OUi: COAL RESERVES AT THE CLOSE OF 

 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. BEING THE 

 ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE VICTORIA 

 INSTITUTE FOR 1900. 



By Professor Edward Hull, LL.D., F.K.S., F.G.S. 



At the invitation of the President, Professor Sir George 

 G. Stokes, to deliver the Aimual Address this year, I have 

 selected for my subject " Our Coal Reserves at the Close 

 of the Nineteenth Century," as it is one to which public 

 interest has been recently directed. This is owing to two 

 causes— first, the general rise in the price of coal, v/hich 

 touches the pocket of every householder, be he rich or poor ; 

 and second, the remarkably increased production of our coal 

 mines, which reached, in 1899, the unprecedented figure of 

 220,0(So,000 tons,* being about eighteen millions of tons over 

 that of the previous year. 



Is it to be Avondered at that with such a rapid increase of 

 production, and such a quantity extracted from British mines, 

 those who take an interest in the commerce and manufac- 

 turing industries of this country should ask themselves, 

 " For how long a period can our coalfields l)ear such rapid 

 depletion ? " For, be it observed, the qiiantity raised is more 

 than double that of Germany, Avhich is the largest producer 

 amongst the Continental States, and is only equalled, or 

 approached, by the production of the United States of 

 America, whose coal resources are largely in excess of our 

 own.f 



Revertuig for the moment to the historical aspect of the 

 question, it will be in your recollection that in 18b'6 a Koyal 

 Commission, under the presidency of the late Duke of Argyll, 

 was enti-usted with the task of reporting on the quantity of 



* Itetin-n issued by the Board of Trade, April !)tli, li)0(). 

 t Board of Trade Returns, p. 4. The output of Gonuanv is s 

 to l.H (]8iiO)'iUJ,C:i2,UU() tons, that of the United States :il8,37"(),000 



stated 

 tons. 



