86 
This seam has now been traced by means of bores in an East-South-East 
direction for a distance of about two miles, generally proving to be from 10 to 12 
feet in thickness, but it will probably be found to be of greater size further into 
the basin. 
Prospects in Depth. 
The seams already discovered are sufficiently good to encourage further pros¬ 
pecting, and as coal seams very rarely occur singly, it is highly probable that 
many more will be met with in depth, some of which may be much better in 
quality. 
Quality. 
This coal, as will be seen from the following assays, is of a very good quality, 
but it is non-caking. 
It is clean to handle, solid, and will travel well without forming much dust 
and smalls; it has a very high heating power when burnt in a sharp draught, but 
will burn slowly until all is consumed, leaving a bulky ash if the draught is cut 
off. It forms no clinkers or slag, gives off little smoke, and the percentage of ash 
is small; so that it should be a very suitable coal for furnace purposes. 
C Water... 
A SSAY, 
... 1520 
10-87 
11*70 
12*75 
Volatile 
^ Gases, etc. 
... 32*46 
31-47 
21*83 
37*04 
( Sulphur 
... 2*23 
2*23 
2*99 
0*71 
Coke 
( Fixed Carbon 
... 45*08 
52*87 
54*17 
46*70 
(Ash ... 
.. 5*08 
2-56 
9-31 
2*80 
No. 1 being from the first sample obtained, which was from the bed of the river 
itself; No. 2 from a depth of 17 feet, close by No. 4, from an intermediate depth, 
the same being three feet thick ; No. 8 from a shaft five miles further East. 
Nos. 1, 2, and 3 were made by Mr. Bernard H. Woodward, F.G.S., Govern¬ 
ment Assay er, and No. 4 by Mr. Richard Smith, Instructor in Assaying, R.S.M.S., 
Kensington, London. 
Geological Age. 
Professor Etheridge reports as follows on two sanqdes : — 
No. 1.—This I believe to be a good and true palaeozoic coal; it is bright, 
dense, evenly-bedded, and bituminous. This sample is equal to the better class of 
coals of South Wales and the North of England. Portions of Glossopteris, or 
Noeggerathia , occur in this coal. This is interesting, as both these genera are 
abundantly represented and very characteristic of the coal of Newcastle, New 
South Wales; so that we are probably dealing with a coal from the same horizon 
(geologically) and marked by the..same flora. 
“ The highly carbonized condition of this sample, I doubt not, characterises the 
.general condition of the seam from which it was taken. It burns slowly, but with 
considerable heat, leaving little ash. 
“No woody or ligneous structure could be detected, and there is no resem¬ 
blance to any coal of that type. No spores could be detected under the 
microscope. 
“No. 2. — This sample closely resembles No. 1, but it is hardly so strong or 
firm a coal, though, apparently, as highly carbonised. The difference is, however, 
so small that I should have been inclined to believe that both samples came from 
part of the same seam, merely exhibiting those minor differences of density and 
quality only ascertained under combustion. Both these samples consume slowly, 
with but little smoke. They are both sound coals, and doubtless of pakeozoic 
