Goal Seam near Stony Greek 31 



The depth of Pit A is 208 ft., and of Pit B 190 ft. 7 in. : the 

 whole section, including the lowest boring, being 289 ft. 



The coal is partly cannel, partly splint, and soft coal. 

 They appear to be about equal in gas ; the cannel burns to 

 a white ash, the others to a brown ash. The specific gravity of 

 the large seam I make 1*281. The coal in the corresponding 

 seam on the N.W. side of the anticlinal is nearly the same. 

 The coal is worked on the dip for about 30 yards, and it is 

 sold at the pit's mouth at eleven shillings per ton. 



The extension of these seams to any great depth is limited 

 in all probability by a band of porphyritic trap, that ranges 

 from Maitland in a southern direction. But with the dip of 

 16°, if persistent, it ought to be struck at a depth of 500 

 fathoms below West Maitland. Probably, however, it does 

 not attain such an extension, if the supporting porphyry 

 base has a gentle acclivity. The deepest coal reached in the 

 Newcastle basin, is, at present, under 500 ft. below the sea 

 level. In reference to some of the peculiarities relating to 

 these coal fields, I may refer to the evidence I gave before 

 the Legislative Council of New South Wales in the year 

 1817, a copy of which I forward with this memoir.* 



Mr. Keene, Inspector of Coal Fields, has been very dili- 

 gent in his observations, and probably possesses details of 

 some minuteness respecting the locality in question. I 

 doubt not he will confirm all the main features reported 

 by me. 



As to the depth of the Newcastle field, had a recommen- 

 dation made by me to the Government in 1856 been attended 

 to, the bottom of that basin would probably have been 

 ascertained ; as it is, we only know that the beds are very 

 irregular, thinning and thickening out, and that there are, 

 perhaps, seams yet deeper. than "any yet reached. 



* Report on Coal Inquiry, lQth September, 1847, pp. 6, 7. I wish to remark 

 that I now refer to this evidence only in connection with the stratigraphical 

 and not with the palceontological facts. 



