COAL 



History 



Expert Report. 



Indian used for 

 burning Sylhet 

 Lime. 



First Indian 

 Company, 1820. 



Jute Mills, i 



Production in 

 1857-8. 



Coal-mining" 

 Assured. 



Rolling Stock 

 Mines. 



Raniganj. 



Jherria. 



Giridih. 



Imports 

 Shrinking. 



Exports. 



India's Position 

 in the World's 

 Supply. 



IndianiCoal the 

 Cheapest in the 

 World. 



THE INDIAN COAL INDUSTRY 



the Viceroy should have once more called for a thorough inquiry. Mr. Rupert 

 Jones accordingly went from England on purpose to examine the Bengal 

 coalfields, and his report (written in 1815) will be found in the Asiatik Researches 

 (1833, xviii., 163-70). Needless to say this gave new life to the Indian mines 

 and proved that indifference and obstruction to the use of a new material had 

 more to say to the unfavourable opinions previously published than the actual 

 inferiority of the coal at least for many of the purposes for which English 

 coal was being imported. But in passing it may be added that Mr. Jones himself 

 did not realise the full value of his investigations. He foretold increased pros- 

 perity to Calcutta, through the coal he had discovered being a better and more 

 economical fuel for burning the Sylhet limestone than the firewood then in use. 

 Jones apparently knew little of the great revolution steam was destined to 

 effect, nor of the imperative necessity of an abundant and cheap supply of coal 

 for commercial and industrial prosperity. 



Mr. Jones received an advance from Government of 4,000, on easy terms, 

 to enable him to work the mines, but in 1820 he came utterly to grief. Fortu- 

 nately a number of Calcutta firms stepped into the breach. The first regularly 

 constituted Indian mine under European supervision and capital was opened 

 in Bengal in 1820 (Raniganj mine). .In 1839 the output was 36,000 tons. Still, 

 little progress was made till the construction of the East Indian Railway in 1854 

 tapped the coalfields. But even then the progress was but slow until the jute 

 mills of Calcutta had been started and the other directions of manufacturing 

 skill originated, that gave vitality to the Eastern capital. Apparently 1857-8 

 was the first year of specially recorded production, when 293,443 tons were taken 

 from the Indian mines and 92,983 tons imported. From that date the prosperity 

 of coal-mining was assured. It became the direct expression of a rapidly ex- 

 panding modern commerce. This may be briefly exemplified. In 1868 the 

 output was 459,408 tons; in 1878, 925,494 tons; in 1898, 4,608,196 tons; in 

 1904, 8,348,561 tons; and in 1906, 9,783,250 tons. Of these the Bengal 

 mines supplied 88 per cent. \Cf. Moral and Mat. Prog. Ind., 1905-6, 114.] 

 One of the difficulties experienced in this remarkable trade has been for the 

 railways to keep pace in the supply of the rolling stock necessary. In 1885 

 there were 95 mines, of which 90 were in Bengal ; in 1900 there were 286 coal- 

 mines in operation, of which 271 were in Bengal; in 1906 there were 307, of 

 which 274 were in Bengal. The number of mines only partially represents pro- 

 gress, on account of the tendency for small mines to be grouped together as a 

 smaller number of large ones. The greatest development has taken place in 

 the Raniganj field, owing to the collieries being only 120 to 140 miles from 

 Calcutta. Jherria, some 40 miles more distant, has recently given evidence of 

 having very likely permanently overtaken Raniganj. But no less vigorously 

 have the Giridih fields been pushed forward. It can now be affirmed that 

 India is rapidly approaching the state of being able to meet all her own wants 

 for fuel. The imports have been shrinking steadily for years, and in 1903-4 

 were one-fourth of the quantity taken nine years previously. And of these 

 imports Bombay a province remote from the Indian mines consumes by 

 far the major portion, viz. 148,311 tons out of a total of 179,935 tons in 1905-6. 

 England, Australia and Japan are the supplying countries. But a new trade 

 has arisen, namely in coal exported to Indian Ocean ports a traffic that it 

 would seem is instantly stimulated and permanently strengthened by the 

 strikes and other accidental causes which in Europe and Japan tend to raise 

 the price of coal. A vivid conception of the present magnitude and importance 

 of the Indian coal industry may be had from the circumstance that in 1903 the 

 output came to 7 million tons, while the outputs of both Canada and Australia 

 were each just under 7 million tons ; and the Indian production has since risen 

 to almost 10 million tons. But a still more significant fact may be added in 

 conclusion, namely that Indian coal is the cheapest in the world. The average 

 pitmouth price was in 1902, Rs. 2-12 (3s. 8d.) and in 1906 Rs. 2-15 (3s. lid.) 

 per ton, while in the United States the corresponding average price was 

 5s. 8Jd. ; in Australia 7s. 9d. ; in the United Kingdom 8s. 2|d. ; in Germany 

 8s. lOJd. ; in Canada 9s. 3d. ; and in New Zealand 10s. Od. An interesting 

 series of articles on " Dear Coal " will be found in The Textile Journal (May, 

 July and December, 1900). 



The annual reports, etc., of the Indian Mining Association and those of the 

 Bengal Chamber of Commerce are usually of the greatest interest and value 

 in setting forth the progress or the disabilities of the mining industry. But it 



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