PART }.] 
Hughes: On raw materials. 
29 
new Birbhum Coal Company is only 5 annas a ton. or Rs. 1-8 per hundred cubic feet loosely 
heaped; but as the ore is close to the surface, I hare trebled the rate in order to cover 
extra expenses when deeper workings are opened out. Any information about tbe rate paid 
for assistance, although imparted to me by a contractor’s Sirdar, may not be correct, as 
natives sometimes make misstatements. Whether this be so or not however Re. 1 a ton 
is a liberal estimate. 
Kunkur .—This material ought to be procurable at Rs. 1-8 a ton, or Es. 5 a hundred 
cubic feet.* Mr. Joll, Executive Engineer, roughly values unwashed kunkur at Es. 1-6 
a ton. In order to be on the safe side however, let the rate in all calculations be Rs. 2. 
I find that Rotas limestone, taking the very lowest estimates, will for equal quantities 
be exactly ten times the cost of kunkur when delivered at Sitarampur. 
Thus, 100 cubic feet of limestone conveyed from Rotas to 
Lakiserai by water the whole way ... ... Rs. 18 0 0 
Railway freight from Lakiserai to Sitarampur ... „ 47 0 0 
Unlanding and landing charges, and so on ... ... „ 5 0 0 
Total ... Es. 70 0 0 
or Es. 20 a ton as compared to Es. 2; but as Rotas limestone will probably do three times 
the amount of duty that kunkur will, the comparison is as Es. 6 to Es. 20. Considerable 
advantage would be derived from the use of Rotas or any other comparati velv purer lime¬ 
stone, because in the employment of kunkur, there is an increase in the weight of material 
to be passed through the furnace for the same produce of metal. 
Occasionally, as I pointed out before, an impure limestone may be more suitable for a 
flux than a pure one; but in kunkur the impurities are somewhat too great, not to make it 
advisable, bearing in mind relative cost, to substitute a better material. 
Cost of manufacture .—The simple cost of the manufacture of pig-iron per ton, leaving 
out of consideration the interest on cost of furnaces, management, and so on, will, according 
to my figures, be— 
Es. A. P. 
Ore 
3i tons at 1 
3 8 0 
Kunkur 
3| „ at 2 
7 0 0 
Coal (large) .„ 
3^ n St 3 
... 10 8 0 
Coal (small) 
... ... 
0 8 0 
Wages 
... 
2 8 0 
24 0 0 
I have allowed liberally both in the amount of material and in the matter of cost. 
Mr. David Smith, who made very careful calculations in 1856, showed that with the price 
of home manufactured iron as it then ruled, and with the estimated cost of pig-iron at 
Es. 20-8 per ton,+ there would be a considerable profit. I think there can be but little doubt 
* The ton is calculated as 27 “ 
Iron-ore ... ... ... 100 cnbie feet = 133 wutm = 5 tons. 
Kunkur ... ... w 100 „ „ = £4 n =Z\ „ 
Limestone ... ... ... 100 „ „ = &4 „ = 3 \ „ 
t Mr. Pst id Smith’s report on iron districts of Bengal 1=56, p. i& His f^ures are for simple cost of 
ture as mine are. 
