ECONOMICS: Bill DING STONES, 



85 



SECTION XX. — CLAY. 



There appears to be a great want of good clay for even ordinary bricks 

 in the Umaria coal-field, and in default of better material the ai'enaceous 

 alluvial clay along the banks of the Unirar river has to be used. A very 

 limited amount of clay is procurable in the tanks around Umaria, 

 but it will not hold out for long. Perhaps the scarcity of a suitable 

 substance for brick-making may force the use of stone, which in my 

 opinion would be an advantage, as ensuring more permanency in the 

 buildings that may have to be erected. The village potters of Umaria 

 and Kalesar, after specially treating the sandy clays, make excelleut 

 porous drinking-vessels. 



SECTION XXI. — BUILDING STONES. 



Considering the large area of sandstones over which choice may be 

 made, it would not at first sight seem a difficult task to procure building 

 stone suitable for most purposes. Prom the statements, however, of the 

 various engineers who have been engaged upon the survey of the Bilas- 

 pur-Etawah Railway, it appears that the scarcity of good stone is a very 

 serious embarrassment in their plans for heavy bridging. 



The sandstones of the coal-measures are all soft when really quarried, 

 but they possess the advantage of hardening by exposure to the air. 

 Closed-grained sandstones occur in plenty throughout the Upper Barakar 

 series, and I am of opinion that it merely requires search to obtain stone 

 of suitable strength. Probably the question of the lead (distance) has 

 more to do with the perplexity of supply than anything else. 



Beyond the Umaria field, excellent material is procurable between 

 Kirintal and Amha, and the rollers and grindstones in use at the Umaria 

 colliery are obtained from the quarries in the neighbourhood of those 

 villages. For less exact requirements than those of bridges and engine 

 foundations, the coal-measure standstones would fully answer. 



( Ul ) 



