CHAPTER XVII 



Coal and iron ore Electric fans and motor cars help to make the 

 heat more tolerable. 



INDIA possesses great stores of minerals, amongst 

 others coal of sufficiently good quality both for 

 household purposes, steam-raising and iron-smelting. 

 The output of coal has now reached over 20,000,000 

 tons a year, and it could no doubt soon be developed 

 to twice that quantity if there was a demand for 

 it. There are enormous stores of first-class iron- 

 stone, and great iron and steel works have been 

 built in Bengal, and no doubt these will be further 

 developed and help to supply the great wants of 

 the country. 



If the supplies of food produced by the soil should 

 increase, there is sure to follow a great demand for 

 the production of ironworks, as well as other mineral 

 and metal productions. There are very valuable 

 petroleum wells in Burma. It is sad to think of 

 the people of India burning cowdung for fuel for 

 cooking purposes when they might easily have 

 petroleum cooking-stoves, but, of course, the cost 

 of the stoves is quite out of the reach of the poor 

 people, and then the cost of the petroleum is quite 



12 m 



