The Sun.
London, England, 1847-06-01 00:00:00

DEVIATION EINE).

This Bill was to authorise a short deviation between
Godalming and Dorking.
Mr. Cubitt, the engineer, was examined, and afterwards,
at the request of one of the Committee, the case was post-
poned to see if any arrangement could not be come to with
the Guildford, Reading, and Reigate Company, London and
Portsmouth Direct, and London and Brighton and South
Coast Amalgamation.
The Committee were occupied the remainder of the day
with this ease.
The Committee adjourned at four o'clock.

GROUP VI.
WILTS, SOMERSET, AND WETTSOITTU
AMENDMENT (NO. XL)
(Continued from our Afternoon Edition of yesterday.)
Mr. Micholett.s, solicitor, residing at South Beverton,
Somersetshire ; A. Acland, Esq., sen of Sir T.D. Acland, Bart.,
residing at Dorchester ;W. Stevens, Esq., merchant, of e
Brid-
port ; and Mr. Moore, Mayor of Exeter, gave evidencin
favour of the Great Western echemes.
The Committee adjourned till twelve to-morrow.

GROUP X.XXIV•
The Committee met at twelve this day ; Mr. F. Baring,

chairman.
The Committee decided that the preambles of the following
Bills referred to them were proved :
Blanchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway (Ashton
Canal Purchase).
London and North-Western Railway (Lease and Purchase
of the Huddersfield and Manchester Railway, Canal, &c.)
Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway (Station
Approach in Manchester).
The preamble of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincoln-
shire Railway (Purchase of the Branch from Ashton-
under-Lyme to Oldham) was not proved.
OLDILAM JILLZANCE,
The report of the Commissioners upon this Bill had not
yet been received.
The Committee was occupied the remainder of the day in
going through the clauses of the Bill.

GROUP =V.
The Committee met at eleven, and, after hearing Mr.
Wrangham on the
EAST LANCASHIRE EXTENSIONS, &c.,
decided (without calling witnesses), that as lines of railway
were already in existence in the district to be supplied, that
further accommodation was unnecessary.
The Committee then adjourned.

GROUP XXXVI.
MANCHESTER AND STOURPORT
(BRANCHES, di.c.)
This Committee was engaged all the day in hearing evi.
dence on behalf of this scheme.

GROUP XXXIX.
This Committee re-assembled this morning after the holi-
days in Room 23.
LEEDS AND TSIRSS. (LEEDS, DUTLEAVI,
AND NEWCASTLE EXTENSION).
The Committee were occupied the whole of the day with
local and general evidence in favour of this Bill.
The Committee adjourned at the usual hour.

UNOPPOSED BILLS COMMITTEE.
(Before Mr. GREENE, Chairman of Committees.)
The following Bills, being unopposed, received the sanction
of the Committee;—
St. Ives (Huntingdon Improvement).
Bingley Improvement.
Manchester and Lincoln Union Railway (Deviation).
Buckingham and Brackley Junction Railway, and Oxford
and Bletchley Junction Railway Company's Amegama-
tion and Extension of Lines.
Birkenhead, Lancashire, and Cheshire Junction Railway, and
Chester and Birkenhead Railway (Purchase or Amalga-
mation).
Birkenhead, Lancashire, and Cheshire Junction Railway
(Deviation of Main Line and Cheshire Branch, &c.)
Midland Railway (Leicester and Swannington Radway
Widening, Deviation and Branches, Enlargement of Le 'wes-
ter Station, and extending powers as to Ibetock Branch).
Portadown and Dungannon Railway.
Manchester and Leeds Railway (Branch from the Huctiiers-
field and Sheffield Junction Railway to Barnsley, and Ex-
tension to Holmfirth Branch).
Aberdeen and Great North of Scotland Railways (Amalga-
mation or Leasing).
East of Fife Railway (Markinch Deviation).

DISCOVERY OF COALS IN
WESTERN AUSTRALIA.
We have great pleasure in laying the following in-
teresting narrative before our readers. By our friea'ds
in the neighbourhood of Southwell, Farnsfield, Olterton,
and Mansfield, it will, we feel assured, be read with deep
interest and delight, when we inform them that the
Messrs. Gregory, who by their enterprising researches,
have been the fortunate discoverers of this great colonial
blessing, are the sons of the late Joshua Gregory, Esq.,
formerly of Southwell, and nephews of W. J. Gregory,
Esq., of 011erton, and Mrs. Shipman, Mansfield. Th e
farticulars of the expedition are obtained by us partly
rom private correspondence and partly through th e
medium of the Perth (Western Australian) Gazette, and:
may be embodied as follows:
With a desire to penetrate into and make further dis-
coveries relative to the terra incognito of the vast tract
of country known as Western Australia, these scientific.
and enterprising young men, consisting of Messrs. ,
Augustus, Francis, and Henry Gregory, voluntarily
undertook an expedition into the interior, trusting to,
find, if not coal, at least some extent of good country;
which might be made available for the increasing flocke
and herds of the settlement ; Government having for
this purpose granted them the use of the four survey
horses, they obtained some meal for the animals and a
present of flour from Advocate• General G. Moore, and
took their departure from Perth on the 4th of AuguElft
last, hoping that by having undertaken their journey
during the winter months they should suffer less from
want of water than during any other season.
After travelling for eleven days, during which them
they repeatedly encountered groups of the natives, w:l2c
appeared far more disposed to decamp than parley, they
came in sight (on the 15th of August) of a range of
lofty hills, distant about forty miles. From the singu)s.e
appearance of these hills, which rose abrutly from the
plain, with deeply serrated sides and a peculiar tint, it
was evident that they belonged to a different geologic al
formation to any the party had yet seen ; steering for
these hills they passed over a beautiful grassy hill of
trap rocks, the soil a dark brown loam; from the top
they observed an extensive lake, filling up nearly -the
whole of the valley for many miles to the north :and
north-east. Descending from this hill they pushed on
for the lake, and reached its margin at one o'clock 2
of the 16th; it, however, proved nearly dry, and cove] •ed
with a thick crust of salt; the banks were very ate eP,
nearly thirty feet high, and formed almost entirety of
gypsum. They halted for the night in a thick sc rub
without water.
On the 17th, having discovered some granite -.rocks
with water in them, they refreshed themselves and their
tired and hungry horses, and resumed their joutriaey;
having arrived at the summit of the highest peak, wl itch
they named "Mount Jackson," they left their Ina rses
and ascended through thick bushes, with whit h the
sides were closely covered, and after half an ;hour's
toil, they reached the summit—a mass of varie g ated
trap rock, singularly stratified in thin layers of re,. and
black; from this point the view was most extensive
and delightful. Four similar ranges to the one :clic),
were now upon, presented themselves, bearing- re-
spectively east, south-south-east, north, and not th-
east, and being distant from about thirty to fifty
miles. The whole of the intermediate space was nes rly
one dead level plain of brown or glaring red sandy los cm,
in many parts nearly bare, the rest covered with th ick
scrubs or open forest ; a few native fires were
but none to the east of the line they were upon. Hay ing
descended Mount Jackson, the party returned to tl ieir
horses, and went in pursuit of water, after searchi ;• in
vain for nearly two days, they were reluctantly ct )m-
-polled to return in disappointment and exhaustiot 1 to
their last watering place, where their thirsty hors as at
once drank up nearly all the water that remained, tints
obliging the party to fall back upon the only water with
which they were acquainted, being not less the to 30
miles in the rear.
From this time to the 24th the country, althou; '1 of
an indifferent quality, was not devoid of the pictures q ue;
the lakes in the valley to the right formed a plea sing
contrast to the white cliffs which surrounded the in,
broken as they were into detached masses by the ri ch
foliage of the wild cypress. As they mounted each suc-
cessive ridge, a tall, majestic cliff, in the distance, witic .h
they named " Mount Singleton," was ever and atic .n
seen rearing its dark blue summit against the clear eik:
and forming a beacon by which the now weary and tin d
travellers were to keep their course.
Early in the morning of the 25th, they started fulg• of
hope, expecting to reach Mount Singleton, dista nc T
about twenty miles, before night; after travelling ei,4l tt
miles the ground became open, and on emerging fr ox
a forest of white gum trees they discovered a lake there e
miles in width, which lay between themselves and th
rasofl on hlanas which skirt Mount Singleton. Although th e
the margin was extremely soft they entered th e
lake, which was nearly dry ; with much labour ti !e
horses got o
within three over the first two-and-a-half miles ;w, n
upper crust,lconsiiellnyards of the opposite shore, 1113 e
~.gof three or four inches of sal it
and gypsum, gave
brine', the horses sinking to th. r
bellies in mud and after several attempts to extri -
exhaustedeste them had proved uannadvsatilruing,rthe horses being ql2it e
proceeded to
two hours, a a a
by plunging
last resource the travellers
-tdr,,t.o the oppo sit .e
toge(le;awith
bank and made two hurdles
trees, twe 11 -e
feet long, lashing them
these, although so heavy that two could scarcrel ropes
;
them across the mud, the party succeeded in scarcely
alternately in front of the horses ; the poor animal
appeared to know the use of . them, and immediatct •
' they "It
walked from one to the other with the utmost cauti
In this manner, after toil,fiavrerilviionugrsonfirmgrousuncdc
jeuedstedast
retracing their steps, •
grew dark. This was the first day they
y mounted tiseii.
horses, having walked at least 30 miles.
On the 2d September they
fell in with• a party of f,a
natives, who were evidently taken
by
surprise;
! e
41
dressed them in the dialect of the Yorks
' they ad -
district, try in,
to make them understand that they were friends; 1 t
after staring for about a minute without speaking th ):
walked off a short distance in a crouching attitude, a 11 d
-then took to their heels at full speed. They were flak(
save their noolban or belt.
On the 9th the party discovered a considerable xis et.,
sand traced it for some miles, but as it tended too much to
the southward they left it, turning to the west ; in
a few miles, however, they again struck upon . it,
math enlarged. On the 10th they continued the cou ra e
of the river, which, making a sudden turn, entered as
extensive valley two or three miles wide. Here the
pasture, consisting of rye glass and wild oats, N 1 fps