APPENDIX. 49 



ISTo reference being made to the new ground, I am inclined to 

 tbink that its productions are either inferior in quality or that no 

 lignite exists therein. 



The following is an account of the strata proved in the cutting 

 and drive opened out : — 



ft. in. 



Surface soil 1 



White clay and grit '. 2 6 



Black clay, witli imperfectly carbonized pieces of 



wood 1 G 



Lignite or brown coal 3 4 



Brown coal ( conchoidal fracture) 1 7 



Brown bituminous shale 2^ 



Brown shale 2 10 



Yellow clay, with fossil resin 1 10 



Brown coal or lignite 4 4 



Brown clay , 1 



Yellowish- white plastic clay 6 



Grreenish sandstone. 

 The lignite in the drive is of a very fair quality, but is at the 

 present time of no commercial value in such a position, as it could 

 not compete with firewood for house- fire purposes in any of your 

 large cities, and is not suitable for locomotive engines. 



BAREABOOL HILLS, OEELONG, ANT) BELLEMNE. 



The lithological character of the Barrabool Hills sandstone is 

 the same as that which lies over the 17-inches to 2-feet coal in 

 the Western Port district. 



I inspected the 1,200 feet shaft and borehole made by Mrs. 

 Thomas and others at Barrabool Hills, in which 6 inches of coal 

 were said to be found. I also carefully looked over the accounts 

 of the strata sunk and bored through in numerous places in the 

 Bellerine district, where a vertical thickness of over 4,000 feet of 

 strata has been tested, and no workable seam discovered. 



I am of opinion that the above-mentioned shafts and boreholes 

 have proved that there are no payable coal seams at a workable 

 depth in either of these districts, or in the intervening country 

 at Drysdale, Geelong, &c. 



WORMBETE, KEAR WINCHELSEA. 



I was accompanied, in my examination of the coal worked here, 

 by Messrs. Stirling, Krause, and Moran. 



At a height of about 750 feet above the level of the sea, near 

 the head of Wormbete Creek, a 3^-inch to 4-inch layer of coal is 

 to be seen in several places. 



D 



