346 REPORT— 1875. 



Third Report of the Sub-Wealden Exploration Committee, consisting 

 of Henry Willett, F.G.S., R. A. C. Godwin- Austen, F.R.S., 

 W. TopLEY, F.G.S., T. Davidson, F.R.S., Prof. J. Prestwich, 

 F.R.S., Prof. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S., and Henry Woodward, 

 F.R.S. Drawn up by Henry Willett, F.G.S. 



Of the £150 granted by the Committee of Recommendations in further- 

 ance of this undertaking, £25 was voted in 1872, and, as reported at Brad- 

 ford, in the subsequent twelve months, 295 feet of strata were penetrated at 

 a diameter of 9 inches. 



The second grant of £25, made in 1873, encouraged an enlarged subscrip- 

 tion of sufficient amount to warrant the Committee in entering into a con- 

 tract with the Diamond Boring Company to extend, by their process (at a 

 diameter of 3 inches), the bore-hole to 1000 feet. This depth was success- 

 fully reached on the 18th of June, 1874. 



In the report made at Belfast it was announced that the Government had 

 (in consequence of a memorial signed on behalf of their Councils, by the 

 Presidents of the Eoyal Society, of the Geological Society of London, and of 

 the Society of Engineers) consented to a Treasury grant of £1000, to be 

 paid on the condition that be5'ond the depth of 1000 feet an additional 1 foot 

 should be explored for every £1 of the aforesaid grant. 



The foregoing facts induced the Committee of Recommendations at Belfast 

 to give further assistance by a third and enlarged grant of £100. Thus 

 again encouraged, the Committee arranged a contract with the Diamond 

 Boring Company for an extension to 1200 feet, at an additional cost of £400 ; 

 but at 1018 feet the strata were found to be so much broken and fissured 

 that it became absolutely essential to line the entire depth. The estimated 

 cost of this operation was an additional £400. 



Engineering difficulties of an unforeseen and of a finally insurmountable 

 nature ensued ; and, in consequence, the Treasurer of the British Association 

 was informed, in October 1874, that the grant might possibly not be re- 

 quired — at any Tate, not at that time. 



In January 1875 the contractors, with laudable courage and energy, 

 volunteered to commence de novo, and to put down a bore-hole of consider- 

 ably enlarged diameter, which should be lined at their expense to the depth 

 of 1000 feet, at a cost, including lining tubes, of £600; viz. of £200 only 

 beyond what had been agreed upon as the price for lining the old 3-inch 

 diameter. 



This work, begun on February 12th, 1875, went on uninterruptedly, as 

 will be seen by the subjoined statement : — 



1762 ft. 



