INDIA. 

 MINERAL STATISTICS. 



I.— COAL. 



The accompanying returns give as full and complete data regarding 

 the actual amount of coal raised throughout India generally as I have 

 been able to procure. It is not supposed that a first attempt of this 

 kind may be free from errors, or mistake. All that can be expected 

 is, that all proper precautions have been taken. In this respect I may 

 state that, with the exception of the smaller workings in the Raniganj 

 field, the produce of which was obtained at the pits themselves, and 

 with all possible precaution of repeated enquiry and cross questioning, 

 the amounts given below are those stated to me under authority of the 

 several proprietors, agents, or secretaries of Companies, &c., and 

 these proprietors thus become responsible for the accuracy, each of 

 his own return. 



There are still a few collieries known to be at work, from which I 

 have not succeeded in obtaining any return. These are those at Kotah, 

 Singrowli, &c. : but the out-turn of these is known to be small, and 

 would not seriously affect the general result. 



The returns are given for three years past, that is, from the 1st of 

 October or November 1857, to the same date 1860. This is, by 

 custom, considered the close of the "coal year," from the circum- 

 stance that, until recently, the only mode of conveyance for coal from 

 the Raniganj field was by the River Damuda, and as the accounts were 

 closed, when, after the rainy season, the river had so diminished in the 

 amount of its waters, that there appeared no chance of sending any 



Memoirs of Geological Survey of India, Vol. III., Art. 2. 



A 



