4 o8 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



mastered the water, but there was nowhere on the surface to 

 get rid of it without letting it return to the pit. 



Under the circumstances it was judged prudent to suspend 

 progress in the other pit. In order to ascertain whether it was 

 possible to avoid this mass of water by change of site, a third 

 pit has been successlully carried down to the dry chalk of the 

 zone of Terebratulina gracilis, which it entered at 300 ft., and 

 penetrated to a depth of about 60 ft., having passed the danger- 

 ous level of 275 ft. without incident. A number of small feeders 

 enter by the bedding planes, but the total amount is quite small 

 and easily dealt with. 



The drowning of the No. 1 Pit at Snowdown was a shock to 

 the pioneers ; but their faith has since been more than justified 

 by the successful passage of the wet zone in all three collieries 

 without trouble or expense. 



VIII. The Latest Borings. 



In 1907 it was found impossible to continue the Waldershare 

 boring any deeper ; it had attained a depth of nearly 3,000 ft., and 

 proved three fine seams of excellent coal, excluding several 

 seams of less than 3 ft. in thickness. 



The Fredville boring unfortunately entered broken ground at 

 about 1,800 ft., and had to be abandoned, but we have seen that 

 this was not before it had amply justified its existence. 



In order to prove the deeper ground thus missed at Fredville 

 and partly in order to throw further light on the section at 

 Tilmanstone, a third boring was started at Barfrestone, about 

 halfway between the collieries of Snowdown and Tilmanstone. 



In order to prove the mineral areas acquired in the northerly 

 direction, another boring was started near the village of Good- 

 nestone, and as the company's boundaries gradually extended 

 to the east, a fifth boring was undertaken near the village of 

 Woodnesboro', at the foot of the Tertiary Escarpment. A 

 sixth has been commenced at Walmestone, about a mile north- 

 east of Wingham. 



The geological information afforded by these three additional 

 borings is of course of the very greatest value, but in view of 

 possible competition it has been judged prudent to keep their 

 results secret, and-some time must elapse before the sections 

 will be published. 



