1840.] Report of the Coal Committee. 205 



any mines that might be established in Sylhet would hardly be 

 affected in value by similar establishments in any other part of India, 

 there is hardly a district from Arracan to Palamow the value of 

 whose mines would not seriously be affected by any subsequent disco- 

 very of coal in Sylhet. In like manner any collieries that might be 

 established in Assam, or other remote provinces, would be entirely 

 superseded in the Bengal market by any new discoveries of good beds 

 of coal that might be made in the Sylhet district. It is for this 

 reason that we have laid peculiar stress on the importance of a thorough 

 investigation of the coal measures along the base of the Kasyah 

 and Garrow hills, since upon this, and the manner in which it is 

 conducted, must depend in some measure the prudence of investing 

 capital in more distant coal districts. 



Surdah is within a few miles of Bogwangola, one of the greatest 

 marts in Bengal for grains of every kind, goor, oil, ghee, and the 

 chief articles of native consumption. Being situated in the centre 

 of Bengal, near the junction of all the principal rivers, as the Bhau- 

 garutty, the Ganges, and Bramputra, it is naturally the centre of 

 internal commerce, and consequently the greatest mart for boats in 

 Bengal. Surdah, or some situation in that neighbourhood, appears 

 therefore to be the situation at which a General Depot ought to be 

 formed. We have consulted J. W. Grant, Esq. of the Civil Service, 

 who had been long commercial resident at Maldah, and Major Carter, 

 who has been for a large portion of his life in the Bengal Commis- 

 sariat, and the experience of both these gentlemen goes to prove that at 

 Bogwangola and Jellinghee, boats for the transmission of coal from 

 Surdah to any part of Bengal or the Upper Provinces may be had 

 to any amount of tonnage likely to be required. 



The distance from Cherra Poonji to Calcutta by water, is about the 

 same as to Surdah ; while the latter is one hundred and fifty miles 

 nearer to Rajmehal, and other depots to the eastward. 



Major Carter states that the voyage from Calcutta to Cuttack 

 in an empty boat should not take above 24 days, and returning 

 laden, about the same period, as the stream would be favourable 

 to Dacca, and from thence in the tide way. " Assuming however, 

 two months as the time necessary to complete a voyage, including 

 loading and unloading, it strikes me," says Major Carter, "2| annas 

 per maund should nearly cover the carriage, and below I give the 



