New South Wales. 
43 
<< We confine ourselves to the statement that we have not before 
us a particle of evidence indicating that the Coal-seams now being 
worked in New South Wales are of Palaeozoic age* 5 ’ A great com¬ 
pliment this to persons who have laboured for years to establish 
truth ; but they may console themselves with the reflection, that 
“ Prdjuger esp malfuger Amidst this lamentable ingenuity to 
“ tell the truth without telling the whole truth and nothing but 
the truth,” and in the arraying of evidence from beyond Austra¬ 
lia instead of collecting the whole evidence furnished from itself, 
there is one grateful exception which, though not entirely satis¬ 
factory, is much more so than some previous proceedings were. 
It would have been better to have acknowledged that old 
opinions had been re-called. 
In the notes on Mr. Keene’s specimens, Professor At 4 Coy, 
though lie draws a line where it ought not to be, has changed his 
method of putting his old opinions about the Coal itself, inasmuch 
as he no longer makes use of the notion which he once enter¬ 
tained and put in evidence before a Committee of the Melbourne 
Parliament. I must explain this : On the 20th November, 1S57, 
he was examined (as the Chairman of a Mining Commission) on 
the Character and Extent of Coal iu Victoria, and he asserted over 
and over again that no Palaeozoic coal existed in Australia. The 
followiug answers speak to that point:— 
“722. (Answer). The members of the Mining Commission have an impres¬ 
sion that, as the Coal deposits to be expected ^here [Cape Paterson] geologi¬ 
cally arc not the same as those of the great Coal-fields of England, but are of 
similar character with the Coal-deposits of New South Wales and Tasmania, 
therefore it is unlikely that they will be of commercial valve ; and as scientific 
men they would not on their own responsibility, recommend the expenditure 
of public money there. 
727. (Q,-) Considering that the information [? formation] of the Capo 
Paterson Coal-fields is similar t o those of New South Wales and Tasmania, 
you arc of opinion that as an economic question, you would advise no further 
prosecution of any surveys in that locality ? (A.) That is my opinion. 
744. (Q,.) Von would not advise the prosecution of any further inquiries 
for tlio discovery of Coal? (A.) No recommendation to that effect would 
emanato from myself or the Commission. 
747. Such Coal-fields [i.e,, those of Palieozoic age] ,do not exist in th is count ry 
\i.e. in Australia]. That is a point which I wish clearly to show, and X think it 
is one which lias never been clearly shown to this Committee before. 
758. I know you are not to expect the old Palaeozoic Coal-fields in this part 
of the world. . 
759. (Q ) Do you contend that, iho Mesozoic Coal-fields arc not suitable tor 
the different puiposes of commerce ? (A.) They are not so suitable as the 
lhilseozoic, they are not so extensive, the beds are not so thick or workable, 
nor is the quality so good over any workable area. 
767. (Q.) If a Coal-field at Cape l’aterson was discovered equally good with 
the Sydney Coal-fields, would you consider it worth working ? (A.) My in¬ 
dividual opinion is that it would not be worth working. 
771. [Of Capo Paterson] (A.) Of course the Members of the Mining Com¬ 
mission do not wish to attach any scientific weight to their evidence in a 
commercial point of view, they merely choose to say, that as men of science , 
