BIRTH OF INDIAN COAL TRADE 



'04, etc. etc. The koyelah, koyala, koeh, kolsa, kari, sitnai-karri, 

 ju, sima b(*j<ju, uldallu, misu-e, midu-ye, etc. 



History. Coal baa doubtless boon kimwii t<- th.- Native fn.m tiim- ii 



iilu-r mined nor traded in until sought out by the early European 

 MIS in India. Hvcii ut the present date it is little if at all used in tlm 

 indigenous industries, and hardly ever emnly'l t<>r domestic purposes, 

 i .ite of affairs is perhaps little to be surprised at when it is recollected 

 the lirst licence to dig for coal in England was granted by Henry III. in 

 it was then designated " sea-coal." In 1300 the use of coal in London 

 .inhibited, but in 1325 a trade had been organised between England and 

 in \vhirh coal uus exported and grain imported. About this time 

 NYura-ilo became famous for its coal, and for a couple of centuries at 

 fleets of ships sailed from thence to supply London ana the other ports of 

 "1. as also France, Holland and Germany. It would be beyond the scope 

 icle to follow the growth of the European knowledge in coal or to 

 ;at<- t lie discovery of the other coal-deposits that finally overthrew the supre- 

 v <>i N'owoastle. By 1776 we read that Sunderland, Blyth, Hartley, Durham 

 several other centres in both England and Scotland had commenced to 

 >rt cual independently of Newcastle and of the charters granted to the 

 :inal s. at of the trade. It was only natural, therefore, that the European 

 ents in India, in the middle of the 18th century, should have begun to think 

 possible Indian supply of an article that had been proved of so great value 

 heir home countries. 



In 1774 Warren Hastings granted a mining license to two of the Company's 

 vants, namely Mr. Suetonius Grant Heatly and Mr. John Sumner. The former 

 atleman, we learn, had discovered coal in " the districts of Bheerbhoom and 

 :'arhnte." Mr. Heatly (son of the discoverer and original worker of the Bengal 

 3) tells the story of his father's labours, in an article which will be found 

 3 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (1842, xi., 811-35). Unfortunately 

 coal Heatly produced was reported as being much inferior to that of England, 

 this circumstance, together with the indifference of Lord Cornwallis to 

 sures calculated to develop the internal resources or promote the external 

 imerce of India, led (according to Heatly, junior) to the neglect and apathy 

 it characterised the first few years of coal-mining in India. In 1777 Farquhar 

 Motte asked permission " to bore cannon and to cast shot and shell in the 

 rict of Jherria, lying between the rivers Dummuda and Burraker." They 

 ave as their reason for the selection of that locality that it " abounds in iron ore 

 contiguous to the coal-mines of Messrs. Sumner & Heatly." Williamson 

 7ild Sports in the East, 1808, i., 7, 8) alludes to Indian coal, but remarks that 

 Company " finds it easier to send coal from England, as ballast, to their 

 enals abroad, where quantities are occasionally used in fusing metals for 

 ting ordnances." But apparently about this very time the London Directors 

 the East India Company had actually complained of the heavy charges in- 

 " ired by the indents for the coal made by their Indian representatives, and they 

 Drdingly recommended an inquiry whether charcoal could not be substituted ; 

 . if not, they further recommended the transference of the ordnance works 

 Endand. The Earl of Minto was at the time Governor-General of India, 

 to his enlightened action may be attributed the birth of the present prosper- 

 trado in coal. He directed that Indian coal should be submitted to actual 

 by the military authorities in India. Col. Hardwicke accordingly per- 

 led experiments but reported once more very unfavourably (dated May 19, 

 1809), and the subject of coal for a time dropped out of notice. But in 1814 the 

 rquis of Hastings once more urged on the Military Board the desirability of 

 Brtaining beyond doubt " whether the coal of India was of a quality calcu- 

 d for the purpose of the forge." His lordship announced that a fully quali- 

 person would be appointed to examine the mines, who would be furnished 

 with the necessary apparatus to make borings and who would for experimental 

 purposes procure a supply of coal from such a depth as to ensure that it would 

 represent the average quality. Previous experiments were thus discredited 

 in the coal used having been obtained from the surface and therefore much 

 deteriorated. By this time we hear of a Calcutta merchant having commenced 

 to use Bengal coal, notwithstanding the unfavourable reports published by 

 iilitary Board. Coal was, in fact, being regularly conveyed by boat di\vn 

 the Damuda river to Calcutta, and it is therefore not to be wondered at that 



333 



COAL 



History 



History. 



riwt Licence 

 iMMd b 

 England. 



Supremacy of 

 Newcastle. 



First Indian 

 Licence. 



Influence of 

 Lord Cornwallig. 



Heavy Charge* 

 through Coal 

 Indents. 



Earl Minto's 

 Action. 



Marquis of 

 Hastings. 



Calcutta 

 Merchant. 



