PRODUCTION, TRADE, LABOUR, ETC. 
127 
In 1892, the merchants of CaUuitta interested in the coal industry 
met together and formed for their mutual 
Indian Mining Asso- advantage a combination known as the Indian 
ciation. .... 
Mining Association. The objects of this Associa- 
tion are "to protect by every legitimate means the interests of 
those engaged in developing the mining industries of India, to 
foster those industries, to provide a ready means of arbitration 
for the settlement of disputes between mining proprietors, and to 
take part in such discussions affecting land as may have a bearing 
on mines, their development or working, and for this purpose to enter 
into communication with the Government and other public bodies." 
During the twenty years of its existence the Association has 
proved its usefulness in numerous ways. In the drafting of mining 
legislation its opinion and advice have always considerable weight. 
Its united action in trading with railway companies and the offi- 
cials of the port of Calcutta has met with marked success. Its 
co-operative medical association, to which many of the European 
and some Indian coal companies in the Raniganj and Jharia fields 
subscribe, supplies a pressing want, and has done much to improve 
the conditions of existence in those coalfields. 
