72 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
COLONIAL GEOLOGY. 
AGE OF NEW SOUTH WALES COAL-BEDS. 
By Mr. Daixteee. 
The 'Yeoman, and Australian Acclimatizer,' publishes an article on th( 
" Age of the New South Wales Coal-beds," by Mr. Daintree, one of thi 
gentlemen connected with the Geological Survey Department of this co 
lony, from notes collected " during a three months trip from Melbourm 
to the L^pper Burdekin, Queensland." One of the most important fact 
mentioned in these notes refers to the dispute which has been long pend 
ing between the Eer. Mr. Clarke, of New South Wales, and Professo 
M'Coy, as to tlie age of the New South "Wales coal-fields. It must b( 
satisfactor}^ to Mr. Clarke to find that a gentleman of Mr. Daintree's ex 
perience and undoubted qualifications has done something towards turn 
ing the dispute in his favour. 
The history of this dispute, says our contemporary, deserves attention 
The Eev. W. B. Clarke, of New South Wales, has long been distinguishec ' 
as one of the best practical geologists in this hemisphere. In numeroiu 
instances he pointed out where gold deposits would be found long prior 
their actual discovery. He had also examined and reported upon th 
coal-strata of the sister-colony, and from a careful observation of t' 
strata in position, and by the character of the focsil remains, he had a 
rived at the conclusion that some of the coal-beds of New South Wal 
are of the same age as the Lower Carboniferous series of Europe, 
fessor M'Coy, however, before he left England, had adopted a notion tb 
the New South Wales coal is Oolitic, but that the marine fossils in t' 
same neighbourhood, often found in contact with the coal-beds, are Low 
Carboniferous. With a pertinacit}^ almost amounting to stubbornne 
Professor M'Coy has adhered to the notion he had formed. After th 
Professor removed to the southern hemisphere, he did not think it wor'" 
while to visit the coal-beds in dispute, but continued to controvert, ofte 
with unseemly and even reprehensible bitterness, the opinions of M 
Clarke, who took an early opportunity of asking European geologists 
suspend their judgment in the matter for a time, as he felt perfect 
convinced of victory in the end. Mr. Clarke's argument was, that t' 
coal could not be Oolitic and the marine fossils Lower Carboniferous, f 
in one locality examined— namely, Eusscll's pits. Stony Creek, Maitla 
(and at other places) — the coal-seams, with the plants in dispute, lie a Ion 
way beloio the marine beds. Some years ago Mr. Clarke sent a section 
the coal-strata to the Eoyal Society of Victoria. Professor M'Coy a~ 
Mr. Sclwyn rejected it, on the pretence that there was a " fault" in t 
strata ; and in the opening address of the president of the society (S 
Henry Barkly) in 1881, judgment was given against the opinions of M 
Clarke. Throughout the dispute, that gentleman has been often unfair" 
dealt with, and harder things have been said than have appeared in prin 
In vol. V. p. 107, of the Transactions of the Eoyal Society of Victoria, the 
is a passage in a paper by Professor M'Coy, pretending that Mr. Clarke to' 
him and Mr. Selwyn that the specimen produced by Mr. Clarke in pr- 
of' his opinion was one of plants belonging to beds from which it ha 
fallen, or might have fallen, from the top to the bottom of the shaft. M 
Clarke replied to this statement, but it was afterwards repeated {vide 
217, vol. V. of the Eoyal Society's Transactions), as if Mr. Clarke, w 
