The Sun.
London, England, 1866-05-23 00:00:00

The Coal Question.

(From the Mining Journal, May 19, 1866.)
" This is a question," says Mr. W. Stanley
Jevons, "of that almost religious importance which
needs the separate study and determination of every
intelligent person. And," he continues, referring
to the forebodings, of those who suppose our stock
of coal to be running short--." if we find that we
must yield before the disposition of material wealth,
which is the work of a higher Providence, we need
not give way to weak discouragement concerning
the future, but should rather learn to take an ele-
vated view of our undoubted duties and opportuni-
ties in the present."
Learning that the rate at which the exhaustion of
our coal beds is ping on is about 96,000 acres, of
a yard in thickness, per annum, we can well under-
stand thinking minds are beginning to feel alarm,
and to inquire how long our deposits of fuel will
last with this enormous drain upon them. The
uncertainty which at present surrounds the whole
question naturally tends to increase the apprehen-
sion that we may upon some winter's morning, at no
very remote period, awake to the annoying fact that
the coal-cellar of the United Kingdom is empty.
There are several points in connection with this
question upon which we propose from time to time
to write ; at present our intention is to show
the strange uncertainty which surrounds so vital a
question. It must be remembered that the evi-
dences of this uncertainty given in the following
computations are of the most decided character, all
of them having been made by men professing to
have special information respecting the coal fields
with which they deal.
FIRST, OF THE NEWCASTLE COAL FIELD.
M'Nab, in 1792, in a Treatise on the Coal Trade
in Williams's Mineral Kingdom, gives the
duration of this field as ... ... 360 years.
Thomson, in 1814, in Annals of Philosophy ... 1000 years.
Hugh Taylor, in 1830, Report on Coal Trade 1727 years.
Dr. Buckland, Bridgewater Treatise ... 400 years.
G. C. Greenwoll, in the Transactions of Mining
Engineers, gave the duration as ... 831 years.
T. Y. Hall, after a very careful examination of
the same field ... ).
Sir William Armstrong says, in his address as
president of the British Association, so far
as this coal-field is concerned, at the present
rate of working, it is generally admittedthat
exhaustion will take place in 200 years,
Handel Cossham, in a paper read before the
mining engineers of South Wales, says,
speaking of the Durham and Northumber-
land coal-fields, the thin seams alone would
supply the present generation for 400 years,
Edward Hull, in his "Coal-fields of Great Bri-
tain," second edition, gives the period as ... 450 years.
SECONDLY, OF THE SOUTH WALES COAL-FIELD.

... 256 years.

H. Hussey Vivian, M.P., in his speech some
years since on the French Commercial

Treaty, says, I arrive at the conclusion that
South Wales could supply all England for... 500 years.
And her own consumption for... ... 5000 years.
Edward Hull, in his book already quoted, says
supposing the production of future years to
amount to ten millions, the supply would
last for
••• 1600

-oars.

THIRDLY, OF ALL OUR COAL-FIELDS.
✓
McCulloch, in his Dictionary of Commerce,
says—calling her coal mines the coal cellars
of the great city, there is in them a supply
which at the presentrate of expenditure will
last for
2000 years.
R. C. Taylor, of America, in his book on coal,
estimates the duration of all the British coal
beds as
1700 years.
Sir W. Armstrong writes—The entire quantity
of available coal existing in these islands has
been calculated to amount to about
80,000,000,000 tons, which at the present
rate of consumption would be exhausted in 930 years.
but with a continued yearly increase of
2,500,000, tons would only last 212 years.
Edward Hull writes—The increase, as •I
have
shown, amounts to 1,500,000 tons per annum,
or 150,000,000 tons in a century; with the
above rate of increase, it (the coal) would
only be sufficient for upwards of 3OO years.
From this it will be evident that no dependence
can be placed upon any computation that has yet
been made. Mr. H. Hussey Vivian, who, in 1860,
told us that "it was perfectly absurd to talk of
the exhaustion of coal in this country," has given
notice that he will move for the appointment of a
Royal commission to inquire into the future pros-
pects and present state of our coal trade. Sir Geo.
grey has informed the house that the Government
are in correspondence with Sit R. Murchison on the
subject, and that it is probable the inquiry will bo
committed to the care of the Geological Survey and
the Mining Record-office.
-Whatever course may be adopted, it is to be hoped
that it will be carried forward in perfect indepen-
dence of all trade interests ; that it will be regarded
as a religious duty to determine, with all possible
exactness, the quantities of coal remaining un-
worked in the existing collieries ; and that the
highest geological knowledge and practical expe-
rience will be brought to bear on the examination
of the country covered by the Permian rocks and
the New Red Sandstone, so as to determine what
the probable extension of known coal-fields may be.

COURSE OF EXCHANGE—Last Evening.

Amsterdam
Ditto Short. 11 15 11 17
Rotterdam 3 Months. 12 0 12 1
Antwerp — 12 0 12 k
25 55 25 621
Brussels
Hamburg
Paris — 13 10 13 101
Short 25 0 25 121
Ditto 3 Months. 25 40 25 50
Marseilles
Frankfort on the Maine
Vienna — 119 120
13 40 13 60
Trieste — 13 30 13 60
Petersburgh.
Berlin
6 29
Madrid 46f
451
Cadiz
284750
Leghorn
Milan
Genoa , '
Naples
,-.- flmimmitosimmo •.^ 2d 0 25 50