464 



too uncertain for me to venture to define them. The proved part 

 extends from Fry's Bottom ColUeries, Glutton, through High 

 Littleton, Paulton, Midsomer Norton, lluish, Writhlington, Foxcote, 

 Carlingcote and Tunly to Farmborough, beyond which its course is 

 unknown. 



Briefly then, the coalfield which I have been endeavouring . 

 to describe has a total length, from Cromhall to the Mendips, 

 of 26 miles, and it attains its greatest width between Ashton 

 and Twerton, where it extends for twelve miles. According to 

 the report of the Koyal Coal Commission, it embraces a total 

 area of 152,780 acres, or 238 square miles, of which about 190 

 Bquare miles are covered by .newer formations. 



The total quantity of coal it contains has been estimated in round 

 numbers at 6,104 millions of tons, which at a million tons per 

 annum, the present rate of exhaustion, is sufficient to last for 6,104 

 years, and even if we omit all below 4,000 feet in depth as being 

 unworkable we still have 4218 millions of tons, equal at the present 

 rate to a supply for 4218 years. Whatever may be the condition 

 of things in other parts of the country, it must be evident that in 

 this neighbourhood there is no cause for anxiety. 



Probable Coal Areas in Adjoining Districts of the 

 South of England. 



Having considered in its more limited sense the geographical 

 position of the carboniferous basin of Somersetshire, I propose very 

 briefly to point out its relation to certain other coalfields and its 

 bearing on certain areas of the South of England within which it is 

 believed that coal may ultimately be found. 



After the valuable labours of Sir Boderick Murchison, Mr. 

 Godwin Austin, Mr. Prestwich, and others, it would be presumptuous 

 on my part to attempt to throw new light on the subject, and my 

 object is rather to lay before you a very brief summary of the pre- 

 vailhig opinions respecting it. 



The Somerset and Gloucester Basin seems to be a link in a chain 

 of coal basins extending from Germany through Belgium and France, 

 again appearing in Somerset, the Forest of Dean, and South Wales> 

 from whence it crosses to Ireland, and a further continuation 



