1840.] 



Beport of the Coal Committee, 



355 



XIU,— Beport of the Coal Committee. 



In submitting a summnry of what has been done since our last Report, 

 we shall commence with the 



Tenasserim Provinces, 



Coal has been found in the Tenasserim provinces by Dr. Heifer in 

 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, 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 pos- 

 session 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 Ten- 

 asserim provinces on the last mentioned coal, one by Lieut. Hutchinson, 

 dated 6tli May IS39 ; and the other, of a somewhat later date, by Dr. 

 Heifer. From Lieut. Hutchinson's report, we learn that the position 

 of this co^il is 12'' 21' 30" N. lat., and about 9.9° 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 coasr 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 prop- 

 ping 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 crcp- 

 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 undermin- 

 ing 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 latter may be withdrawn, and the roof allowed to fall in.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 steam 

 purposes. Fifty pounds tried in the still furnace laboratory of the 



