The Sun.
London, England, 1853-02-21 00:00:00

called into requisition, the most barren and in-
hospitable districts will, in all probability, disclose
subterranean treasures which will effect the most
extraordinary revolutions in the social status and
future advancement and prosperity of the colony.
Upon this point we do not speak without past
experience, and in the complete absorption of the
manual labour of these colonies from all the
other departments of industry, by the astounding
discoveries of the gold fields, the public of this
country have probably forgotten the enormous
returns which were obtained a few years since
from the Burra-Burrs copper mines in South Aus-
tralia, the extraordinary results of which were
then considered as among the marvels of mining
speculations. These mines were started in 1845,
with a capital of 12,0001. subscribed by a few mer-
chants and traders of Adelaide. In five years the
company had with these slender means raised up-
wards of 56,000 tons of valuable copper ore, the
value of which was 738,0001.! Nearly all the ore
hitherto raised ha been sent to this country for the
purpose of smelting at a very considerable expense,
but the vast coal fields which are now being worked
will enable the Australians to smelt their own cop-
per, while the general importance of ,bringing into
active operation these coal resources to both the
colonies and the mother country cannot be too
highly estimated. It appears that there is no na-
tural deficiency of. this valuable mineral ; for on '
the eastern coast of Australia, about 70 or 80 miles '
to the north of Sydney, the capital of New South '
Wales, and conveniently situate within a short dis-
tance of the coast, coal fields, with seams of the-best
quality, have been discovere.cl, and the appropriate
name of Newcastle has been-gtten to thrdistrict.
COALS.—These coal-fields have been' hitherto
worked upon a very limited scale, and without the

appliances of improved machinery and modern
mining science ; they have been in the hands of
private individuals without adequate means, the
only association that has hitherto worked them to
any extent being the Australian Agricultural Com-
pany, to which we alluded last week, although,
from the want of labour and means of transport,
the revenues of this company have been by no
means so large as their coal vend might otherwise
have led them to anticipate. The chief seat of the
coal deposits in New South Wales are the counties
of Durham and Northumberland, to the north of
Sydney. Through these two districts, and, form-
ing the line of separation, runs the Hunter river,
terminating at the port of Newcastle. The valley
of the Hunter is, independently of its coal fields,
extremely rich and fertile, and it is in this district
that a new company, the Australasian Coal Mining
Company, which has just been established in this
country, has undertaken to commence its opera-
tions. They have already obtained upon favour-
able terms the lease of the Four Mile Creek Col-

liery, situated near Morpeth, a rising town en the
Hunter river, about twenty miles from the sea.
This colliery is already well known for the superior
coal it produces. It has the peculiar advantage of
being worked upon the level, the coal actually crop-
ping out to the surface, which insures its freedom
from water, one of the most troublesome visitors
and most serious sources of expense in a coal mine.
Besides the seam of steam coal there is, in the Four
Mile Creek Colliery, a lower seam of coal of a de-
scription well adapted for smelting purposes, and
this is the fuel of which the copper companies of
South Australia will doubtless largely avail them-
selves, while it will also be extensively employed in
smelting the rich masses of iron stone which in many
of the coal fields are found in close proximity, as we
find them in Staffordshire and South Wales at
home. In addition to this•colliery the directors of
the Australasian Coal Mining Company have se-
ciiked a lease of a valuable block of 320 acres, close
toNhe)own. of Hexham, a little lower down, and
also//situate on the Hunter river, about 15 miles
from the port of Newcastle. This last district has j

:a ten feet seam of valuable coal, arid as it' is pro-
posed to work the mines at a royalty of 9d. per ton,
and as the mines can be surrendered at any time
CiDgiving a twelvemonths' notice .the liabilities are
comparatively trifling, and the \d'utlay of capital
'merely what is Kequired for the requisite machinery
and the laying down a tramwayto,convey the coal,
a :distance of fifteen miles, to the port of Newcastle.
By the terms of the royalty agreement the company
are required to raise 10,000 tons of coal per annum,
or to pay for so much ; but it is evident that when
tliv•mines are once fairly iti-ivorldrig. Order the
quantity raised will far exceed this amount. The
valley of the Hunter, through which the proposed
line, of railway will run, is almost level—there are
no engineering difficulties ; and, independently of
their own coal and passenger traffic, the company
anticipate that they will derive a very handsome
revenue from the conveyance of the coals from the
other collieries higher up the river, as well as from
the conveyance of goods, many rising towns being

already bu'ilt upon:the I;anks of the Taunter, among

which are Maitland, Darlington, Dulwich, Leming:
ton, itc.

LABOITR.—In the present position of the colony
it may naturally be expected that the difficulty of

procuiing.j anything like a sufficient supply- of
manual labour, upon reasonable terms, would form

one of the chief obstacles to the efficient working
of these mines, the superior attractions of the gold
fields having already drawn off the greater portion
of the miners employed in the Newcastle coal dis-
tricts. To facilitate their operations and get rid
of this serious difficulty, arrangements have been
made with an eminent house for a regular supply of
Chinese labourers, who will be indentured for a
specified period, and at a fixed rate of wages. It
is well-known that the wages in China are merely
nominal, and that large numbers of the natives of
that country have already emigrated to California,
and that they are extensively employed in the Aus-
tralian colonies. Experience has shown them to
be as efficient labourers as the Europeans, and they

are, generally speaking, steady and industrious, while
the remuneration which, in our colonies would be

looked on as low, are deemed bythem unusually large.
It may also be anticipated that, when the novelty and
excitement of gold digging have worn off, those,
and they are by far the greater number, who have
had a great deal of hard work without any adequate
return, will be glad to go back to the comforts of
civilised life, to continuous, but not oppressive and
exhausting, labour and regular wages. It will
scarce be believed that though coals may be raised
and delivered at a fair profit at the colleries of 12s.
to 13s. per ton, such are at present the difficulties
in the way of providing means of transport, either
by land or water, that at a 'distance of barely 100
miles from the pit's mouth, in the town of Sydney,
they are selling at 3/. 10s. per ton. When these
obstacles are removed, and a regular supply can be
obtained at a fair price, the consumption through-
out the colonies will, as a matter of course, be
largely increased. The production of coal is inti-
mately connected with the most necessary wants of
civilised life, and must largely increase every year
in a country which is making such wonderful pro-
gress.
IRON.—With the supply of coal will keep pace
the development and working of the rich copper
and iron mines of the colony, while the proposed
extension of steam communication to its shores will
add largely to the demand that already exists. But
great as the home consumption must necessarily be,
other and most important markets are at this mo-
ment open for Australian coal. Our steamers trad-
ing with India, China, and the western shores of
America have been hitherto supplied with their
fuel chiefly from England, and the great additional
expense they entailed, and the loss and incon-
venience from delays, when the coal depots, as
sometimes happens, are exhausted, are well known
to all engaged in the shipping trade of this country.
Now it has been ascertained that tra the vessels ding
from Australia to India, China, and the Pacific
usually proceed to their destinations in ballast, and
the freights are in consequence almost nominal. Coal
shipments may, therefore, be effected at very mode-
rate rates to these countries, and nearly all that
can be raised for some time to come might be ab-
sorbed in these quarters alone. We need scarce
remind our traders of the great ineonvenience felt
at Melbourne, Geelong, and other towns in
Southern Australia, to which the tide of immigra-
tion has recently set in with so full a current, from
the want of fuel. A load of wood will sometimes
fetch three or four pounds ; and one settler, writing
home, states that, having offered 20s. for It truck
full of wood, the man turned round upon him
with great indignation, asking, did he suppose he
had stolen it ?
FUTURE PROSPECTS.—AIthough it is known that
coal exists in abundance upon the Eastern coast,
and within a week or ten days' sail of Melbourne,
such is the difficulty, under present circumstances,
of obtaining a supply, that orders have been ac-
tually received in this country to send out coals on
freight to Australia ! With an illimitably supply
of the finest wool in the world, with a climate
suited to the growth of cotton, which has been al-
ready cultivated in some districts of South Austra-
lia, with an abundant supply of iron and copper
ores of the richest quality, it only requires the full
development of the vast coal fields of Australia to
set in motion that spirit of manufacturing and pro-
ductive industry which is so striking a character's-