280 Reports and Proceedings. 
in closing the present series of Monthly Meetings, congratulated the 
Society on the value of the papers read, and on the genuine scien- 
tific worth of the proceedings, of which he offered a succinct and 
interesting résumé. 
Duptey and Mipitanp GeEoLocicaL Society.—On April 4th, 
Mr. Silas Bowkley, F.G.S., in the chair, Mr. Henry JoHNson read a 
paper entitled Suggestions as to the Means of extending the South 
Staffordshire Coal-field. 'This was a continuation of a paper com- 
municated to the Society in 1863, mainly referring to the extended 
working of the coal-field in the direction of Birmingham and Hales- 
owen. Since the reading of the last paper five new sinkings have 
been commenced in that district; namely, by Messrs. King and Co., 
Cradley Park; Swindell and Co., Homer Hill; George Pell and Co., 
Wassell Grove; New British Iron Company, Hawne; and J. S. 
Dawes, Manor Farm, Halesowen. It is calculated that, if these 
sinkings are successful, at least 4,000 acres will be added to the pro- 
ductive area of the coal-field. The district between South Stafford- 
shire and the Shropshire Coal-field, covered with Permian and New 
Red Sandstone, occupies an area of 357 square miles, or 222,000 
acres. This vast tract is bounded on the east by the South Stafford- 
shire western Boundary-fault, which is a down-throw east, and 
brings in the Permian, with the Coal-measures dipping underneath. 
On the Shropshire side this tract is bounded by a line of fault, which 
is a down-throw east. On the whole, the geological conditions of 
the Shropshire side are quite analogous to the South Staffordshire 
district,—the Permian resting unconformably on the edges of the 
Coal-measures. Perhaps the most convenient place for proving this 
district would be near the Great Western Railway at Albrighton. A 
shaft of 12 or 14 feet in diameter might be put down 600 to 700 
yards for asum not exceeding £40,000. This might be raised, if the 
landowners of the district would subscribe 7s. 6d. per acre upon 
110,000 acres. The smaller owners might thus be left out, and still 
sufficient money be raised ; and the proof might be made in three 
years. The author could speak with confidence, from the fact, that 
at his suggestion some such project has been adopted in the 
south end of the Coal-field, and is answering every expectation. 
The subscribed capital would of course be returned if the trial 
proved successful. The whole business might be managed by a 
committee consisting of landowners and coal- and iron-masters, with 
an efficient staff of practical and energetic officers. If the Coal- 
measures of South Staffordshire should be proved to extend under 
this area, the yield is estimated at two thousand millions sterling, 
and the landowners’ royalties would amount to one hundred millions 
sterling. This district is four times the area of South Staffordshire. 
These suggestions will probably be ridiculed as purely visionary; 
but the practical value of the Cannock-Chase Coal, the Riverstone 
Hematite, the Northampton Iron-ore, the North-Welsh Cannel, 
the Cleveland Iron-ore, were all pooh-poohed in their turn. The 
next paper was read by Mr. S. ALuport, Birmingham, On the Dis- 
