COALFIELDS AND COLLIERIES OF AUSTRALIA. 



Lave an inferior' supply find it advisable to develop their re 

 sources in case they should be threatened by a coal famine, 

 owing to a shortage or stoppage of supply from elsewhere, due 

 to war, strikes, or other causes, for such an event would para- 

 lyse trade, by affecting freights by rail and steamships, besides 

 causing various factories and other industries to close down. 

 An inferior coal may be able to hold its own for certain purposes 

 on the home market, though unsuitable for export, for outside 

 coal is handicapped by freight ; the inferior material may also 

 be used for making producer gas, which gives greater efficiency 

 than when employed for steam raising. Without a home 

 supply a country may be .affected by events in another place, 

 where it otherwise has neither interest nor influence. 



Fig. 1. Glossopteris Fig. 2. Gangainopteris 

 browniana. spathulata. 



The coal of New South Wales is a long way ahead of that 

 produced in the other Australian States, both in quantity 

 and quality; in fact, it is the quality that enables it to compete 

 with coal from other States for their home consumption. New 

 South Wales has a further advantage over other parts of Aus- 

 tralia, inasmuch as coal is found for a distance of about 200 

 miles along her seaboard. 



An idea of the relative quantities produced in the different 

 Australian States will be obtained by comparing their outputs 

 for 1909: 



Tons. 



New South Wales 7,019,87?) 



Queensland 696,332 



Western Australia 214,302 



Victoria 128,173 



Tasmania 66,162 



