Oldham.: Wardha river Coal-fields, 
part 2.] 
53 
and of fair quality, there would be no hope of contending with that field for the supply of 
Madras or elsewhere to the south. And it is greatly to be regretted that Colonel Haig was 
not supplied with the means of investigating this very important question during the present 
year. And in any case coal does occur many miles to the south of the Chanda coal in the 
Nizam’s territories, which is much more conveniently placed for meeting any demands from 
the south. 
Other considerations have been introduced incidentally as it were, which may he just 
alluded to. 1 The rich iron ores of Chanda would before long,’ it is said, ‘ he smelted at 
foundries near the coal-field.’ Whether such a rapid introduction of iron works can fairly 
be looked for under any circumstances is more than questionable. That rich iron ores do 
exist in the Chanda district is well known, and equally that they exist in practically cxhaustless 
quantity (there is a whole mountain nearly a mile long of magnetite in one place), but these 
ores do not occur near the coal-fields. There is also haematite ore in the Yanak hills, near 
to where the line of railway if carried down there ought to cross the Peingunga, and near 
to coal. 
In all these remarks 1 would say that I have purposely avoided entering on any ques¬ 
tion of the comparative facilities, or comparative economy of construction of any such line. 
Some years’ experience in laying out and making railways might justify nty discussing these 
points, hut I have known so many instances of absurd mistakes as regards sections and 
estimates for such works based on a mere inspection of the ground, or put together on the 
information of others only, that I would not venture to offer an opinion without actual 
survey. Nor is there any necessity to do so. Trial sections have, I believe, been taken over 
both the lines referred to, and 1 am much mistaken if these sections have not shown how 
entirely below the mark the first estimate of the cost was. But, emteris paribus , I merely 
wish to assert, that a line of communication direct from Wardha into East Berar will 
accommodate any likely traffic in coal, and will open out the cotton country infinitely better 
than a line direct to Chanda, or through the Chanda district. 
I cannot close without noticing how much, in my opinion, this matter has been obscured 
by the unhesitating adoption of the term of the Chanda coal-field. It so happens that just 
there the territory immediately adjoining is under a separate government, and belongs to a 
different jurisdiction, and the very existence almost of the Berars has been scarcely alluded 
to in discussing lines of communication, which were to be designed for the benefit of the 
country at large. Bat geological formations are not coincident with political boundaries fixed 
for the convenience of man. Such examinations acknowledge no fiscal limits: we have but to 
ascertain the facts carefully, and then to state them freely, convinced that any attempt to 
force the teachings of those facts into a preconceived groove of local tendencies must fail 
sooner or later, as does every such effort to ran counter to the laws of nature. 
Whether even the large extent of coal proved to exist in Berar, of a quality such as it 
is shown to be, and varying so much as it does at different points, will repay the charges for 
construction of a line of railway, is, I think, worthy of much closer consideration than it 
has yet received. The calculations which have been gone into in great detail, although 
correct in themselves, are based on data, which even the few weeks that have since elapsed 
shorv to be fallacious. English coal was taken as costing at Bombay on an average 11s. 30 
per ton; at Nagpur Rs. 60 to IIs. 70. And it was calculated, even allowing for the use of 
two tons of local coal instead of one of English, that at any place east of Bhosawul a saving 
of £16*., or Rs. 13 per ton, would be effected by the use of Ghfigtis coal. The price 
of English coal at Bombay is now, April 1870, Rs. 14 per ton, that is, less than one-half 
the price calculated, or a difference in first cost greater than the estimated saving !! I do not 
believe that this rate can be maintained, but it is quite possible that the continued use of the 
Suez Canal will tend to reduce very considerably the average cost of English coal at Bombay. 
This one item alone would totally upset all the calculations of cost, of profit, and of 
traffic even. And before it can be asserted that a branch line of railway to the Wardha 
river coal-fields will even repay interest on the cost of its construction, vastly more careful 
and more widely gathered statistics, both as to cost and amount of traffic than have as yet 
been hastily procured, or at least published, must be sought for. 
May l.sl, 1870. 
T. Oldham. 
