XC PEOCEBDINeS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [JunO I912, 



But, in SO far as every boring sunk in a neighbourhood where 

 there is a geological possibility that coal or some other profitable 

 mineral may exist, will throw light on two important factors of 

 the larger problem, the bulk of the loss, though serious enough 

 to individuals, may be turned into actual gain for the welfare of 

 the community at large. We shall by such means gradually get to 

 know the thickness and composition of the covering ]N"eozoic rocks. 

 And, more slowly, there will grow, stage by stage, a full knowledge 

 of the distribution and arrangement of the buried Palaeozoic rocks. 

 The knowledge thus acquired, in so far as it enables us to construct 

 maps of the hypogean outcrops with gradually increasing accuracy, 

 will furnish so reliable a guide to future exploration that fruitless 

 borings will in time decrease in number and perhaps eventually 

 cease. 



(/) Waste; its Causes and Prevention. 



The advantage of a detailed knowledge of the intimate structure 

 of each individual coal basin, before the working of it is actually 

 undertaken, will be brought home to us if we devote some attention 

 to another line of the Commissioners' enquiries, the matter of loss 

 and waste, preventable or otherwise. 



In pursuance of their instructions, both first and second Com- 

 missions devoted much attention to the fact that only a very small 

 percentage of the energ}- locked up in the coal as it lies in sitH is 

 ultimately recovered from it in the form of work. They therefore 

 gave careful consideration to (1) the waste associated with the 

 consumption of coal, and (2) the loss that takes place in connexion 

 with the actual coal-getting. We, as geologists, are mainly 

 concerned with the latter form of loss, and it will be necessary to 

 note the exact lines on which the Commissioners proceed in their 

 estimation of it. 



In the first place, there are certain additions to be made to the 

 cost of getting the coal for which the members of the Commission 

 do not appear to have made allowance. They form an estimate of 

 the amount of ' coal remaining unworked in Seams of Coal,' and 

 having made certain deductions from that amount, they, as it were, 

 leave it underground unlifted and undistributed. Thus the cost of 

 unwatering the workings, of underground haulage, and of lifting 

 the coal to the pit mouth are none of them considered in their final 

 Peport, although all these charges are paid out of the coal before it 

 is ready for sale. In the past, it has frequently been the practice 

 to neglect the poorer seams in order to get the better ones more 



