation networks, all of which needed inventions (mostly by Tesla in the 1890s [HistTesla]), refinement, proving, capital and labour. Electricity would come to New Zealand, but in modest spurts from the 1880s to the 1960s [TeAraRurElec]. And electricity still needs an energy source. Local industrial projects were powered by hydro-electric power from 1885 but the first large scale project did not begin until 1914, at Lake Coleridge, to supply Christchurch [TeAraHydo] [WikiNzHydro] Geo-thermal generation was later still, in 1958 [TeAraGeo] [WikiNzGeoth] Windmills for corn and flour using machinery imported from Britain were built from the 1840s. Closer to Kaitangata, there was a Southland flax mill from 1867 and a windmill to power a Milton workshop from 1874. [WindmillWorld] The Hayes windmill was used to pump water for stock and would become a common sight on farms; but New Zealander Ernest Hayes did not invent it until 1912  [TeAraHayes]. The first utility-scale windmill was installed in Brooklyn, Wellington in 1993 [WikiBrook]. Although a demonstration unit, it had massive arms made from exotic materials and resilient to a range of wind loads. Solar panels rely on decades of progress in semiconductor fabrication; and were utterly unimaginable in earlier times. Solar mirror arrays (heliostats) pointed at a solar collector are lower tech but barely proven, even today. Likewise, tidal energy power stations remain difficult to build and maintain.

Coal was first discovered in the Kaitangata locality in 1844 when surveyor Frederick Tuckett was walking along the coastline north of the Clutha river mouth and noticed seams of coal in the coastal cliffs: 

“… we  [Tuckett and his Maori guides] descended to the beach and again stopped for the night, still many hours walk from the Matau [to the south] ... Monday May 6th. As we proceeded, about the time of low water, along shore I was gratified to observe very abundant large pieces of drift coal of good quality, still no bed was visible in the face of the cliff, further on the beach became again rocky and quantities of coal were lodged between the rocks and soon appeared in view a black cliff, I felt certain it must be a vast formation of coal … Approaching this cliff I found it to be a mass of coal for about 100 yards length, in thickness from 12 to 20 feet, as seen in the face of the cliff above the sand, and to what depth it exists beneath the sand I could not ascertain, I should suppose from the appearance of coal adjacent, to the depth of low water. The beach is not accessible [from the ocean] on account of the heavy swell and great surf. The coal must therefore be worked inland and the bed will be no doubt discovered near the bank of the Matau River, which in a direct line inland is probably not more than 4 or 5 miles distant.” [BamfordTony1982, P4] [TuckettDiary, P58, P84].

 The area would be called Coal Point and, in 1858, at another exposed coastal seam some four miles south of Coal Point, English geologist James Lewis excavated a shaft into an 18 foot thick coal seam driving “from the sea beach”. Lewis extracted a substantial amount of coal. [BamfordTony1982, P4] [OtagoWit1858Aug07P5] [OtagoWitness1859Jan01P5] [AJHR1872D03, P38]

Sketch in 1872 report to the Under Colonial Secretary by Dr Hector, Geological Survey Office, showing the various beds, including coal bearing beds in black from the mouth of the Matau branch (top left) to north of Coal Point (bottom right) with the location of Lewis’ coal mine (top middle-left) and Coal Point (bottom middle-right) identified. The italic B shows where the right-hand side of the top sketch lines up with left-hand side of the bottom sketch. The legend is below [AJHR1872D03, P38.5].

A: ferruginous sands and clays in horizontal beds, 40 feet to 50 feet thick.

 

Label	Bed	Feet	Label	Bed	Feet
1	Gravel grit	6	24	Finely-laminated sandy clays, with carbonaceous streaks	16
2	Sandstone	30	25	Patch of quartzose gravel, with iron pyrites resting on coal (thins to 3 feet against dip)	4
3	Laminated clay, with dicotyledonous leaves	30	26	Carbonaceous clay	10
4	Double fault, filled with clay of a bright blue colour	1	27	Sandy clay, with pebbles interspersed	30
5	False-bedded sandstones	10	28	Conglomerate of slate pebbles, irregularly stratified	6
6	Quartzose gravel	23	29	Grit, coloured bright yellow, with efflorescence	12
7	Coal (Coal Point seam) [Tuckett’s finding]	20	30	Carbonaceous shale	6
8	Carbonaceous shale	?	31	Coal	5
9	Grit (Here the dip changes to S.W., with an obscure fault.)	?	32	Carbonaceous clay	15
10	Clay slate	15	33	Yellow and gray clay, with gravel beds and carbonaceous shale	15
11	Quartz grit	2	34	Grit and pebbly conglomerate (A few chains are here obscured by a more recent formation than even the upper sands, consisting of sand and drifted wood passing into lignite.)	30
12	Brown sandstone	10	35	Red clay	4
13	Impure coal and fine clay	10	36	Coal and fire-clay	5
14	Soft blue clay, with ironstone septaria	6	37	Fine pipeclay	4
15	Quartzose grit (The dip changes to E.S.E.)		38	False roof of gravel stone	1
16	Gravel grit	10	39	Coal (Coal Mine seam) [Lewis’ mine]	18
17	Mullock	4	40	Carbonaceous shale	3
18	Fire-clay	4	41	Pipeclay	1
19	Shale	6	42	Gravel stone, with grit and stems of trees	60
20	Coal	6	43	Coal	2
21	Fire-clay	3	44	Fire-clay	1
22	Gravel, with carbonaceous streaks	6	45	This rests on a conglomerate of green schist, pebbles, smooth and oval, of various sizes, to 6 inches in diameter, cemented by green and gray sand, containing magnetic iron sand and glauconite, which continues to the Spit. Bedding decided to E.S.E., 15 deg. This conglomerate is cut by veins of calc spar, a few lines in thickness, that pass N. and S. right through pebbles and cement
23	Impure fire-clay	4

 

Many more mines would be driven, but hereafter we will limit our attention to the mines involved in the 1893 stamp advertisement (and their competitors). 

Modern map of the Koau branch (west) and the Matau branch (east) of the Clutha River, Stirling, the main trunk line (both upper left), and Kaitangata. In earlier times the Matau branch did not connect directly to the ocean; rather it joined the Koau branch and thence reached the ocean. Superimposed are notable coal mines in the area, the private Kaitangata railway and the estimated locations of the tramways. Hector’s geological map of the Clutha Coal Fields (above) is used to estimate the general location of Lewis’ mine, except that the uncertainty in regards to the location of Coal Point (see below) makes this exercise somewhat less precise than one might like [MindAtKai1] [BamfordTony1982, P4-6] [AJHR1872D03, P38-39]. Credit: NZ Topo Map [TopomapNzKai].

From the table of coal ranks, one pound of subbituminous B coal produces around 13500 Btu or 4 kWh. A modern New Zealand medium household consumes around 8000 kWh of electrical energy per annum [GlimpAvgBill] or 2000 pounds (900 kg) of coal. Although energy consumption per capita was much lower in the nineteenth century, still, thousands of homes meant hundreds and hundreds of tons of coal. Transporting it all to market (e.g., the local population centre, Dunedin) is as important a problem as extracting the coal.

Without easy transportation, Lewis closed his shaft by the end of 1858.

In 1859, a Select Committee of the Otago Provincial government, using Lewis’ reports, recognised the importance of coal as a cheap and valuable fuel, proposed to acquire the land for £7,000 (from the colonial government) as the Clutha Coal Reserve, expend £3,000 for the purpose of working the field (including a tramway from Lewis’ mine to the Clutha River) and provide a coal wharf at Dunedin, then offer Lewis a mining lease [OtagoWit1859Nov12P5].

The project went forward, with the mining leases shown below. In 1867 James Macandrew, Superintendent of the Province of Otago, would use this as an opportunity to embezzle £1,000 [AJHR1867D1, P3]. 

Map showing the boundaries of the mining leases, from “Correspondence relative to the Clutha Coal Field [includes map] - 11 July to 29 September 1864”. Acknowledgement: Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga Dunedin Regional Office. Reference AAAC/D500/701/e [R19001780].

After getting provincial government support, and certainly by 1862 [OtagoDaiTim1862Sep20P6], Lewis was at it again, now with “an incline [drive] from the bottom of a gully, up which the coal was hauled to the level of the terrace, along which an iron tramway was laid for three-fourths of a mile to the Clutha River” [BamfordTony1982, P6] [AJHR1872D03, P38] (called the Coalfield Railway in one advert [OtagoDaiTim1862Jun27P2]) where there was a jetty [OtagoWit1863Aug28P7] [AJHR1872D03, P38], then the coal was taken to the mouth of the river at Port Molyneux (see below) by the river steamer Tuapeka, transshipped and thence transported by ocean-going steamer to Dunedin. Again the operation was unprofitable, the mine closed again, and in 1865 Lewis sought and received compensation to relinquish his lease [MineAtCoalPt] [WikiKait] [OtagoWit1864Jun11P5] [OtagoWit1864Nov05P5] [BruceHer1865Jun08P3] [OtagoDaiTim1865Nov21P4] [BamfordTony1982, P7].

 

Early Kaitangata in the River Era

Kaitangata is a town four kilometres as the crow flies from the coast in South Otago, New Zealand, on the northern banks of the Clutha River, downstream from Balclutha. In Maori tradition, Kaitangata (literally food people) was the son of Maui, industrious, and perhaps a man-eater [WikiKaitMyth].

An 1847 survey of the land between the Clutha River and the Tokomairaro River to the north identified Kaitangata as a suitable site for a village. This was likely true – it is surrounded by farmland, with coal at hand, and with a river for water and transportation – but at the same time its chosen location meant Kaitangata could never be a major hub. From Balclutha to the sea, the Clutha River splits into two branches: the northern Matau branch on which Kaitangata lies and the southern Koau branch. Thus surveyors (and travelers) could consider crossing the Clutha twice, around Kaitangata, or once, before the branches split. It comes as no surprise that both the main trunk road and rail routes take the latter option, at Balclutha.

Meanwhile the Clutha and its tributaries penetrate deep into Otago including goldmining country, which suggests that Kaitangata could have been a major river port (think New Orleans on the Mississippi), providing access to the hinterland and shelter from the ocean. However there was a bar near the entrance of the Clutha River which “has a depth of (12) twelve feet on the bar at high water, and is navigable for sailing vessels of from 40 to 50 tons. There being a constant fresh running out, the trade of this river would be better carried on by steamers of 100 tons for (10) ten miles up, and by a smaller class not to draw more than (3) three feet for (30) miles further, there not being anything that would impede the navigation of this river for (40) forty miles from the entrance” [OtagoDaiTim1862Mar17P3]. Other sources reported that the sand bar offered 6 feet at low water and 8 feet at high water [OtagoDaiTim1863Apr23P5], or even as little as 2 feet in depth(!). The river entrance caught out at least one vessel [OtagoDaiTim1862Dec15P4], albeit with one amusing consequence [OtagoDaiTim1862Dec31P5].

Also the Clutha was replete with un-remediated submerged snags [OtagoDaiTim1862Jun21P5] persistent and severe enough to be individually named (such as Captain Cook or Rob Roy [OtagoWit1863Aug28P7]). These problems remained even in 1869 [BruceHer1869Jul14P5]. At the same time the Matau branch remerged with the Koau branch near the ocean then together they flowed past a fair harbour and a thriving settlement, Port Molyneux [BalcluthaGen]. Thus ships bearing goldmining hopefuls from the exhausted Victorian mines across the Tasman Sea [WikiVictGoldRush], or from Dunedin bringing supplies for the Otago goldfields, landed at Port Molyneux out of necessity instead of at Kaitangata and – from August 1863 – transferred people and goods across to a shallow-bottomed river steamer and paddle boat, the Tuapeka. The Tuapeka was sometimes called “the donkey” because of her whistle, or “the wheelbarrow” because of her stern wheel [OtagoDaiTim1873Dec18P2]. The Tuapeka serviced Kaitangata as one upstream stop among many [OtagoDaiTim1862Jun07P4] [OtagoDaiTim1863Aug15P4] [OtagoDaiTim1864Oct31P1], where other stops included Ferry Molyneux (Balclutha), Pomahaka (likely near Roxburgh since the upper reaches of Pomahaka River are surely unnavigable) and, for a time, Tuapeka (perhaps Tuapeka Mouth where the Tuapeka River meets the Clutha River). 

Port Molyneux survey, January 1862.  Pendennis St, which runs through the centre of the upper part of the town, is now the road from the highway to the last remaining building of the, the "jetty shed" or "town hall." Sourced from LINZ. Crown Copyright reserved [MolyneuxPlan1862] [OtagotaphophileMolyFlour].

Ships travelling between Dunedin and Port Molyneux included the fast sailing schooners Nora and Pioneer [OtagoDaiTim1863Apr02P1] [OtagoDaiTim1863Sep18P3], the regular traders Lady Franklin and Mary Jane [OtagoDaiTim1864Oct05P1] [OtagoDaiTim1864Nov11P1], the fast and favorite steamer William Miskin [OtagoDaiTim1864Oct31P1] [OtagoDaiTim1864Nov02P1] with listed prices [OtagoDaiTim1864Nov29P1], the fine schooner Esther Ann [EveningStar1865Dec05P3] and the well-known schooner Three Brothers [OtagoDaiTim1865Aug18P1]. 

At this point we must observe that some things have changed since the 1840s. The river now known as Clutha / Mata-Au got its two names from 1) an 1846 suggestion by Scottish immigrants settling in Dunedin and 2) the original Maori inhabitants. But for a time the river had a third name: Captain Cook had named the port at the mouth of the Clutha River as Molineux’s Harbr (presumably after his master, Mr Robert Molineux [CookLog]) and the early whalers and settlers assigned the same name to the river, now spelt Molyneux, and that name survived into the 1860s. [TeAraClutha] Credit: Rare Maps [RareMapsCook]   The aforementioned crossing of the Clutha was at Ferry Molyneux where, for many years, there was a taxpayer funded ferry [OtagoDaiTim1863Aug15P4] [OtagoDaiTim1862May14P5]. A ferry-rope spanned the river to prevent the ferry from being carried downstream (or possibly two, in an X configuration, to take advantage of the river’s current [OtagoWit1863Aug28P7]), and the ferry-rope(s) were necessarily lowered for the passing of the Tuapeka [OtagoDaiTim1863Aug15P4]. Meanwhile the township of Balclutha grew on the opposite banks from Ferry Molyneux [OtagoWit1863Aug28P7] and the name for the  area evolved from Ferry Molyneux to Clutha Ferry to Balclutha [OtagoDaiTim1863Jul27P2]; and the rope(s) were upgraded to a bridge, albeit not without dramas [OtagoDaiTim1866Aug24P5] [BruceHer1867Apr10P4] [BruceHer1867Jun12P5] [OtagoDaiTim1867Oct10P4] [BruceHer1867Dec11P4] [BruceHer1868Mar25P5] [OtagoDaiTim1868May05P5] [BruceHer1868Aug12P5] [OtagoDaiTim1868Oct09P2]. Formerly Lake Tuakitoto was larger and there was a lake, Kaitangata Lake, between Lake Tuakitoto and the Kaitangata township. These were drained for farmland. Meanwhile the roads along the periphery of these lakes, Storer Rd and Lakeside Rd, reflect the original lake shores and this explains their otherwise curiously indirect routes [NatLibKaiMap1932]. Silting and a great storm in 1878 changed the course of the Clutha branches, with significant consequences for river transportation as we shall see (see composite of maps below). The position of Coal Point on maps shifts over time. First it is marked as about 30 chains (0.6km) south of the mouth of Roper’s Creek, which causes Summer Hill Rd to take a dog leg [Map1932], then 120 chains (2.4km) south of the mouth [Map1937], then 30 chains south again [Map1944], then at the mouth of Roper’s Creek (still aligned with the dog leg) [Map1952] where it remains [Map2020].

 Sheep and dairy farming began in the Kaitangata area in the 1850s.

An important character in this article is William Aitchison/Aitcheson (both spellings were used). Born in Edinburgh in 1832, he reached Port Chalmers in 1849 by the ship Mooltan. “He was first employed by Mr F. S. Piltans at Inch-Clutha [between the Matau and Koau branches], with whom he remained for three years. On the outbreak of the gold diggings in Australia he went to Bendigo, where he was very successful. Eighteen months later he returned to New Zealand, and was engaged in pit-sawing in the bush near Wellington. He returned to the South Island, where he followed the same occupation, and in 1856 bought some hilly land at Kaitangata” [OtagoDaiTim1912Mar25P3]. This was 120 acres in the foothills at the south eastern end of modern-day Kaitangata; and Aitchison soon realized it held coal reserves [CluthaLea1905Aug18P5] [BamfordTony1982, P10] [BruceHer1872Sep04P6].

William had met his future wife Elizabeth Smith in Silverstream, they married in 1855 and they would have seven children together, of whom five sons and a daughter survived. She was regarded as a vital pioneer of Kaitangata [CluthaLea1905Aug18P5] [CluthaLea1912Mar15P5] [OtagoDaiTim1912Mar25P3] [CluthaLea1915Feb26P5].

The town proper was established by the government in 1862, with 40 sections sold initially [OtagoWit1862Jan11P4] and more on the way [OtagoDaiTim1862Aug05P4], [OtagoDaiTim1862Aug07P2] [OtagoDailTime1862Sep12P3] [OtagoDaiTim1862Dec17P2] (etc, etc!), plus stores, a customs house, a police station [OtagoDaiTim18623May14P5], and a church all established within a year or so [SouthlandTim1862Dec26P3]. Aitchison “was prime mover in the erection of a Presbyterian Church at Kaitangata, and through him the first school was opened in the locality” [CluthaLea1912Mar15P5]. Mail was delivered twice weekly to Clutha Ferry/Balclutha [OtagoDaiTim1863Oct29P2]. 

Presumably the establishment of Kaitangata was the result of many months and years of planning, but the timing seems potentially fortuitous. In an 1861 letter to an Otago newspaper, a well-travelled Australian prospector Gabriel Read found gold in a creek in an area that would quickly be named Gabriel’s Gully near Lawrence, upon the banks of the Tuapeka Creek which flowed into the Tuapeka River and thence the Clutha [OtagoWit1861Jun08P5]. Like most things, Gabriel Read’s discovery did not come out of the blue. Sometime in the fifties, Alexander McDonald and Mr. Valpy discovered the goldfield, but kept it a secret [MountIdChr1911Mar10P1]. Next John Thompson (about whom more will be learnt) and Peter Edwards, working on a local sheep station, rediscovered the deposits and worked the area for some months but lacked the experience to extract a paying stream of gold. A John L. Gillies visited their workings, saw opportunity, and passed the information on to Gabriel Read [OtagoWit1911May17P95]. Once the contents of Gabriel Read’s letter was confirmed by John Hardy of the Otago Provincial Council (who stated that he and Read had prospected country “about 31 miles long by five broad, and in every hole they had sunk they had found the precious metal.” [WikiOtGoRush]), prospectors flooded into the area. The peak of the gold rush lasted from 1861 to 1864, and four of the six main fields were connected to the Clutha: Tuapeka fields, started at Gabriel’s Gully, 8 June 1861 Dunstan/Clyde (now inundated by Lake Dunstan) and the Cromwell area, further up the Clutha Pomahaka River, from its headwaters in Old Man Range down to Devils Gorge. This section of the river is not navigable but lies within a dozen kilometers of the Clutha, west of Roxburgh [NzGovtOrcPoma] [MindatPoma] Even farther inland was Arthur's Point, north of Queenstown, on the banks of the Shotover River, from November 1862. The Shotover joins the Kawerau just below Lake Wakatipu and the Kawerau in turn feeds the Clutha at Cromwell. [OtagoDaiTim1862Dec26P1] Waipori fields, which was discovered by gold hunters in 17 December 1861 travelling overland directly from Dunedin to Gabriel’s gully, and prospecting creeks and rivers along the way. Their first success was on Lammerlaw Creek which flows into Taieri River. The area is now inundated by Lake Mahinerangi. [KaelewisWaip] Naseby in May 1863, where gold was found in the Hog Burn, which flows into the Taieri River and thence the sea [NasebyHist].

 For a time Kaitangata was pitched as the main port of entry to the goldfields upriver: “That this township [Kaitangata] is destined to occupy an important position in this Province is beyond a doubt, as the Government steamer will shortly commence to run between it and Tuapeka; so that Kaitangata will be the great central depot for all the goldfields, and from which merchandise will be forwarded by steamer to Tuapeka, Blamont [?], Teviot, Dunstan, and the various gold fields and settlements.” [OtagoDaiTim1862Nov26P3]. Other land sales (over-)emphasised the role of Kaitangata in the gold rush via “ON, IN and SURROUNDING this estate [the southern extension of the Kaitangata township] is to be found the three most valuable products of the world, GOLD, COAL and IRON. There is a probable fortune in every section, and the ground has yet to be valued in inches. Kaitangata is the centre of the richest auriferous regions hitherto known in the world's history.” [OtagoDaiTim1863Mar28P3]

Starting in that same year of 1862, Aitchinson began mining on his land, within 300 yards of the river [WikiKait] [OtagoDaiTim1862Sep20P6]. During this period it seems to have been a very minor effort, overshadowed by Lewis’ mines near the mouth of the Matau, since few other contemporaneous records about Aitchison or his coal may be found; in part presumably because “settlers took coal from outcrops as they required” [BamfordTony1982, P3]. An 1872 prospectus and Aitchison’s obituary indicate that his interests lay more in grazing and cultivation/horticulture [BruceHer1872Sep04P6] [CluthaLea1912Mar15P5].

As the gold rush died away, Kaitangata comes up in other ways:

• The growing of potatoes [BruceHer1869Jul14P5], oats, barley and other cereals [OtagoDailTim1865Feb20P1] [OtagoDaiTim1870Feb04P2] [OtagoDaiTim1870Apr19P2]
• Stock sales [OtagoWit1866May12P10] [BruceHer1866Oct11P2]
• A fine hotel, with fine accommodation, good stabling, bar, and general store [BruceHer1865Apr13P1] which later burnt down [EveningStar1869Dec21P2].
• A timber mill [OtagoDaiTim1870Sep30P2] [BruceHer1871Nov29P5]
• The extraction of flax fibre by harvesting the plentiful local flax supplies and milling them (the mill is water or steam powered and in the latter case is presumably powered by local Coal Point and/or Kaitangata coal) [EveningStar1870Jan08P2] [OtagoDaiTim1870Feb17P3]. However, within a few months “some of the mills are at a standstill, and others are offered for sale” [OtagoDaiTim1870May17P2]

 

The Kaitangata Swamp Road

Not content with the access provided by the river, road building was underway too. The government first connected Kaitangata by road to a place variously called “North Molyneux”, and the “Southern Trunk” road, in 1862. In an era before Stirling was founded (1874, [BruceHer1874May05P4] [BruceHer1874May19P6]), North Molyneux refers to an upriver destination, and this section of the Southern Trunk road ran from Tokomairiro River (near Milton) through Lovell’s Creek to Molyneux/Clutha Ferry (Balclutha) [OtagoDaiTim1861Dec23P5] [NzGeoSurveyMap] [OtagoDaiTim1862Oct03P3] [OtagoDaiTim1862May03P5]. The route is presumed to closely follow the course of the modern-day Kaitangata Highway [OtagoDaiTim1873Jul30P5].

The road was variously known as Kaitangata Rd [OtagoDaiTim1866Jul9P5] and “the [Kaitangata] Swamp Road” [BruceHer18790Dec07P6] [BruceHer1875May18P5], and its problems were in the news for decades [CluthaLea1874Oct29P5] [BruceHer1875Feb19P5] [BruceHer1876Oct17P5] [BruceHer1877May29P5] [BruceHer1877Aug31P5] [BruceHer1886Oct08P3].  For instance, in the winter of 1870 “the mud upon the road line is about three or four feet deep, and the numerous holes … are dangerous to anyone … a horse and rider rest[ed] horizontally in one of these for a considerable time … They eventually got out, but not without damage and defilement.” [BruceHer1870Jun08P5]. The road was similarly punishing of its travelers in 1877 too [BruceHer1877May29P5], and was flooded in 1888 [BruceHer1888Aug14P3

The north road, to Lovell’s Flat, was funded by 1873 [BruceHer1873Nov21P6].

 

Rail Rising

The late nineteenth century was an era when, to a large extent, sail had given way to steamer, there were no motor-cars so horse and bullock-drawn cart remained kings of the road, but the pre-eminent land transportation technology was the steam locomotive as it powered along a mix of straights, moderate turns, and gentle gradients. For immigrants from Britain, where rail had been growing exponentially since its 1840s boom and where a national network had been achieved by the 1850s [WikiNatRail], rail was the coming thing. The gold rush had delivered much revenue to Dunedin and Southland, and so talk quickly turned to rail.

Starting in 1865 and for many years, the railway was advancing yet nothing was happening. The first surveys were conducted in 1865; then plans for a railway between East Taieri (to the north) and Balclutha was submitted in November 1865 [OtagoWit1866Jan20P1]. Funding for an Otago Southern Trunk Railway (from Dunedin to Balclutha) was discussed the next year by the Assembly (the New Zealand Government of the day, consisting of the Legislative Council, which was appointed by the governor, and the House of Representatives, which was directly elected [WikiNzProv]). The route was planned and reported in great detail [OtagoDaiTim1866Jul9P5], and legislation, the Otago Southern Trunk Railway Act, was passed by the end of 1866 [DailySouthCro1866Nov29P4]. Not all was rosy however, since in 1867 the Governor disallowed the related Guarantee Interest Ordinance [LakeWakaMail1867Jul24P2] until changes were made [NorthOtagoTim1867May07P2] [MarlPress1867Sep04P4]. This ordinance related to a guarantee on the interest for a construction loan for the railway of up to £400,000 for the 50 mile distance (or £8,000 per mile)  [OtagoDaiTim1866Nov8P5] [BruceHer1866Nov29P3] [NorthOtagoTim1867Feb12P2].

In 1867, Mr W.C. Young was sent as a Special Commissioner to England for the purpose of negotiating the construction of the Southern Trunk Railway and had solid success by 1868 [NorthOtagoTim1867May07P2] [OtagoWit1868Sep19P13] but still a British engineer had to come out to New Zealand and approve the proposed line. The line was eventually approved and tenders were invited, over the period from November 1869 [DunstanTim1869Nov26P2] to February 1870 [LyttletonTim170Feb28P4], some five years after the first survey.

But then Vogel created a reset, but also a new urgency. Vogel was Colonial Treasurer under Premier William Fox [WikiFox] from 1869 and on 28 June 1870 he proposed a “Grand Go-Ahead Policy” to dispel the 1860s slump with increased government expenditure on contracts including railways. Specifically Vogel proposed to borrow £6 million of the £7.5 million needed to build 2,400 to 2,600 km of railway for North and South Island Trunk Railways over the next ten years at a cost of £5,000 per mile. [WikiVogelEra]. In short order this proposal led to the Railways Act of September 1870, with a mandated 3 foot 6 inch gauge following colonial practice and well-suited to the tight turns needed for New Zealand’s hilly terrain [Wiki3ft6in] [CapeGauge]. Included in the Act’s First Schedule was a “Line of Railway …. From Dunedin to Clutha, commencing from and terminating at a point to be determined by the Governor in Council …. Five thousand pounds sterling per mile.” [NzLeg]

Tenders were again advertised for the various sections of the Otago Southern Trunk Railway, first from the north, for the two miles between Dunedin and Caversham [EveningStar1870Dec30P2] then another six miles from Caversham to the Chain Hills [EveningStar1871Mar30P3] but soon too from the south, for the first ten miles northwards from the Clutha River [OtagoDaiTim1871May25P1]. A contract for the Clutha section was awarded by August 1871 [EveningStar1871Aug17P2].

Although the first sod was turned in March 1871 in Kensington, Dunedin for the first section [OtagoWit1871Mar25P4], and despite that this would be one of the first railways built under Vogel, nevertheless much construction remained and would naturally take several more years to complete.

Still, the die was cast: Kaitangata would be within a half-dozen miles of a major railway.

 

The Kaitangata Coal Company Starts in 1872

Although in the late 1860s there must have been a sense that the railway was coming, it certainly wasn’t there yet, and the coal mining was directed at the local market and distribution by river steamer.

The first major coal mining on Aitchison’s land was by a former “Coal Point” and “Gabriel Gully man”, Alexander Love, in March 1869, who sank a shaft and extracted 50 tons of coal. Love had immigrated with his wife from Scotland in 1861 [WesternStar1912Feb13P2] [CluthaLea1891Nov20P5]. Love’s coal would be sold to James Davidson for use in his nearby flax mill. In the same year Michael Muir took over working the mine, and continued to supply the flax mill but the mining slowed as the flaxmill declined [MtBengerMail1912Feb21P4] [BamfordTony1982, P10-11]. 

James Davidson is a relatively common name, and it is not always easy to retroactively identify if there is one or two James Davidson’s; or a father-son pair, or just one man. Since we see a consistent theme of a James Davidson driving and leading engineering businesses in Otago, we can apply Occam’s razor with some moderate confidence and assume that there is just one man. If so, our James Davidson was born in Edinburgh around 1838, arrived in Dunedin during 1866 aged around 28 [OtagoDaiTim1886Dec30P3] [OtagoDaiTim1887Jan26P5] and within three years was developing his flax mill at Kaitangata. After that business faded, he started at the Standard Iron Works, then in 1874 he became a co-proprietor of the Otago Foundry in Dunedin [SouthlandTim1874Dec11P2]. In 1878 he circled back and became general manager at the Kaitangata Railway (and Coal Co.) [OtagoDaiTim1878Feb21P2] [AJHR1879H16, P8]. Both James Davidson and Michael Muir were reported as among the rescuers after the mine disaster (see below) [WikiKaiMinDis].

 Next, in 1871, John Thompson (the John Thompson, who, along with Peter Edwards, John L. Gillies, Gabriel Read and John Hardy, had started the Otago Gold rush), took over the workings [OtagoWit1911May17P95]. Described contemporaneously as “a coal miner of great practical experience”, Thompson leased the Kaitangata mine from Aitchison [BruceHer1872Sep04P6]. A journalist indicated that the mined coal “will be hailed as a blessing to the fireside during the long winter nights we are now on the eve of” [BruceHer1871May10P6]. But Thompson would set in motion the establishment of a business of much greater impact.

Finding a coal seam of unmatched quality, Thompson acquired and built equipment such that the mine could produce up to 25 tons per day and, over August 1871 to mid-1872, he built a wooden tramway of 23 chains (nearly 500 meters) connecting the mine to a jetty on the Matau branch [BruceHer1871Aug30P5] [OtagoWit1872Jun08P14] [BamfordTony] [BruceHer1872Sep04P6]. So much coal was being mined and the demand was so high that the Tuapeka river steamer was taking at least a day to load coal at Kaitangata [OtagoDaiTim1872Sep27P2].

In 1872 Aitchison acquired another 850 acres with coal-bearing strata then, in partnership, the adjacent 560 acres [CluthaLea1905Aug18P5].

However, meeting “the rapidly increasing demand for Kaitangata Coal … cannot be done with the limited capital at the disposal of the present proprietors” [BruceHer1872Sep04P6] and in 1872 David Maitland (a local landowner from 1861 with property adjacent to Aitchison [OtagoWit1861Oct05P3] [OtagoWit1866Apr21P10]), James Davidson (the flax miller), William Aitchison (the landowner), John McNeil (a Clutha landowner and active in the Molyneux Agricultural and Pastoral Society [OtagoWit1862Dec19P4] [BruceHer1868Aug05P5] [BruceHer1870Sep07P3]) and Fitzclarence Roberts (sheep farmer, Kuriwao Station, Popotunoa, west of Balclutha [OtagoDaiTim1870Apr13P2] [BruceHer1876Feb25]) started the Kaitangata Coal Mining Company as directors. The nominal capital was £10,000 offered via 1000 shares at £10 each. Sales were brisk [TuapekaTim1872Sep19P7] and within a few weeks 499 shares were sold to some 47 shareholders including Maitland, Davidson, Aitchison, and Thompson. For the shares, a total of £1,049 was already paid up. [BruceHer1872Nov27P6]. It is reported that these, plus two more stockholders William Bain (Kaitangata, apparently a stablemaster [BruceHer1878Sep13P7]) and Robert Grigor (surveyor, land agent and valuator, Balclutha [BruceHer1867Jul17P1]) managed the company, while William Hodge was employed as mine manager [BamfordTony1982, P12] [AJHR1879H16, P8]. 

Readers familiar with the ordinarily outstanding secondary source [BamfordTony1982, P11], or the tertiary source [MindatKai], might wonder why this article makes no reference to a Thompson company with £3,000 capital that operated before the company with £10,000 nominal capital. For instance, in [BamfordTony1982, P11], it is reported that Thompson “decided to form the first coal company. With a nominal capital of £3000 representing 500 shares of £6 each …” and references the 1875 potted history of the mine from [CluthaLea1875Mar11P6]. However, that source says something a little different “Two years ago [with respect to March 1875] the Kaitangata Coal Company, registered, was formed with a capital of £3000, representing by 500 shares of £6 each”. To this author, it is more likely than not that this “first” company was actually one and the same as the “Kaitangata Coal Mining Company (Registered)”, since The names are very similar The £10000 company was formed in late 1872, about two and a half years before the potted history, so there is no time window for another company In this era the “nominal” in “nominal capital” meant something, and buying a share did not require the investor to hand over the entire “nominal” price of the share immediately. The prospectus specifically explains “10s per share payable on application, and 20s per share on allotment. The remainder of the Capital will be called up as required”. Nor does it seem required that every share be sold at the company foundation, from “On three-fourth of the Capital being subscribed, a meeting will be held for the purpose of making preliminary arrangements.” [BruceHer1872Sep04P6] We know 499 shares were allotted in September 1872, which is curiously close to the 500 shares reported in [CluthaLea1875Mar11P6] A different explanation, and one that seems to fit the evidence better, is that only 500 shares were subscribed out of the 1000 offered, and in 1875 only an average of £6 per share had been called up, out of the £10 per share subscribed. In this way the one company can be described by both a nominal capital of £10,000 and a (called up) capital of £3,000. This last hypothesis is buttressed by the prospectus that says “… the Company intends, if expedient, to purchase a vessel, with large carrying capabilities, and light draught of water, suited to the trade between Kaitangata and Dunedin.” Such a vessel surely would have required an appreciable fraction of the nominal capital, but the vessel was never purchased, which in turn suggests that that portion of the capital did not need to be called up.  Furthermore, in 1901 it is reported that some shares were fully paid up but others only had £1 paid [CluthaLea1901Jun07P5].

 By this stage, as well as the river steamer Tuapeka (with transshipping at Port Molyneux), there were additional ships from Dunedin, crossing the bar, and working the river up to Kaitangata and even beyond: the steamers Storm Bird and Tairoa in 1871 [OtagoDaiTim1871Jan26P1] [OtagoDaiTim1871Jan23P1] (though Tairoa was lost on the bar by 1874 [BruceHer1874Aug18P6]), the twin screw steamer Pretty Jane later in 1871 [BruceHer1871Sep06P4], and the steamers Wallabi and Lady of the Lake in 1874 [OtagoDaiTim1874Jun26P1] [OtagoDaiTim1874Feb18P1] [CluthaLea1874Nov19P5] [MindatKai]. A shed was built by the river that could store 150 tons of coal, which could be loaded into the steamers berthed at the landing stage via three shoots [CluthaLea1874Sep17P5].

 

Kaitangata No. 1 (or Shores No. 1) Coal Company

We have seen that Taratu Formation is coal bearing, and indeed a settler wrote of Kaitangata in 1873 that there is “coal cropping out in every gully” [OtagoDaiTim1873Jul30P5]. Thus it comes as no surprise that the success of the Kaitangata Coal Mining Company would breed neighbourly interest, prospecting and then competition.

In March 1872, a new seam of coal was discovered in the Clutha Coal Reserve on land leased by MacFarlane and E. Martin, who employed A. Reid to work the seam [OtagoDaiTim1872Mar09P2] [OtagoWit1872Mar16P14]. This mine was just a few hundred metres from the Kaitangata Coal Mining Co., and within half a mile of the Matau branch of the Clutha River. A month later Dunedin merchants Messrs Findlay and R.W. Capstick provided a capital injection and were added as additional owners [OtagoDaiTim1872Apr18P3] [MindatKaiNo1] [WikiKai].

Some time that same year, according to a much later report (that used a subsequent name of the company), the mining company sank a shaft to 380 feet in this year [BamfordTony, p38].

In October 1872 “the tramway [from the river] is now completed to Messrs McFarlane and Co’s. coal pit” [BruceHer1872Oct09P7]. This construction started after April 1872 [OtagoDaiTim1872Apr18P3] [BruceHer1872Apr24P7] and they built their own jetty too [OtagoDaitimSep05P4], just as the Kaitangata Coal Mining Company was completing their own tramway and jetty. Since the two companies didn’t collaborate on either tramway or jetty, it seems that the two enterprises were more competitive than collaborative [BruceHer1873Sep26P6].

The new mine advertised its coal the next month, via “The United No. 1 Kaitangata Coal Pits are now open, and are supplying coals alongside the river, or put on board vessels, at 10s per ton CASH. Apply to John S. Capstick, Manager, on the ground.” [BruceHer1872Nov27P6] [WikiKai].  Another name in use was “The United Kaitangata Coal Mine” and “United No. 1 Kaitangata Coal Company” [OtagoDaiTim1872Dec31P3] [BruceHer1873Mar21P4].

The name Crane, known to be an efficient coal miner, appeared as the preferred tenderer to sink a new shaft 80-100 ft deep and extract 400-800 tons of coal per month [OtagoDaiTim1872Dec31P3] [BruceHer1873Mar21P4].

Next, after sale at auction, the coal mine, lease, tramway, coalshed and jetty (etc) of “[United] No. 1 [Kaitangata] Coal Company” reportedly passed into the hands of Mr. McLaren [OtagoDaiTim1873Sep05P4] [BruceHer1873Sep26P6]. The new owner did little to disturb the business since a Findlay (with a Watson) are reported as still doing a solid trade in shipping Kaitangata coal six months later [BruceHer1874Mar24P6] and McFarland is still associated with the mine lease a year later [EveningStar1874Sep24P2].

By late 1873 [MindatKaiNo1], and apparently as early as March 1872(!) [CluthaLea1874Sep24P5], the mine had a big problem: fire. Fire in a mine is definitely a lot better than an explosion, but it can be exceedingly difficult to put out: there is heat once the fire has started and there is always fuel. Indeed contemporaneous newspaper accounts report a coal seam fire had been running for over a hundred years near Sheffield Britain [EveningPost1872Dec14P2].

Still the fire grew and months later actually broke out of the mine in mid-1874 [BruceHer1874Jul24P6]. The Kaitangata Coal Mining Company, realising that their own mining operations were at risk, escalated the issue through their secretary R. Grigor with the Waste Land Board, who agreed to write to lessees Messrs McFarland and others and call upon them to put the fire out [EveningStar1874Sep24P2]. 

There is a coal mine known as the “A1 Kaitangata Coal Pit” or “Rae’s Pit”, which seems to be a further evolution of the Kaitangata No. 1 Coal Company (or else it is another coal mine altogether!). In 1874, the “A1 Kaitangata Coal Pit”, with William Rae as proprietor, was “now in full working order” [CluthaLea1874Dec24P4]. Exactly like the Kaitangata No. 1 coal mine, Rae’s Pit was “situated in a gully adjoining that of the company’s [Kaitangata Coal Mining Company]”, had a tramway, wharf and coalshed, and “one of the earliest drives put in at this place caught fire, and after burning for some time the mine fell in.”  [CluthaLea1875Mar11P6]. It is also noteworthy that [CluthaLea1874Dec24P4] describes Kaitangata Coal Mining Co. and Rae’s Pit in great detail, but says nothing about the Kaitangata No. 1 Coal Co. If the Kaitangata No. 1 Coal Co. and Rae’s Pit are mines at one and the same location, then Rae’s stint at the mine (and his rebranding of it) only lasted a couple of years, as follows.

 Certainly the fire was tamed, since in 1876 coal advertisements for the “No. 1 Kaitangata Coal Mines” return. There must have been a further change of ownership since now Moore and Shore are proprietors (hence the alternative name “Shore No. 1”).

Soon enough the ownership changes again, to Winter, Moore and Co. in 1878, then Shore, Winter and Co. in 1879 [CluthaLea1876May26P3] [CluthaLea1876Jul14P1] [OtagoDaiTim1878Sep07P2] [MindatKaiNo1] [BamfordTony, p38].

 

The Tribulations of the River Steamer

Competition between the river and rail transportation becomes plain over 1873-1875 and, as we shall see, luck never flowed the river steamer’s way. Although the evolution of these two modes of transportation are intertwined, we shall start with the travails of the river traffic, then contrast these events with the great progress towards a Kaitangata branch line.

1873 didn’t start well for the river steamer Tuapeka, since she was laid up for five months for repair [OtagoDaiTim1873Jul02P2]. The repairs were successful, and the frequency of her visits to Balclutha increased [BruceHer1873Aug29P5].

But then disaster struck: in October during a heavy gale she sank in 10 feet of water in the river near Coal Point [EveningStar1873Oct23P3] [EveningStar1873Oct24P2] [SouthlandTim1873Oct28P2]. There was optimism that she could be refloated [BruceHer1873Dec02P5]; yet what actually happened was, after a few months, she was sold as she lay, for £675 [OtagoDaiTim1873Dec10P4] [OtagoDaiTim1873Dec18P2], and then she lay some more, until tenders were sought for her repair and relaunch [BruceHer1874Jan09P6] [TuapekaTim1874Jan21P3]. Raised by Jackson Bros. and restored by Bassett and Mason, she “steamed up the river to Balclutha without the slightest hitch” in February 1874, but that just presaged a sale [OtagDaiTim1874Feb17P2] [EveningStar1874Feb20P3].

Perhaps triggered by the extended unavailability of the steamer Tuapeka, the Kaitangata Coal Mining Co. had passed a resolution to “purchase a steamer for the purpose of plying to and from Dunedin and the mine. The necessary plans and tenders were approved of, and other preliminary arrangements made, but from some cause or another the proposal fell through.” A short term  explanation is the resurgence of the Tuapeka, but also “At this juncture the railway policy of the country had been sufficiently developed to attract the attention of the directors into that channel, as a more probable solution of the [coal transportation] dilemma in which they found themselves placed.” [CluthaLea1875Mar11P6]

Given the importance of the Tuapeka to bring the harvest to market in Dunedin, there was a push to keep the Tuapeka serving the Clutha river, and indeed four Balclutha business firms made it so in April 1874, under the command of Captain Tyson [OtagoWit1874Mar14P19] [EveningStar1874Apr07P2].

But then a second disaster struck: just two months later the Tuapeka had another accident and sank again, this time upriver in seven feet of water during the month of June [BruceHer1874Jun09P5] [OtagoDaiTim1874Jun10P2] leading to commentary such as “It is a disgrace to the Province that a vessel only drawing two feet of water cannot ascend the Clutha River - one of the noblest in the Colony” [OtagoDaiTim1874Jul16P2]. Within a month she was successfully raised and undergoing repairs [OtagoDaiTime1874Jun20P2] [BruceHer1874Jun30P5] [BruceHer1874Jul07P3]. She was operational again after a further month, in August 14: delivering coal [BruceHer1874Aug14P4] and transferring grain from the riverside farms in a race against time with the local rat population [BruceHer1874Aug21P4].

But then a third disaster struck, when the Tuapeka sank again, still in the month of August! It was said wittily that “The steamer Tuapeka is a most unfortunate craft. She has again taken-up her old quarters at the bottom of the river. When proceeding down the Kawau [Koau] branch yesterday forenoon, and when opposite Mr Griffith’s, she struck upon a snag and immediately filled with water.” [CluthaLea1874Aug27P2]. By this stage, her timbers were very rotten [CluthaLea1874Sep03P4], the situation was being described as a “farce” [BruceHer1874Sep08P6] and now fingers were being pointed at the captain [NzTim1874Sep09P2].

Nonetheless she was raised a third time, not without difficulty (but the potatoes she had been transporting were safe) [CluthaLea1874Sep10P5] [EveningStar1874Sep17P2] and offered at auction again, this time “without the slightest reserve” [EveningStar1874Oct20P3].

It turned out that her boilers, machinery and stern wheel remained in good condition, and they would form the guts of a new steamer to be built at Port Molyneux. This reincarnation, named the steamer Balclutha, had a new hull that cost £1,500 and provided four times the storage capacity as the Tuapeka. [BruceHer1874Dec11P5] [CluthaLea1875Jan14P5] [OtagoDaiTim1875Apr27P2] [OtagoDaiTim1875May08P3]. The river folk were looking forward to the new steamer, given how little service they had received over the preceding 18 months [BruceHer1875Mar30P6] [OtagoDaiTim1875Apr26P3]. In the meantime other craft, such as Lucy McFarlane, helped to fill in the gaps [CluthaLea1875Apr01P5] [BruceHer1874Aug18P6].

The steamer Balclutha did good work, but the river snags continued to be a problem [CluthaLea1875May20P6] [BruceHer1875Sep28P7] and the service was not paying and needed a government subsidy because of “every bit of cargo having to be landed on the men’s backs”. The railway was not pitched as a competing alternative in these discussions; rather as a complement (that avoided the problems of the bar at the river-mouth) since produce from farms along the Clutha could  be shipped to Balclutha and then railed to Dunedin and beyond [BruceHer1875Sep28P7].

But then there was a fourth setback. It seems that the business model did not work and, despite being custom-designed for the Clutha river, in 1876 the steamer Balclutha (and its Tuapeka parts) was taken to Dunedin, sold, and continued service as a ferry between Dunedin, Portobello, “Scarborough” (modern day Edwards or Latham, Bay, likely renamed to avoid a conflict with the “Scarborough” at Christchurch [OtagoDaiTim1876Jun20P4]) and Port Chalmers [OtagoWit1876Apr22P15] [CluthaLea1876Jun16P5] [OtagoDaiTim1876Jun03P4] [OtagoDaiTim1876Aug25P2] [OtagoDaiTim1876Jun21P4]. She was ultimately broken up and converted to a bone mill in 1890 [NzShipMarineB].

 

Rail Comes to Kaitangata

In contrast to this story of disaster and setback for the Tuapeka and Balclutha steamers, rail access for Kaitangata at the time had many successes and a single setback which was quickly overcome.

The backdrop to the Kaitangata branch line was the progress of the Main South Line. Started in 1871, Balclutha was connected to Dunedin on 1 September 1875, Lawrence (via a branch line) in 1877 [WikiRox] [CluthaLea1875Aug05P5], and Christchurch on 7 September 1878; to the south Balclutha was linked to Gore and Invercargill on 22 January 1879, and this was the last section of the Main South Line” [WikiMainSouthLineCons].

In June 1873, after work on the Dunedin-Balclutha railway had begun but before the Tuapeka’s first sinking, settlers petitioned the superintendent of Otago to construct a ten-mile branch railway from the nearest point on the Balclutha line past Kaitangata and its two coal mines, along to the coast (with its wealth of coal) to Wangaloa [BruceHer1873Jun2727P6].

A railway engineer, Mr. W.N. Blair, provided a report the next month. He analyzed two routes

• Route No. 1 which followed the route as proposed by the settlers (starting around modern day Stirling to Kaitangata, then along the Matau branch to Coal Point and Roper’s Creek.
• Route No. 2 which started from closer to Lovell’s Flat, followed the eastern side of Lake Tuakitoto and Lake Kaitangata to Kaitangata township, and then was the same as the first route thereafter.

Both looked feasible but the latter route was at least four miles longer. Mr Blair also recommended that different mining companies should provide tramways or minor lines to connect their mine heads to the branch line [OtagoDaiTim1873Jul23P3] [BruceHer1873Jul25P6]. This sparked a settler, and no doubt a landholder alongside Route No. 2, to robustly make his a case for the second route [OtagoDaiTim1873Jul30P5].

Things moved fast because within a week there were discussions in the Provincial Council where it was resolved to survey and estimate the cost of a branch line to Kaitangata, with construction starting the next year (in 1874) [BruceHer1873Jul29P3]. It was anticipated that would be completed as soon as the Main South line; albeit the section beyond Kaitangata, to Roper’s Creek, would be deferred [BruceHer1873Nov21P6].

In April of 1874, the Provincial Geologist endorsed a branch-line extending to Coal Point [EveningStar1874Apr17P2].

A week after the Provincial Geologist’s report, the Provincial Council resolved to request that the General government sanction a loan for various railway works including some allocated for a branch line from the “main line to Kaitangata and extension to Coal Point, 10 miles, cost £27750” [Press1874Apr22P2]. Debate continued at the provincial level for another month or so [EveningStar1874May29P3], and there was talk of a fall-back: “In the event of the loan not being sanctioned, the Government be authorized to enter into arrangements with public companies, or private individuals willing to risk their own capital …” [NorthOtagoTim1874Jun12P2]. 

Somewhat confusingly, in the contemporaneous newspaper accounts, the tender for the “Kaitangata Railway Station” had already been awarded [EveningStar1874Apr06P2], and would lead to active construction [CluthaLea1874Sep10P2]. Presumably this was the name given to the station on the South Trunk line intended to serve Kaitangata. If so, the name would not last long since on 6 May 1874 Mr. Anderson took advantage of the opportunity to sell about twenty acres of his land as quarter-acre sections around the Railway Station and create the township of Stirling. Bidding was spirited, and the closest sections fetched £30 to £36, and most sections sold above £20 [BruceHer1874Apr28P4] [BruceHer1874May08P4] [BruceHer1874May19P6]. Some of the purchasers intended to commence building at once [CluthaLea1874Aug02P2].

 This fall-back was prescient since the General Assembly only allowed a limited railway authorization for the Otago Province, amounting to 12% of what was asked, and certainly not enough to fund new works such as the Kaitangata Branch line [OtagoWit1874Nov07P10].

For the Kaitangata Coal Mining Co., the question of investing in a river steamer versus a branch railway line still seemed open [CluthaLea1874Sep17P5] and many minds thought that steam shipping was the better option than a railway [CluthaLea1875Sep23P6]. Given the travails of river transport on the Clutha, it comes as little surprise that the choice was rail: a private company was quickly formed in December 1874 to build the line [Globe1874Dec29P2], plans were requested [CluthaLea1874Dec31P5], the route was chosen [CluthaLea1875Jan07P5], and the project was, practically speaking, settled by January the next year [CluthaLea1875Jan14P5]; only some final land negotiations and surveys had yet to complete [CluthaLea1875Jan21P5].

Using the expertise of the British-based, family-owned railway contracting company John Brodgen and Sons, which was also working on the government’s South Trunk line [CluthaLea1874Dec31P5] [WikiBrodgen], the venture was implemented aggressively. Decisions and expenditures were made quickly and with minimal surveys or reports (but not none [CluthaLea1875Jan21P5]) since in March 1875 “… contracts for fencing, ditching, and forming the line have already been let … the rails and other portions of the iron works have been shipped [from Britain], and may be expected to reach Otago within three months.” [CluthaLea1875Mar04P6]. The “rails [were] of the same section and weight as those used by the General Government.”

At the same time the Kaitangata railway company, under some debt pressure [CluthaLea1876Jun23P6], amalgamated with the coal company as the Kaitangata Railway and Coal Co., with a nominal capital of £25,000 made up of 2500 shares at £10 each, with half the capital already subscribed [CluthaLea1875Mar04P6] [BruceHer1875Mar05P5] [EveningStar1875Mar11P3].

The prospectus for the new merged company was released in April 1875. The provisional directors included many familiar names including Maitland, Aitchison, Hodge, Grigor, Davidson and Roberts. The planned branch line was 4.5 miles long at an estimated cost of £13,200, or less than £3000 per mile, with a tramway from the mouth of the pits to the proposed station. The coal mine was ready to extract 400 tons per day, and a new seam had been discovered, 27 ft 6 inches thick, and needing only a short drive into the hill (rather than a shaft) [CluthaLea1875Apr29P4]. This would be connected directly to the line [EveningStar1875Sep01P3].

Contractor A.J. Smyth, who was responsible for the Caversham Immigration Barracks [HeritageNzCav] and plate laying on the Dunedin-Clutha section of the railway [EveningPost1883May05P2], was elected general manager [CluthaLea1875May13P4].

Telegraph connectivity was solicited at much the same time [OtagoWit1875May29P15]. 

Railways were important business and private railways needed specific empowerment by the government. The company had initiated the process in May 1875 [OtagoDaiTim1875May07P3] and, after three readings, the legislation passed first the Lower House in August [EveningStar1875Aug21P2] then the Upper House in early September [TuapekaTim1875Sep04P2]. The legislation also permitted the company to erect wharves and jetties on the Clutha River at Kaitangata (perhaps so that the coal could also be transported to the North Island). The legislation further reserved the right to the Governor to purchase the railway and rolling stock from the company [NdhaDeliverIe3081043].

 The first sod was turned on 18 June 1875, by Sir John L.C. Richardson, Speaker of the Legislative council at the time [WikiRichardson], who filled a barrow with earth and wheeled it down a plank. Two hundred people were in attendance and Richardson was presented with a silver spade to commemorate the occasion. Mr. Smythe indicated he had very definite ideas about the railway’s immediate future: “he would assure the people that the Kaitangata railway would be completed in a few months. That was the programme, and it would be carried through. The plant was ordered, and would be on the ground in four months, and he intended having a train running in seven months” [EveningStar1875Jun19P2] [CluthaLea1875Jun24P6].

The low price for construction arose from the use of Chinese labour, who had presumably travelled to Otago for the Gold Rush, had worked hard, yet had not struck it rich. By July, some thirty labourers were at work [EveningStar1875May18P2] [CluthaLea1875Jul01P5]. By August the sleepers were in place [OtagoDaiTim1875Aug09P3] [CluthaLea1865Aug12P6]. The single bridge needed (for the Kaitangata Stream [CluthaLea1875Jan07P5]) was built for £160 using “three ponderous beams of the finest heart of totara, each twenty-four feet long and measuring sixteen by fourteen inches” [EveningStar1875Nov16P2]. The ironwork was expected in September, comprising rails, switches, crossings and fish-plates (a metal bar for joining rails together end to end) made by the Darlington Iron Company and spikes, bolts and nuts made by Bayliss, Jones, and Bayliss of Wolverhampton [OtagoDaiTim1875Aug09P3]. They were shipped a month late, and their arrival was commensurately delayed. The company also ordered a locomotive and 50 coal wagons from Britain [CluthaLea1875Sep09P5] [OtagoDaiTim1875Oct02P2] and the locomotive reportedly was assembled by Davidson & Co. from Hunslet Engine Co. parts [TrainWebDavids]. 

The first locomotive employed at the mine, built in 1876 and used perhaps as late as 1901. Named Jerusalem (after Alex Jerusalem Smyth), it was 0-6-0 and had an ordinary speed of fifteen miles an hour pulling trucks [BamfordTony1982, P19.5] [CluthaLea1876Mar23P6] [CluthaLea1876Jul21P5] [TrainWebDavids] [WikiHunslet].

 Business was booming so a further shaft was being vigorously sunk [BruceHer1875Sep28P5] [CluthaLea1875Sep02P5]. In this era, the “upper drive is some 200 yards in, and has been worked into 12 rooms or chambers. In extent these chambers vary from 3ft. 9in. to 4ft. 1in. and are each designed for the operations of one man. According then to that scale of accommodation, this drive is capable of furnishing working space for 12 miners” [CluthaLea1875Mar11P6].

The rails were laid by January 1876, at the rate of a quarter mile per day, amid the glowing endorsements of “The Kaitangata Railway Company deserve all credit for the energetic manner in which they have pushed forward their works … This is the way to do business. The Company have merited success” [CluthaLea1876Jan27P5]. The line was finally complete at the end of March 1876, less than seven months after the Main South line reached Balclutha [TuapekaTim1876Mar29P2] [EveningStar1876Apr06P2]. Railway activity quickly ramped up [CluthaLea1876Aug11P6] and the formal opening occurred in June of that year [CluthaLea1876Jun23P6].

The Kaitangata Railway & Coal Co. was oftentimes still referred to as the Kaitangata Coal Co. 

Kaitangata, by Christopher Aubrey, 1878, from an earlier photograph. The scene is painted from the Matau branch looking east. The Bridge Hotel appears to the left, a coal train in the middle, and the Presbyterian Church to the right, adjacent to the confluence of the Kaitangata Creek with the Matau. In the background, Wangaloa Rd over climbs the coastal hills with Kaitangata Hill at top right. Credit: Aubrey, Christopher, active 1868-1906. Aubrey, Christopher, fl 1868-1906: Kaitangata, South Otago. 1878. Ref: C-158-001. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand [NatLibAubrey].

 

1876 map of Kaitangata (with 1922 updates) showing Kaitangata Railway Station and the line extending to along Berry St. to Salcombe St. then parallel tramways along MacDonald St (now Kai Dump Rd) for Kaitangata Railway & Coal Co. and Winters, Moore & Co., which radiate out to a mine shaft and a pit. Sourced from LINZ. Crown Copyright reserved. [Natlib22978340] [NdhaDeliverIe18259065].

 

Coal prices were 12/6 at the pit head or 14/6 per ton at Stirling Station. Acknowledgement: the National Library of New Zealand [CluthaLea1876Jul21P2].

Kaitangata Railway and Coal Co.’s offices in Dunedin, built in the late 1870s (Hocken Library) [BamfordTony1982, P17.5]

 

Decline of Port Molyneux and the 1878 Flood

All these events (the travails of the steamer Tuapeka and Balclutha, the completion of the railways between Balclutha and Dunedin, and the branch line to Kaitangata) hurt the shipping trade through Port Molyneux. The river trade was diverted to the Balclutha station at the expense of Port Molyneux and a new river steamer was being built to match [OtagoDaiTim1876Jul08P2] [OtagotaphophilePortMolyDecl] [CluthaLea1878Feb22P5].

But the worst was yet to come. In 1878, there was a great flood. The flood rearranged the path of the river branches and “the old channel at Port Molyneux has been rendered completely useless, at present there being more than a foot of water at the bar, entrance to the port or exit from it being impossible to any class of vessel” [OtagoDaiTim1879May26P2] [OtagotaphophilePortFlood]. Indeed, “as the Clutha powered to the coast, it cut a new channel and filled in the old. Consequently, Port Molyneux, from where paddle steamers had run a service up to Balclutha, ceased to be a port” [MetServCluFlood]. 

Nearly a decade later in 1887, the community still looked back fondly to the earlier estuary that passed the “downtown” of Port Molyneux, yet we see the newly cut channel to the sea (labeled “Present Outlet”). The north westerly channel at the top is the Koau branch and the north westerly channel at the top connects to the Matau branch. Sourced from LINZ. Crown Copyright reserved [SurveyMapClutha1887].

 The river mouth(s) continued to evolve. The new outlet had silted up by the 1930s. By 1944, both the Koau and Matau branches had cut new channels directly to the ocean, and these have continued to the present day. At the same time the inland channel from the Matau branch to the Koau branch has steadily weakened. 

Evolution of the mouth of the Clutha River. Sourced from a mix of the National Library of New Zealand and LINZ (for which Crown Copyright is reserved) [MolyneuxPlan1862] [Map1887] [Map1932] [Map1937] [Map1944] [Map1952] [TopomapCoNz2020] and Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga Dunedin Regional Office, Reference AAAC/D500/701/e [R19001780].

 

The Mine Disaster of 1879

In 1876, the Kaitangata Railway and Coal Co. is on top of the world: the plucky Kaitangata settlers, so well endowed with coal resources, had created a powerhouse company to extract the coal and transport it – now oh so cheaply and reliably – to Dunedin and other Otago markets, with Christchurch on the horizon. The going rate of Kaitangata coal in Dunedin had dropped from 35/- per ton (versus 50/- for Newcastle coal) in 1873 [OtagoDaiTim1873Apr29P1] to 30/- per ton in July 1876 [OtagoDaiTim1876Jul06P1] and then 28.5/- per ton (versus 47.5/- for Newcastle coal, and 33/- for Shag Point coal) in 1878 [EveningStar1878Dec10P3].

But the seeds of tragedy were sown in this era too, as Bamford so clearly articulates. The risks of coal mining were known, regulatory legislation was passed (in 1874) but it was toothless and safety fell to the individual mine manager (here, William Hodge). Government inspections, advisory in  nature, began in 1876, and Kaitangata’s report by G.J. Binns in January 1879, shared with William Hodge, was not good since “fire damp [e.g., methane] exists in this mine” and "The Kaitangata mines being the only ones on this side of the Island in which explosive gas has been found, and employing a much larger number of men than the majority of the other pits, are those in which unless the greatest care be exercised, fatal accidents must be expected; and I regret to state that, in my opinion, the Kaitangata Railway and Coal Company's Mine is by no means unlikely to be the scene of such a disaster.” Other people raised concerns too [BamfordTony1982, P26-29] [AJHR1879H16, P16-17] [OtagoDaiTim1879Feb26P5] [OtagoDaiTim1878Mar04P3] [OtagoDaiTim1879Mar11P3].

Mine management made an attempt to mitigate the risk but they did not act quickly enough (and their solution was anyway too ineffectual) since within a month of Binns’ visit, on 21 February 1879, William Hodge’s brother and deputy mine manager Archie, in search of a rail, entered the old workings, blocked off by an oftentimes unbolted door and framed by boards, sand and ash, “without ordinary precaution” by holding a naked flame, and thereby triggered “an explosion of fire damp igniting coal dust” [BamfordTony1982, P28-31] [AJHR1879H16, P16-17].

“The resulting explosion was so strong if blew Edward Dunn and his horse, who were entering the tunnel, 50 yards clear, along with six coal trucks, partly destroyed a nearby shed, and moved a house off its foundation. Thirty-four men [and boys] died. They were James Beardsmore (48), his sons James Beardsmore (14), and Edward Beardsmore (25), son-in-law Caleb Beardsmore (36), and James' brother Joseph Beardsmore (38), Thomas Black (55), John Clark (69), John Clinging (26), Samuel Coulter (53), and his son-in-law David Buchanan (30), Edward Dunn (15), John Ferguson (31), Thomas Frew (40), John Gage (26), James Hall (48), and his brother William Parker Hall (34), William Hay (27), Daniel Lockhart (18), Charles McDonald (15), Barney McGee (37), Joseph Morton (29), James Molloy and his two sons John Thomas Molloy (16) and Edward Molloy (14), Thomas Smith (40), James Spiers (39), William S. Watson (38), William Whinney (31), Andrew Jarvie (40), George Jarvie (29), William Wilson (34), Robert McMillan, deputy mine manager Archibald Hodge (56), and mine manager William Hodge (50). Around seventy-five children were left without fathers, and several women left widows, with no income.” [MindatKai]

We see that both Archie and William Hodge perished in the disaster.

A cloud of dense smoke from the mine mouth brought men from the local pits and residents, who organised themselves into rescue parties, and tackled the debris, falls and after-damp [carbon monoxide created during an explosion] to hunt for survivors. But, between the explosion and the suffocating gas, no one in the mine made it out [BamfordTony1982, P31] [AJHR1879H16, P16]. 

The exterior of the Kaitangata mine with mine machinery and structures, smoke rising from several points, and crowds of people outside the entrance. Coal trucks to the left and tall chimneys to the right. Credit: Illustrated London news (Newspaper). Illustrated London news: Kaitangata Coal Mine. The pit after the explosion. [London, 1879]. Ref: PUBL-0033-1879-001. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand [IllusLonNewsExplo1879].

 

Memorial to the 1879 disaster [WikiKaiMinDis].

 

Amalgamation and Maturation

Some good came from the disaster. Almost immediately the mining regulations of 1874 were brought into force, and mine owners and managers agreed on the need for compliance [AJHR1879H16, P14, P18]. Kaitangata Railway and Co. drove a new ventilation shaft, with ladders on the side to help in case of emergency, and a furnace atop to draw in air from the mine and burn off fire-damp before its concentration could rise to dangerous proportions. By July 1880, the Bruce Herald’s Special Reporter wrote “The Kaitangata Coal Mine is now in splendid working order, turning out a great quantity of coal, and employing in all about 72 hands. Under the able supervision of Mr Samson, who took charge shortly after the frightful accident of 1878, the ventilation throughout the works is now almost perfection, a constant stream of fresh air freely circulates in every direction, greatly facilitating mining operations.” The old workings were “permanently closed in a most substantial manner, by a massive door, provided with a strong lock, fixed in the wall, barring any possible access”. As well the company worked a new, deeper seam, with higher quality coal of greater value [BruceHer1880Jul13P3] [BamfordTony1982, P38].

Mr. Shore would take the need for ventilation to heart, and even expand on these ideas [OtagoWit1890Mar13P14].

After a number of drives, workings of the Kaitangata No. 1/Shores No. 1 and Kaitangata Railway & Coal Co. were connected. With little public fanfare, the two mining companies amalgamated and were worked together. Mr. Shores stepped into the void left by the Hodges’ deaths and managed the main shaft, at the lower end of the workings, “now 400 feet down, and the works in this part are under the supervision of Mr. Shore, who seems to be popular with the men” [BamfordTony1982, P39] [AJHR1881H16, P17, P19] [MindatKaiNo1]. [BruceHer1880Jul13P3]. 

The second locomotive, “Kaitangata” with a long load of coal laden wagons on the way to Stirling, with the sheds in the background c.1885 [Hocken1885] [BamfordTony1982, P20.5].

 For the next decade or so the story of Kaitangata Railway & Coal Co. is one of steady growth, new problems met and overcome, new equipment, and greater mechanisation.

• The coal won an award at the Melbourne Exhibition, and was selling well in Dunedin, Invercargill, Oamaru and Timaru [LyttletonTim1881Mar11P1]
• Underground fires burned during 1881-1882, 1884 and 1885 [BamfordTony1982, P39, 41] [DunstanTim1884May23P3]
• In 1883, the company won the first of many contracts with the Railway Department to supply steam coal for locomotives throughout the South Island, and was one of the largest suppliers of coal to the Railways [BamfordTony1982, P40]
• A new seam needed upgraded haulage [BamfordTony1982, P41] [AJHR1884SessIC5, P15]
• Steam-powered air compressors were introduced in 1885 to pump air or water to distant parts of the mine to damp down dust or fires, and to drive machinery such as pumps (instead of powering them from steam directly). The pumps kept water ingress at bay in the deep workings. [BamfordTony1982, P42-43] [AJHR1885C4, P10]
• There was a miners strike in 1886-1867 (see below).
• A great new seam, the “Kai Mai” seam, was discovered in 1886 and held the best quality coal yet found [BamfordTony1982, P44]
• The company took over another nearby mine, owned by Mr. James Smith, and used the plant and appliances to increase production in its own workings [CluthaLea1886Oct01P6] [BamfordTony1982, P45].
• In 1892 the No. 1 shaft (dating back to Kaitangata No. 1) was extended to 700 ft in depth, and an extra ventilation shaft was added in 1893 [BamfordTony1982, P47]
• In 1893, Kaitangata began to make inroads into the Wellington coal market [EveningStar1893Jun21P3]
• In 1893, much of the equipment was modernised, with new engines to raise loads up the main shaft, new air compressors and a new pump, new coal screens (to sort the coal by size: large coal nuts for household use, peas and dust), and the first electric generator for above-level heating and lighting [BamfordTony1982, P47-51].

In 1893 the mine was thriving with 152 men employed below and another 21 above, and outputting over 68 thousand tons of coal, albeit behind Denniston and Brunner mines [BamfordTony1982, P38.5, 52.5, 73.3, 73.7]. At the time, the population of Kaitangata was about 1200 persons. [BamfordTony1982, P89.5]. 

Two men sitting in wagons on the tramway at the mouth of the Kaitangata Coal Mine (1890s) [Hoken1890s].

 The coal business was competitive, with vendors jockeying directly against each other and their wares: 

Acknowledgement: the National Library of New Zealand [CluthaLea1885Jul03P4].

 

Acknowledgement: the National Library of New Zealand [CluthaLea1888May04P2].

 

The Miners’ Strike of 1886-1887

The first New Zealand miners’ union was formed, at Denniston in1884 [WikiDenn]. The movement spread, and by 1886 almost all the Kaitangata miners had joined the Kaitangata Union / Kaitangata Mutual Protection Association / K.M.A.

Working from the contemporaneous newspaper accounts, the mine manager (still Mr. Shores, but now the unpopular Mr. Shores) wanted to keep uncontested control and avoid that “his power would be broken”; yet the unionists were concerned about managers going “beyond what is reasonable and fair and against common sense.” A deputation was sent to the mine directors to make the workers’ case but was rebuffed. Alongside this, management persuaded two miners, Chapman and Barlow, to stick out against the union in an effort to get the union broken up. The union demanded that these two be fired, then the mine locked out all dissenting miners except for those two (or so) [OtagoDaiTim1886Nov01P4] [OtagoDaiTim1886Nov02P4] [OtagoDaiTim1886Nov01P4] [CromwellArg1886Dec14P2]. 

Kaitangata miners, 1886, Hocken Library [BamfordTony1982, P114.5].

 In other accounts this was a strike rather than a lockout, and 122 out of the 129 workers stayed out. Mine management brought in scabs, described as a “banditti of larrikins scraped up in Dunedin and escorted with a brigade of police” [TuapekaTim1886Oct30P3] [Star1886Oct27P4] [OtagoDaiTim1886Nov01P4] [EveningStar1887Jul05P2]. There was tough behavior on both sides: the Kaitangata Coal Co. gave notice to those on strike to give up possession of their cottages (rented in earlier times at 5/- a week [CluthaLea1874Sep17P5]), and the cottage of a non-striker, McAllister, was burned down (but fortunately it was insured) [NzTim1886Oct25P2] [Star1886Oct30P3]. The miners offered arbitration, but management refused [MountIdaChr1886Oct28P3] and counter-proposed a Board of Reference with four management representatives and two elected miners, plus an umpire. This board’s decisions would be binding on the company and miners, and the union – if it continued – would be subordinate to the board. 

After the mine disaster of 1879, the children of the dead miners were supported by alimony from the Kaitangata Relief Fund. However, one Mr. Gillies, secretary of the committee administering the fund, took great offence at the fund supporting striking families given that “It was a monstrous thing that the committee should be assisting the families of those who were endeavoring … to coerce the manager not to employ men simply because they did not belong to the union. … If the parties in question were in such a position that they could strike they could not want assistance from the committee.” Fortunately for the strikers, the chair and others were not supportive of the position taken by Mr. Gillies [OtagoWit1886Oct29P14].

 The miners rejected the Board of Reference and the strike continued. The company threatened to import 50 miners [CromwellArg1886Nov10P2], and work resumed at the mine shortly thereafter [GreyRiverArg1886Nov11P2]. However bad feeling remained [OamaruMail1886Nov22P3] and many miners remained on strike into February 1887 [SouthlandTim1887Feb28P2]; and perhaps into July of 1887 [OtagoDaiTim1887Jul01P3].

 

River Activity Limped Along

The railway provided a solid north-south South Island connection, but connections to the hinterland were limited:

• A branch line from Milton to the goldfields at Tuapeka/Lawrence was completed in 1877 but its route was always at least 15 km north-east of the Clutha; and the railway extension to Beaumont was not completed until 1914 [WikiRoxBr].
• A branch line from Waipahi to Tapanui was completed in 1880, then extended to Kelso in 1880, Heriot in 1884 and Edievale in 1905 [WikiTapanui]. The line up to Heriot was always at least 10 km to the west of the Clutha.

In the meantime, the natural answer was another river steamer, but many of the old problems remained, and new ones arose. In 1882 a new river boat was imported from "home" (Britain), called the steamer Matau. A trial trip provided an inauspicious start: there were many teething problems and it ended in a complete loss of power and hours of passivity before rescue [OtagoDaiTim1882Aug02P2]. These issues were addressed and in a few months the steamer made it up the Clutha as far as Clydesdale (above the Pomahaka confluence) [OtagoDaiTim1882Oct07P2]. But river snags remained, as did the intermittent lobbying for funding to clear the river (as far as Beaumont), but nothing seemed to improve [CluthaLea1888Aug24P6]. Perhaps worse, the steamer needed a subsidy to operate [CluthaLea1889Mar15P4], and in 1892 was “almost constantly under repair” [OtagoDaiTim1892Apr05P3].

 

Castle Hill Mine Ascendant 

Before we get to the Castle Hill Mine, we report in passing that the New Zealand government was tracking over 140 mines across the country [AJHR1894CB3, P18]. In the South Otago region, there were 27 mines, with four Kaitangata mines and many more in the vicinity (Lovell’s Flat, Benhar, Wangaloa). Among the South Otago mines, the Kaitangata Coal mine produced more than all the rest, and its workings were among the oldest. [AJHR1894CB3, P24-25] Mine Years Mine Worked Quality of Coal (Pitch > Brown > Lignite) 1893 Coal Output (Tons) Saddle Hill (Christie’s) No. 2 19 Brown 1085 Glenochiel, Saddle Hill 12.5 Brown 1188 Walton Park, Green Island 23 Brown 15043 Fairfield, Green Island 2 Brown 285 Abbortsford, Abbortsford 12.5 Brown 6993 Chain Hills, Abbortsford 1 Brown 0 Fernhill Chain Hills 16 Brown 2554 Brighton Mine, Brighton 7 Brown 290 MColls, Brighton 5 Brown 215 Mosgiel Mine, Mosgiel 10 Brown 2719 Salisbury Mine, Taieri 3 Brown 1242 Bruce No. 2, Milton 19.5, 18.5 Brown 761 Real McKay, Milton 25.5 Brown 731 Wallsend, Lovell’s Flat 23 Lignite 630 Gibson, Lovell’s Flat 1 Pitch 0 Elliot Hill Mine, Lovell’s Flat 4 Brown 261 Paskell’s Mine, Adam’s Flat 29 Lignite 4 Adam’s Flat Mine, Adam’s Flat 11 Lignite 150 Benhar Mine, Benhar 30 Brown 2751 Rigfoot Mine, Benhar 7 Brown 669 Kaitangata Mine, Kaitangata 17, 9 Pitch 47263 Castle Hill No. 1 & 2, Kaitangata 6.5 Pitch 1365 Wangaloa (Smith’s) Mine 23 Pitch 7 Lismahagow, Wangaloa 12 Pitch 51 Crofthead Mine, Kaitangata 7 Pitch 1241 Mainholm (Lischmer’s Mine) 7.5 Lignite 1853 Matau Mine, Kaitangata No data No data No data There was another attempt at a major mine project: the Kaitangata Lake Coal Co. which offered a prospectus in 1884: “The capital is £50,000, divided in £1 shares. Among the fourteen provisional directors occur the names of Messrs J. C. Brown and John Tanton, of Lawrence. The company is promoted for the purpose of acquiring and working valuable seams of coal on Mr James Frazer’s property, Kaitangata, consisting of 14,000 acres. The coalfield is situated four miles from Stirling and seven and a-half from Lovells Flat railway-station. It is contemplated to run a railway from the mine to Lovells Flat, the estimated cost of construction being nearly £19,000. Experts have pronounced the quality of the coal as excellent, and practically unlimited in quantity.” [OtagoDailTim1884Jul16P3] [TuapekaTim1884Jul19P2]. However it seems there was insufficient interest and the project did not move forward [OtagoDaiTim1885Jun19P1] [OtagoWit1887Jun01P28].

 There was a further mine founded in 1887 by Matthew Carson [BamfordTony1982, P56] [AJHR1888C4, P15]. Situated at the north end of the Kaitangata township, this mine, the Castle Hill Coal Co. would have a major part in the story of Kaitangata coal. Like Mackie and Cormack, the Castle Hill Coal Co. did not have an agreement with the Kaitangata Railway and Coal Co., and hence used the swamp road to cart their coal to market [OtagoWit1888May04P16].

Carson continued to work the mine until 1890 when an English syndicate took the mine over [BamfordTony1982, P56]. Initially they planned to construct a railway line northwards besides Tuakitoto Lake (akin to Blair’s Route No. 2 from 1873) [CluthaLea1890Mar28P5] but ultimately elected to run their line southwards, down the main street of Kaitangata, Eddystone St, and intercept the Kaitangata Railway and Coal Co.’s branch line. That they succeeded in obtaining approval shows the centrality of coal to Kaitangata; and soon they were laying sleepers, in August 1891 [CluthaLea1891Aug21P4]. The railway extension was retained until 1963 [WikiKaiLine]. 

View of the Castle Hill Mine, c. 1910, with railway lines in the foreground [MindatKaiCast].

 As Bamford reports, the new owners spent much time prospecting to find the Kai Main seam, and expending capital on plant, buildings, and the railway extension. They wrestled with “unmanageable volumes of water” for a time and it was not until 1894 that they reached a profitable seam and production started in earnest [BamfordTony1982, P57] [AJHR1892C3B, P13] [AJHR1894C3B, P13]. It was two steps forward and one step back since soon they were wrestling with fires and roof problems, all needing major repairs that stifled production into 1897-1898 [AJHR1896C3B, P23] [AJHR1897SessIIC3B, P11] [AJHR1898C3B, P17]  [AJHR1899C3B, P12].

And then there was another amalgamation.

In mid-1898 the Kaitangata Railway and Coal Co. put its mines and railway up for sale, perhaps because the original shareholders were aging. At the same time, no doubt the Castle Hill Mine was frustrated with their workings. Certainly the directors of both companies conducted negotiations and the managing director of the Castle Hill Coal Co. travelled to England to form a syndicate to buy the Kaitangata Railway and Coal Co.  [BamfordTony1982, P59] [CluthaLea1898Aug05P5]. The new company was called the New Zealand Collieries, Railway and Oil Syndicate, but the Kaitangata Coal Co. continued to exist [AJHR1901C4, P18].

In addition to dividends which were in the neighborhood of 7.5% [BamfordTony1982, P45], the Kaitangata Railway and Coal Co. investors made a 150% profit on their shares, as an initial £10 investment yielded £25. This wasn’t the end however, since in 1899, William Aitchinson initiated legal action on non-payment of coal royalties by the old company, won the case and ultimately clawed back some of the profits [OtagoWit1899Nov16P8] [CluthaLea1900Mar30P4] [CluthaLea1901Jun07P5].

 

Further Reading

At this point we leave the story of Kaitangata and their coal mines, but the future holds more surprises. The interested reader can discover them from the many great resources available: the ever-valuable thesis by Bamford [BamfordTony1982], Sutton and Proctor’s lushly illustrated book [WorldCatHistKai] [BookstoreHistKai] [PagePhotos], intriguing references [AlexTurnKaiRailCoal1890] and enlightening images [DunLibKaiRailwayStation].

 

Epilogue

William Aitchison lived until the age of 80, and his wife Elizabeth 78. They died in 1912 and 1915 respectively, leaving behind “a grown-up family of five sons and one daughter, besides a large number of grandchildren.” [CluthaLea1905Aug18P5] [OtagoDaiTim1912Mar25P3] [CluthaLea1915Feb26P5] [NzBdm, 1912/425] [NzBdm, 1915/2303].

Alexander Love, the first coal miner on Aitchison’s land, died in 1912, aged 79, at Orepuki, Southland. He “followed the pursuit of mining with the varying fortune of many of his fellow miners”. In his personal life he and his Scottish wife celebrated their golden wedding anniversary with six children and forty grandchildren [WesternStar1904Aug26P2] [MtBengerMail1912Feb21P4] [NzBdm, 1912/3924].

Michael Muir, the second coal miner on Aitchison’s land, died 50 years after that mining stint, aged 95. He farmed the Gask farm in the district [EveningStar1920Aug18P4] [NzBdm, 1920/4444].

Robert Grigor’s name comes up often in the 1870s as secretary of Kaitangata [Railway and] Coal Co. but no more after the mine disaster of 1879. At the close of his 77 years of life, in 1918, it is his work as a surveyor, stock agent and auctioneer, returning officer and registrar of electors, Justice of the Peace, land valuer, and Mayor of Balclutha for which he is remembered. His wife predeceased him, yet together they produced four surviving daughters and a son [BruceHer1918Nov11P3] [CluthaLea1918Nov08P6] [OtagoWit1918Nov13P25] [NzBdm, 1918/14674].

Mine manager after the mine disaster, William Shore also served as Mayor of Kaitangata from 1887 until his retirement in 1898. His health was suffering and, at the mine, his brother John Shore was appointed Under-Manager to assist him. William Shore’s health did not improve and he was replaced in 1900. His wife and daughter died in 1901 and William died the next year, aged 56, leaving “a family all grown up” [EveningStar1901May07P6] [OtagoWit1902Apr02P20] [CluthaLea1902Apr04P4] [NzBdm, 1902/3992].

Sometime after 1882, A.J. Smyth transferred to Sydney and continued as a contractor there, but quickly ran into trouble, with insolvency and sequestration proceedings in 1885 [GoulburnEvePen1885Dec19P4] [NswGovGaz1885Dec24P8403]. Later he brought a suit against Dalgety in 1888 for £10,000 for breach of an agreement in relation to the Sydney sewerage works, but the suit and appeal apparently failed [EveningNews1888Sep20P6] [EveningNews1892Mar01P6]. Smyth’s death is not recorded in New Zealand nor in New South Wales.

After James Davidson’s stint as general manager of the Kaitangata Railway and Coal Co., a period which overlapped the mine disaster, he took over the Caversham Gasworks in 1885 [EveningStar1885Jun25P3], but he died at the end of 1886, aged 48 years [OtagoDaiTim1886Dec30P3] [OtagoDaiTim1887Jan26P5] [NzBdm, 1887/105].

Acknowledgement: the National Library of New Zealand [CluthaLea1897Mar12P5].