198 



Report of the Coal Committee. 



In submitting a summary of what has been done since our last 

 Report, we shall commence with the 



Tenasserim Provinces. 



The annexed map will show at how many points coal has been 

 found in the Tenasserim provinces, and at what points it is likely 

 to prove of most utility. Coal has been found by Dr. Heifer at A, 

 and B, two situations above the falls of the Great Tenasserim, at a 

 distance of eight and nine days' journey, respectively, from the town 

 of that name, but the quality is inferior, and the situation quite beyond 

 the reach of any mode of conveyance to the coast. 



Although the quality is excellent in a third situation in which 

 the mineral has been found by Dr. Heifer at C, yet its distance 

 from the coast is such as to render it of very doubtful utility on the 

 Bengal side of the peninsula, whatever benefit it may eventually 

 prove on the Gulph of Siam, as it seems to be situated beyond the 

 boundary range of hills. Fortunately a still more recent discovery 

 by a native, places us in possession of what would seem to be a 

 most excellent coal, close to the banks of the Great Tenasserim river, 

 and within twenty-nine miles of the town of Tenasserim. 



Two reports have been addressed to the Commissioner of the 

 Tenasserim provinces on the last mentioned coal, one by Lieut. 

 Hutchinson, dated 6th May 1839 ; and the other, of a somewhat later 

 date, by Dr. Heifer. From Lieut. Hutchinson's report, we learn that 

 the position of this coal is 12° 21' 30" N. lat, and about 99° 5' E. 

 long., or, by the course of the river, twenty-nine miles from the 

 town of Tenasserim, and sixty-five from Mergui, although its direct 

 distance from the coast is only twenty-eight miles. The coal is 

 said by Lieut. Hutchinson to form a thick bed, covered by three 

 feet of " clay slate" and from twenty to forty feet of sand, which 

 is so tenacious as to require no propping where springs do not exist. 

 In a subsequent correspondence on this subject, the coal is described 

 as within ten feet of the surface, and from all we can learn, we have 

 no doubt it might be worked like crop-coal, and clay ironstone, as 

 described by Mr. Farey, i. e., merely by sinking pits down to the 

 coal and raising it at once, and after undermining on all sides as 

 much as can be done safely by the use of props, the latter may be 

 withdrawn, and the roof allowed to fall in. 



This coal burns with a bright flame, and answers admirably for 



