522 Notices of Memoirs — British Association — 



Some of the pebbles that he regarded as of Lower Carboniferous age 

 are identical lithologically with the Limestone Grits and Cherts now 

 found at Lye. 



In Permian times the Lower Carboniferous Rocks provided, from 

 original and derivative local sources, much of the material in the 

 Permian Calcareous Conglomerates. 



7. The Development of the Midland Coal-fields. By Fked.- G. 

 Meachem, M.E., F.G.S. 



GE-EA.T advances have been made in mining since the first meeting 

 of this Association in Birmingham in the year 1839. "Women 

 were then employed in the mines, also children under 10 years of 

 age, and all worked twelve hours or more in the pit. To-day women 

 are not allowed to work in a mine, and no youth under 14 years, 

 and the hours of labour are restricted by Act of Parliament to 

 eight per day. Nearly all the mines worked in 1836 were shallow 

 ones, and the output not more than 200 to 300 tons per week. The 

 area of the coal-tields was about as shown below, as against the 

 present known and concealed areas of coal. 



Year. South Staffs. Leicester. Warwick. Salop. Total square miles. 



1836 . . 70 20 10 20 120 



1913 . . 360 88 222 96 766 



This last calculation includes the concealed coal-field between 

 Chasetown, Aldridge, and West Bromwich on the west and the 

 Warwickshire and Leicestershire Coal-fields on the east, and also the 

 concealed coal-field between Cannock, Essington, and Stourbridge on 

 the east of the Coalbrookdale and Forest of Wyre Coal-fields on the 

 west. 



The output since figures are available is as follows : — 



Year. South Staffs. Leicester. "Warwick. Salop. Total in million tons, 



1865 . , 10 Ih I U 13f 



1912 . . 7i 2| 4i I \^ 



This shows a great advance in industrial conditions and in Economic 

 Geology, but the question of output does not show so great an 

 increase ; this I think is due, not to fear that the concealed coal-fields 

 would not be profitable, but to the fact that some of the deeper 

 mines have not proved remunerative. This is partly due to local 

 conditions in the mines and also to the fact that the deeper coal costs 

 more to get than the shallow coal, as regards actual working cost 

 and the greatly increased capital needed, whilst the coal from both 

 mines is sold in the same market, so that the shallow mine rules the 

 selling price. As a few years pass by, and probably before the next 

 meeting of this Association, the shallow mines will be exhausted, 

 and the prices will be ruled by the deeper mines, with the usual 

 economic results of increased prices in proportion to increased costs 

 to get. 



In the figures above, areas are included which were not thought 

 of in 1836, but, as is fully shown by the report of the last lloyal 

 Coal Commission, 1905, coal will undoubtedly be found in the areas 

 above named. The area between the South Staffordshire Coal-field 

 and the Leicestershire and Warwickshire Coal-field will be found to be 



