864 



COAL 



the demand, and in each year since 1863 there has been a steady decline in the 

 quantity of native coal left to meet the requirements of the country. 



Dr. Oldham tells us, ' That during the last eight years there has been an aggregate 

 consumption of coal supplied for Bengal alone and the port of Calcutta, of more than 

 3,000,000 tons, of which about eight-ninths were raised in India, and about one-ninth 

 imported ; that there has on the whole been but little increase in the demand for coal 

 during that period.' 



Coal of India. 



1 The produce of Assam is included in this. 



In Oude no coal is known to occur. In the Punjaub no coal iff known, to occur, 

 if we except as above, in the North-western Provinces, the patches of lignite which 

 have been found in several localities along the base of the outer Himalaya, as well as 

 in the Salt Bange. 



In Scinde the only coal raised was that of Synah Valley, as given above, but the 

 irregularity and the small extent of this deposit has caused it to be abandoned. It 

 was, in fact, an irregular patch of lignite. 



In Bombay no coal is known to occur. In Hyderabad none. In Nagpore a small 

 coal-field is known near to Muret, on the border of the Nerbudda District, which 

 may, in fact, be considered a continuation (although actually separated) of the 

 Nerbudda deposits. The coal is not now economised. 



In Madras no coal is known. Coal has been more than once stated to occur on 

 the Godavery, or some of its feeders, and even very recently ; but as yet nothing but 

 black shales, which will not support combustion, and which are, in all probability, 

 of a totally different age from the coal-bearing rocks of India, have been met with. 



Mr. Theo. W. H. Hughes in the Becords of the Geological Survey of India, gives the 

 following estimate of the area of the Indian coal-fields. He adds to it a general 

 statement of other coal areas, which is retained, as it furnishes much information : 



Places 



Area in square miles 



over which coal rocks 



may be presumed to 



extend 



Remarks 



India 



35,000 



United States 



500,000 



This mileage is made up as follows : 

 Godavari uiva (including its affluents) 11,000 



Son 8.000 



Sirgqjah and Gangpur area . . 4,500 



Assam 3,000 



Narbada area (including its affluents) 3,500 



Damuda 2,000 



Bajmahal area 300 



Unsurveyed and uncomputed areas . 2,700 



Square miles ... . 35,000 



The productive area of coal . is much less. 



Professor Hitchcock estimates the area of 



the true carboniferous system at 230,659 



square miles. 



