956 Report upon the Coal beds of Assam. [Nov. 



The rates at which the following stations are supplied under the pre- 

 sent contracts, which will expire on the 26th of July next, are as follows : 



Cutvva, Rs. 55 SperlOOmds. Colgong, ... 70 per 100 mds. 



Berhampoor,... 56 ditto. Rajmehal, ... 67 ditto. 



Kulna, 54 ditto. Mongeer, ... 74 ditto. 



Commercolly, 64 ditto. Danapoor,... 80 ditto. 



Surdah, 70 ditto. 



Average, Rs. 67-7-6, or 654 rupees 1 1 anas per 1000 maunds*. But as 

 the Bhagirutty and Sunduvbun courses are only used alternately by the 

 regular steamers, the quantity of coal consumed annually at the four first 

 depots, can only be equivalent to the quantity consumed at two of the 

 others, the true average price of the coal consumed will therefore be 

 Rs. 67-13-2, per 100, or 678 rupees 13 anas 8 pie per 1000 maunds. 

 Considering the proximity of the two first depots, Cutwa and Berham- 

 poor, to the Adji and Rajmehal coals, and the Kulna and Commercolly 

 depots to Sylhet, the most economical arrangements, that could be made 

 for their supply, would certainly be with persons connected with the 

 mines in each of those districts, who might be requested either to furnish 

 tenders, or to make such other arrangements, by way of experiment, as 

 might seem most sufficient, for securing so small a supply as that re- 

 quired on the Bhagarutty and Sunderbun linesf . 



* Note by Captain Johnston. These charges include the landing, storing and 

 delivering the coal from the depots to the steamers, and all loss by defalcation 

 or other causes. The contractors are not paid for the quantity of coal they dispatch, 

 but only for that which they deliver, free from dust and small coal, on board the 

 steam-vessels. 



t Mr. Lewin of Cherra Poonji offers to deliver coal into boats at five per cent, 

 on the cost of doing so, and Mr. George Loch, collector of Sylhet, who communi- 

 cated Mr. Lewin' s offer to the committee, proposes himself to find boats for the 

 transmission of the coal to any dep6t at which it may be required, and thinks the 

 service which this would confer on the district would induce any collector at Sylhet, 

 should he be removed, to do the same. See on this point the report annexed to this 

 article. 



Regarding the Adji coals Mr. Erskine observes in a letter, dated 6th November, 

 1838, to the coal committee : " It would be impossible to say how much coal might 

 be got down to Cutwa during an average season, and it would be equally rash to 

 give a tender for the supply of a stated quantity, or to depend on such a contract, 

 till the navigation of the Adji had been put to the test of experiment." In another 

 part of the same letter Mr. Erskine remarks that, " Government could not depend 

 on a larger supply than 10,000 maunds in one season, till the navigation of the Adji 

 had been tried," and then states that " if 40 rupees per 100 maunds could be offered 

 for the Sheergurh" (which is the best Adji) " coal, a much larger supply might be 

 brought to Cutwa than that abovementioned, by employing carts to bring down the 

 coal to the lower Adji ghats during the dry season, making the carriage from theuce 

 in boats less precarious." Mr. Erskine adds, that he should be happy himself to 



