264 Oldham — Coal Resources of India. 



That gentleman considered that in the eastern part of this field, 

 which lies north of Dudley, the unworked part consisted of only 

 1,160 acres, and allowing 20,000 tons per acre for the first and 

 second workings, the total remaining in 1860 was 23,200,000 tons. 

 Now the rate at which coal is being drawn annually wa;S stated at 

 550,000 tons, and a simple division gave the probable duration of 

 this part of the field as only forty-two years. In the western dis- 

 trict, which lies upon the opposite side of that range of which Dud- 

 ley forms a part, there are estimated to be 2,785 acres, which at 

 20,000 tons of coal per acre gave 55,700,000 tons. The rate of 

 working was 1-| millions of tons per annum, and a simple division 

 gave thirty- seven years as its period of duration, supposing the 

 demand and consumption to remain as it was. Thus it might be 

 fairly said, that in less than half a century the thick coal of South 

 Staffordshire, which is the most perfect store of fuel any nation has 

 ever possessed, will be perfectly exhausted. The question now arises 

 whether pits can be pushed down upon the flanks of this field with 

 a chance of finding the thick coal again. The South Staffordshire 

 field, however, had not the advantage of some other fields, where 

 the strata dip gently and continuously down, and where you may 

 be almost certain of meeting the original beds of coal, but the strata 

 in the South Stafford field were much more irregular. This field is 

 described by Mr. Beete Jukes as a Palaeozoic island, pushed up through 

 the Bed Sandstone which extends over the larger portion of the centre 

 of the country. The field had been forced up by volcanic power, 

 which alone was a great obstacle to the exploration of coal, since 

 they did not know at what depth down the strata might be found. 

 Thus, in some places 1,000 to 15,000 feet of Permian strata might 

 intervene between the coal, whilst at other times it might be absent. 

 The lecturer went on to remark how greatly this part of the country 

 depended for its industry upon the coal to be obtained in its neighbour- 

 hood, and proposed that the sinking of deep shafts for the purpose of 

 discovering coal, should be undertaken at the public expense, when, 

 if the coal was found, the owner of the field should be required to 

 return the money expended, perhaps even with some interest. Mr. 

 Jevons alluded to the shafts which had been sunk in the outskirts of 

 the coal district for the purpose of ascertaining whether coal was to 

 be met with, making special allusion to the workings of Mr. Dawes, 

 at Halesowen, which, however, had not at present proved very suc- 

 cessful. The great quantity of coal used in this district was called 

 attention to, and the gradual rise ia price of coal, and the iron trade 

 generally, of this part of the country, and its probable decline, were 

 touched upon. 



II. — The Coal Eesoubces of India. 



By Dr. T. Oldham, F.R.S., F.G-.S., Superintendent of the Geological Survey of 



India. Calcutta, January, 1867. 



[Being a Eeturn called for by the Right Hon. the Secretary of State for India.] 



VIEWED as a coal-producing country, the British territories in 

 India cannot be considered as either largely or widely sup- 



