96 Miscellaneous. 



ivniso:ELXjj^n:sr:EOTJS. 



Bkitish Museum (Natural History) . — We have much satisfaction 

 in announcing that Dr. Arthur Smith Woodward, F.R.S., F.L.S., 

 F.G.S., has been appointed Keeper of the Geological Department of 

 the British Museum in the room of Dr. Henry Woodward, who 

 lately retired. 



EoYAL Commission on Coal. — A Eoyal Commission on Coal has 

 been appointed to inquire into the question of the Coal Supplies of 

 the United Kingdom. The terms of reference are as follows : — 



"To inquire into the extent and available resources of the coalfields 

 of the United Kingdom ; the rate of exhaustion which may be anticipated, 

 having regard to possible economies in use, by the substitution of other 

 fuel or the adoption of other kinds of power ; the effect of our exports 

 of coal on the home supply, and the time for which that supply, especially 

 of the more valuable kinds of coal, will probably be available to British 

 consumers, including the Eoyal Navy, at a cost which would not be 

 detrimental to the general welfare ; the possibility of a reduction in that 

 cost, by cheaper transport, or by the avoidance of unnecessary waste in 

 working, through the adoption of better methods and improved appliances, 

 or through a change in the customary term and provisions of mineral 

 leases ; and whether the mining industry of this country, under existing 

 conditions, is maintaining its competitive power with the coalfields of 

 other countries." 



The Commission is constituted as follows : — The Eight Hon. W. L. 

 Jackson, M.P., Chairman; Sir G. J. Armytage, Bart. ; Sir W. T. Lewis, 

 Bart., M. Inst. C. E. ; Sir Lindsay Wood, Bart., M. Inst. C. E. ; Thomas 

 Bell, Esq. ; William Brace, Esq. ; A. C. Briggs, Esq. ; Professor H. B. 

 Dixon • J. S. Dixon, Esq. ; Professor C. Le Neve Foster, F.E.S. ; 

 Dr. Edward Hull, F.E.S. ; Professor C. Lapworth, F.E.S. ; J. P. 

 Maclay, Esq. ; Arthur Sopwith, Esq. ; J. J. H. Teall, Esq., F.E.S. ; 

 and Ealph Young, Esq. 



The previous Eoyal Commission appointed to inquire into the 

 several matters relating to Coal in the United Kingdom held their 

 first meeting in 1866 and reported in 1871. In our notice of their 

 General Eeport,^ we referred to the importance of settling the 

 question -whether or not there is coal at a workable depth in the 

 southern and south-eastern portion of England, and we thought 

 that the Government, while spending something like £30,000 in 

 collecting evidence, much of it necessarily theoretical, might have 

 spent a few thousand pounds in the practical work of boring. 

 During the past thirty years public and private enterprise have 

 done much to prove the depth to the Palgeozoic floor in the east 

 and south of England, but we have yet a good deal to learn on 

 the subject. The discovery of Coal-measures at Dover has been 

 most important, though the extent of the workable coal remains 

 to be proved. 



1 Geol. Mag., 1871, Vol. VIII, p. 517. 



