4> MALLET : COAL-FIELDS OF THE NAGA HILLS. 



Between the great alluvial valley of the Brahmaputra and the rest 

 of India there is at present, and for many years, no doubt, there will be, 

 practically, but one channel of communication, namely, the Brahmaputra 

 itself. One of the most important steps, therefore, towards opening out 

 the province lies in the improvement of the existing means of navigating" 

 that river. Amongst other impediments now in the way of economical 

 steam communication, one of the greatest is the necessity for carrying 

 Bengal coal up stream, not only for the entire upward voyage, but for 

 the return also : a thousand miles of river carriage, in addition to railway 

 charges from Raniganj to Calcutta, raises the cost of the fuel at the 

 head of the navigation to more than ten times its value at the mines. 

 The great advantage which would accrue from a steady supply of Assam 

 coal on the upper part of the river has long been admitted. Hitherto, 

 however, that coal has only been worked on the most trifling scale, and in a 

 desultory way, so that even the small supply which is sometimes procurable 

 at Dihing Mukh cannot be depended on by the steamers. The projected 

 branch line, again, from the Northern Bengal Railway to Goalpara will, 

 if carried out, lend stiU greater importance to the fuel question in Assam. 



The Naga-hill coal-fields occur at intervals along the lower ranges 

 which form the southern border of the Lakhimpur and Sibsagar districts ; 

 the distances from the Brahmaputra varying from twenty-five to thirty- 

 five miles in a straight line, or from forty to a hundred and fifty by the 

 lines of river-carriage. Whether, therefore, the coal be conveyed to the 

 main river down one or other of the affluent streams, or by a canal or 

 tramway constructed for the purpose, it is a necessary preliminary to 

 any systematic working to determine where, taking considerations both 

 of mining and of subsequent carriage into account, the coal can be most 

 economically raised. It was to investigate this point that, on the requi- 

 sition of the Assam Government, I was directed to take up the examina- 

 tion of the above-mentioned ground. 



The expedition, under the civil command of Mr. Goad, Superintend- 

 ent of the Lakhimpur PolicCj started from Dibrugarh on the 22nd of 

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