PROF. E. HULL, LL.D., F.R.S., ON OUE COAL RESERVES. 11 



coal remaining to be worked in the British coalfields, and 

 the probable period for the duration of the supply, and in 

 1871 the Report of the Commission was issued, dealing with 

 these and other cognate subjects in a very exhaustive 

 manner. Many eminent geologists and gentlemen connected 

 with the coal industry gave evidence, and the names of 

 Murchison, Prestwich, Ramsay, Hussey Vivian, and Wood- 

 house, amongst others, afford a guarantee for the ability with 

 which the subject was treated. But I have on several 

 occasions maintained, and still maintain, that the returns of 

 the Commissioners regarding the quantity of Avorkable coal 

 were excessive, chiefly because very thin seams were in- 

 cluded which I consider to be unworkable at great depths. 

 But as regards the output of coal it is a remarkable fact 

 that in 1870 the quantity raised was only about one-half 

 that of the year 1899, so that in less than thirty years the 

 output has doubled,* a fact little foreseen by the Com- 

 missioners, and thus reducing the estimated peiiod of duration 

 of our supplies by one-half. 



Let me here explain that in speaking of '' the duration " or 

 " exhaustion " of our coal reserves, these terms are only used 

 in a conventional sense. The " exhaustion "' of our coalfields 

 is an event out of the question, as long as there are seams of 

 coal at depths of over 4,000, 5,000, or even 6,000 feet — 

 because it may be impossible to work them. The practical 

 exhaustion will be reached when, owing to increased depth 

 and expense of mining, to actual diminution of supply and 

 other causes, the cost of coal will tend to become prohibitive ; 

 and our manufacturing industries will be heavily weighted 

 as compared with those of other comitries where coal is more 

 abundant and easy of access. The approach of such a period 

 is seriously apprehended by many observers. Mr. Ellis 

 Lever, in a letter to the Fall Mall Gazette,'\hi\ii, expressed the 

 opinion that before the year 1950 '• there will be such a coal 

 famine in Great Britain as will paralyse our railways, gas- 

 works, iron and steel, cotton and chemical, and all other 

 industrial undertakings." On the other hand, Mr. H. C. 

 Peake, the President of the Institution of Mining Engineers, 

 in his recent address takes a less pessimistic view of the 



* The quantity raised in 1873 was 110,431,192 tons. Mineral Statistics^ 

 U.K., collected by the late Mr. R. Hunt. 

 + April 10th last. 



