356 



Report of the Coal Committee, 



[April 



Honorable Company's Dispensary, afforded four gallons of distilled 

 water, and left a residue of four pounds weight of ashes, cinders, and 

 small coal that fell through the bars of the furnace during combustion. 

 Its specific gravity is r27 

 Composition^ 



Water, 9 



Volatile matter, 46 



Carbon, 40 



Ash, 5 



100 



The distance of this coal in a direct line from the coast being only 

 twenty-eight miles, Lieut. Hutchinson proposed to construct a road, 

 which he supposed would reduce the expense of delivery on the coast 

 considerably. Boats of large draught it is said, may ascend the Tenas- 

 serira river at all seasons to Tenasserim town, within twenty-nine miles 

 of the coal, and during the rainy season to the coal itself, so that 

 nothing could be more favourable than the position of this coal for all 

 purposes of local improvement, as well as for steam navigation to the 

 eastward. Forty tons of this coal cost 5| annas per maund at Mergui, 

 and 8 annas per maund in Calcutta. The Government have called upon 

 Mr. Blundell, the Commissioner of the Tenasserim provinces, to pro- 

 vide 50,000 maunds; and have furnished a working party, consisting of 

 persons accustomed to mining, for the purpose, and have intrusted the 

 superintendence of the necessary operations to Lieut. Hutchinson. 



We have been informed by Captain Lloyd, I. N., that about one de- 

 gree lower down the coast, coal has been found of very good quality on 

 the Senhea river, but the Committee have no information on this head, 

 although some progress had been made in raising a quantity, v^'hen the 

 work was discontinued in consequence probably of the more favourable 

 position of the coal near Tenasserim. The Senhea coal is situated, 

 Capt, Lloyd thinks, about 11® 22' N. lat., and 99° 8' E. long, about 

 forty miles up the river, the navigation of which is doubtful. It is 

 however the most southern point at which coal has been hitherto 

 found on the Malay coast. 



A detached fragment of an inferior coal called Anthracite by some, 

 has been found near Maulmain, latitude 16° 30' N. thus indicating the 

 presence of coal formations between the Tenasserim coal fields, 12" Nt 

 latitude, and Arracan 19° N. latitude, and holding out strong induce- 

 ments to further search being instituted in that quarter. 



