274 Reviews — Geological Survey of India. 



will rest, rather tban upon the small Survey Staff, whose proper 

 avocations in geologically surveying the country will be needed in 

 other directions, and are of a different and higher nature than mere 

 miners' calling, in mechanically tracing underground beds of coal. 



"We are sorry to observe, however, that notwithstanding the ex- 

 istence of the Indian Survey, Geological Maps, for which they are in 

 no way responsible, have been published " in public documents 

 which entirely misrepresent the true state of the case." Surely 

 these ought to have been submitted to the very competent super- 

 vision of the Indian Survey before being permitted to appear with 

 authority, and Doctor Oldham's disclaimer should be remembered. 



In connexion with the subject of Indian coal, inflated statements 

 regarding coal discoveries found their way into the Indian news- 

 papers, and to these an unthinking public seems to have attached 

 undue credit ; indeed, the positive nature of some led to investiga- 

 tion on the part of the Survey, the results fully proving the necessity 

 of having sound scientific opinions, instead of newspaper reports or 

 unsupported statements in cases upon which the general public and 

 many otherwise well-educated persons still lack the unaided ability 

 to form sound conclusions. Two cases of the kind are mentioned in 

 the report. In the first, " excellent steam coal " and " beautiful 

 coal -plants " were stated to have been found within a short distance 

 of a railway ! The coal turned out to have occurred in angular 

 fragments on the surface of a hill of granite- gneiss ! within three 

 miles of a contractor's coal depot, and in the line followed by the 

 carts which had conveyed a quantity of similar North of England 

 coal to the depot ! ! while the " beautiful coal-plants " were the im- 

 pressions of the existing grass rootlets which had forced their way 

 between the divisions of the rock ! ! ! 



In the other instance, thick and valuable coal-beds were reported 

 to have been discovered, and borings were prosecuted with great 

 vigour under charge of an executive engineer. Months later the 

 matter came to the cognizance of the Survey ; the place was visited 

 by Dr. Oldham himself, but nothing like satisfactory evidence 

 was obtained. No actual coal-bed had ever been cut, but coal-frag- 

 ments were brought up mixed with slush and clay. Ultimately new 

 borings were put down in the most likely direction; but just when 

 one of these had nearly reached the asserted depth of the bed, the 

 overseer in charge disappeared, and on searching his house lumps 

 and broken fragments of coal identical with that brought up by the 

 borings were found, leading to the strong suspicion that the coal 

 fragments had been put into the bore holes. The last of these was 

 carried right through the space in which the bed was stated to exist, 

 but not a trace of coal was met with. 



This fraud might not have been perpetrated if the pay and position 

 of the overseer had been such as he would not like to have en- 

 dangered, and several months of boring operations might have been 

 saved either by employing a well-paid respectable man, or by an 

 earlier application to the Geological Survey. This part of the Eeport 

 is commended to those whose duty it ought to be to protect the 

 public interests. 



