APPENDIX. 47 



and Mr. Duncan Campbell. At tlie time of my inspection, and 

 previous to it, there was heavy rain, which made my examination 

 rather difficult. 



I looked at the place where the coal had been found, and on 

 proceeding a short distance higher up the creek I saw the same 

 strata and coal exposed in a natural section above the bed of the 

 creek. 



There was one layer of coal 2 in. in thickness, and another 10 in. 

 of shale and coal. 



This appears to be the north-easterly edge of the western 

 Port and Cape Patterson coal basin, and the shales here contain 

 similar fossil flora. 



Thick beds of conglomerates, sandstones, and shales, with no 

 workable coal seams in them, are to be seen rising from under 

 this coal as you ascend the creek, and they rest on Silurian rocks. 

 Therefore, no workable coal seams will be found by boring or 

 sinking below the bed of the creek where the shaft was sunk. 

 I^i ; AVhether the 300 ft. or 400 ft. of sandstones and shales, &c., in 

 the ranges over where the shaft was sunk contain any workable 

 coal, it is impossible to say for certain without provings being 

 made. 



But I think that, if they did contain any thick or workable 

 seams of coal, we should have seen some pieces or trace of it in 

 walking round the ranges. We discovered none. 



CEOSSOTEK (O OK PLAn). 



Havdng given my knee-joint a very severe wrench through a 

 buggy accident, whilst proceeding on my journey here, I was 

 unable to examine all the different outcrops of lignite and brown 

 coal in this locality, as it was impossible to go to two of them 

 without walking several miles through a scrubby country, which 

 I was then unable to do. 



I therefore left instructions for specimens and sections to be 

 procured me from the two places I was unable to visit, and 

 ■ engaged two men to further test the nature of the brown coal in 

 the drive I inspected. 



After receiving the specimens and measurements, I hope to be 

 able to form an opinion as to the value of these deposits. 



To summarize the remarks made in the foregoing Eeport, I may 

 briefly state that, having given the whole subject my very best 

 consideration, I have arrived at the following conclusions : — 



1. That it is useless to expend any further sums of money iu 

 searching for payable seams of coal in The Bass, G-riflith's Point, 

 Western Port, Cape Patterson, Strzelecki, or Stockyard Creek 

 districts. 



