262 On Coal hetween Western Port and Cape LiiHrap. 



•with which the coal is associated woukl itself prove of 

 considerahle value in the construction of furnaces, smelting 

 works, &c. 



It may he necessary to say a few words as to the prac- 

 ticahility of using Anderson's Inlet as a place of shipment, 

 which has heen questioned hy some. It is affirmed hy a 

 whaler, who has often visited the place in his hoat, and is 

 well acquainted with the whole coast, that the inlet would he 

 accessible to coasting craft under all ordinary circumstances, 

 and that, were it not for want of shelter outside the bar, it 

 would form a better harbour than Port Albert. This 

 statement is confirmed by the map of the Surveyor sent by 

 Government to take soundings in the Inlet, from which it 

 appears that there was then an entrance-way through the 

 bar, five feet deep in the shallowest part at low water. 



Should the coal be worked either at Western Port or at 

 Anderson's Inlet, a jetty and railway might easily be con- 

 structed, by means of which the coal waggons would carry 

 direct from the mouth of the pit to the spot where the vessels 

 Avere moored and unload into them. A great saving of 

 expense would thus be efiected. If, on the other hand, any 

 workings should be undertaken at Cape Patterson, a road or 

 railway must be constructed for at least twelve or fourteen 

 miles along the coast ; and carriage for this distance must 

 in that case be charged upon every ton of coal consumed at 

 Melbourne. 



The coal measures extend inland to an unknown distance, 

 but the advantages of working them on the coast are too 

 obvious to need remark. 



This is not the place to enter into detailed calculations of 

 the profits which might be expected by a coal-working 

 company ; but that they would be ample can scarcely be 

 doubted when coal, after being carried eight hundred miles, 

 is selling at the Wharf at Melbourne for thirty shillings a 



