INTRODUCTORY.-Recent events in Victoria have directed attention to the enormous beds of tertiary coal in the Gippsland district and to the possibility of turning this commodity to practical advantage for economic purposes as a source of fuel supply. It is hardly necessary to re-affirm that coal is an important factor in promoting industrial activity, and in a colony so largely industrial as Victoria, the question of a local supply of fuel is one of considerable importance. It does seem anomalous, that close upon a million of money should be spent annually for fuel from outside sources, while there is a possibility of retaining that large sum within the colony by the utilization of local supplies. To mining engineers and mining managers, the subject of fuel is of considerable importance.I have chosen the subject of the "Brown Coals of Victoria" for discussion before the "Australasian Institute of Mining Engineers" as one which may have a distinct bearing in relation to the profession of mining in Victoria in the near future, and which is in accordance with the objects of the Institute, viz., "the promotion of the arts and sciences connected with the economic production of the useful minerals," etc. It is, indeed, in the discussion of such subjects as this, that the mutual assistance which scientific and professional workers can render the practical mining manager can be readily manifested; for while to the geologist and chemist devolves the duty of determining the extent, age, and chemical qualities of the fuel, it is to the mining engineer and mining manager that the application of these facts to the economic production and utilization of the fuel must depend.