lietnarJcs on the Coals and Lignites of Victoria. 149 
The outcrops of t ho above-described coal seams occur dis- 
tributed throughout an area which is, as before stated, nearly 
equal to that of Northumberland, and is wholly occupied by rocks, 
whose geological position, though more recent than that of the 
true carboniferous rocks of England and New South Wales, is 
well within the range of coal-bearing rocks generally. As com- 
pared with those of the great coal-fields of the world, the coal 
seams are small, with the exception of the Mirboo seam, the thick- 
ness of which is regarded as about the most convenient known 
for economical working. 
The measures generally are much faulted, and are subject to 
many variations of direction and rate of dip. Nevertheless the 
explorations already made show that the known seams are not 
mere patches, but extend over areas amounting in some cases to 
several square miles, with every indication of still wider exten- 
sion. Some of these coal seams arc of a thicknoss which, in 
other coal-producing countries, even in Great Britain, is drained 
a workable size, provided the quality be good and the working 
conditions favorable. The thickness here assumed as the work- 
able minimum under most favorable circumstances is 16 inches of 
marketable coal in oue seam ; a standard far below the available 
thickness of coal contained in most of our seams. 
Of our known coal seams, the quality, almost without exception, 
has been proved by analysis and experiment to bo excellent ; it is 
more splintery and suffers more loss in carriage than the New 
South Wales coal ; but is, as a rule, superior to the latter for 
steam, forge, and household purposes. 
There are evidences to show the likelihood that our known seams, 
even if they be but patches, are nevertheless patches of extent 
considerable ouough to admit of their being profitably wrought ; 
and, in addition, there is no reason for supposing that the known 
outcrops, due as they are to removal, by denudation, of overlying 
strata, have all been laid bare at the best part of the seams they 
belong to. Lastly, there are, in the Victorian carbonaceous series, 
layers which do not appear at all, or whose extreme edges only 
are to be seen at the surface. 
Among these, there exists the possibility, as pointed out long 
ago by Mr. A. R. C. Solwyn, of finding coal seams larger, and 
moro valuable than any of those known. 
On the Kilcunda seam, which only averages barely 24 inches, 
and where there is waste and difficulty in “holing,” owing to the 
hardness of the floor, good miners could, when the mine was being 
worked, make fair wages at 7s. per ton for screened coal, finding 
their own powder, fuse, and candles, doing their own filling 
and timbering, and making their own roads from the main 
heading. 
