February 25, 1916.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

367

of coal are hard to obtain, and values in some cases have
become dearer. Throughout the Lancashire and
Yorkshire markets the position remains much about
the same, the supply being unequal to the demand.
At Cardiff the tonnage situation has improved, but
the output has been lower and the restrictions on
exports are still very stringent. Very little free coal is
available for the market. The Scottish coal trade
maintains its activity.

The interesting case raising the question of the
reasonableness of increased goods rates, charged by
the Great Northern Railway Company, has now been
settled, the reserved decision of the Railway and
Canal Commission Court being in favour of the
railway, company.

It is stated that the Government have arranged to
allow Sweden to receive a larger supply of coal from
this country in return for pit props.

A lecture on “Coal and Coal Smoke” will be
delivered by Mr. E. 0. Evans at a meeting of the
Monmouthshire Colliery Officials’ Association, at
Crumlin to-morrow (Saturday).

Instructions have been issued relating to appeals
to the Colliery Recruiting Courts for the exemption
from military service of men engaged at mines rescue
stations.

The South Wales Coal Conciliation Board on
Monday were again unable to arrive at any
agreement on the issues under the new wages
agreements.

The Home Secretary states that the use of spring
terminals on approved safety lamps is to be
prohibited.

The discovery of workable coal seams
The beneath the Belgian Campine dates
Campine only from the year 1901, since which
Coalfield, time its extent has been explored by
a number of boreholes undertaken
by the Netherlands State Boring Company, under the
able direction of Dr. van Waterschoot van der
Gracht. There has been no secrecy or reservation
with regard to the details of these borings, and a
considerable volume of literature has from time to
time been published bearing upon the results that
have been achieved and the extent to which the
structure of this new coalfield has been revealed.
Practically the whole area lies deeply buried beneath
a cover of newer rocks. The situation, in fact, closely
resembles that of the Kent coalfield, and the problems
concerned are generally similar, with this exception,
that in the Campine, in addition to a thick cover of
Mesozoic strata, there is also present an important
series of Tertiary deposits which are absent on this
side of the Straits of Dover.

The whole of the evidence obtained from these
boreholes has recently been ably reviewed by Prof. P.
Krusch in a series of articles published in Glucliauf
and we take this opportunity to describe briefly the
conclusions which have been arrived at with regard
to the shape and extent of the new coalfield so far as
can be at present ascertained. To this end, let us in
the first place imagine the whole of the newer strata
to be removed, in order to present a clear view of the
nature of the underlying palaeozoic floor. The older
pre-carboniferous rocks of Cambrian and Silurian age
were influenced by the Caledonian movement before
the Devonian and Carboniferous strata were laid
down. Later came the Hercynian movement which
folded these latter deposits and prolonged denudation,
then truncated the folds, forming a pene-plain, in
which detached coal basins were preserved in the
hollows of the troughs. The whole of this folded and
eroded surface was subsequently covered by Mesozoic
and Tertiary strata, which, in most cases, have not
been seriously affected by earth movements, and by
which the old palaeozoic floor is largely concealed,
except in the southern and western portion of the
area in the neighbourhood of Dinant and Aachen.
Around Dinant we have small isolated exposed coal
basins lying, as above mentioned, in troughs in the
Upper Devonian strata. These are separated by an
overthrust fault from the Liege coal basin, and this
coalfield, therefore, in the south extends beneath
Devonian rocks, which have been pushed above the
coal measures towards the north, causing an inter-
esting reversal of sequence in this area. The Liege

coal basin apparently terminates normally towards
the north, where the strata rest upon Devonian rocks
passing into the Silurian and Cambrian massif forming
the plateau of Brabant.

This Cambro-Silurian massif is the governing
feature of the area. It underlies the whole area of
Belgium between Aachen and Brussels, t its westerly
termination being still unknown. It has a general
trend to the north-west, and it is on the northern
flank of this plateau that the Campine coalfield lies,
and against which it is apparently faulted. So far as
the evidence goes, this fault sharply defines the
southern margin of the Campine coalfield. It extends
from the Meuse north of Maestricht, approximately
through Hasselt and Diest to the north of Antwerp,
where it crosses the Dutch boundary. All borings
south of this line, after passing through the newer
rocks, at once penetrate the Cambro-Silurian plateau.
Whether any isolated coal basins exist in the folds of
this plateau is, of course, debatable, but they have
not yet been found, and the evidence seems to be
unfavourable to their existence. The sharp delimi-
tation of the southern margin of the Campine coalfield
by what may be termed the Hasselt fault must, in
fact, be taken to be well established by the borehole
evidence.

The northern margin is more in doubt. We know,
however, that a deep trough, running approximately
parallel'to the trend of the plateau of Brabant, extends
from the Meuse, near Maeseyck towards the Dutch
Rhine near Rotterdam. In this trough, filled as it is
by thick deposits of younger strata, coal measures, if
present at all, do not occur at a workable depth.
Thus, for practical purposes, the Campine coalfield is
terminated on the north by this central trough of
Holland. The Campine coalfield, therefore, occupies
a narrow band, about 30 miles wide, running in a
north-westerly direction between the Meuse and the
mouth of the Rhine.

The limit to the north-westerly extension of the
Campine coal basin is still in doubt. MM. Denoel
and Stainier were originally of opinion that it
terminated just beyond the borings at Vlimmeren
and Sonthowen, which are situated about 8 miles
west of the railway between Herenthals and
Turnhout. Others, such as MM. Fourmarier and
Renier, believed it extended beyond these points,
and, with a view to solve this problem, a boring was
put down at Woensdrecht, south of Bergen-op-Zoom,
and at a depth of 1,176 m. penetrated carboniferous
limestone. It is probable, therefore, that the coal
basin extends well across the Dutch boundary, and
may even reach the sea in this direction.

The increase in the thickness of the overlying
cover in this region is an important factor. As far
as can be judged, the 1,000 m. thickness line of cover
passes through Turnhout and Bergen-op-Zoom, and
the 1,200-m. line through Baarle, Oudenbosch and
Sonthowen. . Dr. van "Waterschoot van her Gracht
makes the central Dutch trough, referred to above,
pass through Vlodrop, Weert, Eindhoven, s’Herto-
genbosch and Leyden to the sea, and this line may
probably be taken to represent the limit of workable
coal in this direction. From an economic standpoint,
the Campine coal field is believed to stand in value
between those of Belgium and Rhenish Westphalia.
Within a depth of 1,500 m. it is estimated to contain
about 8 milliards of tons, about one-half of which
lies within the depth of 1,000 m. The greater part
of this coal is in the Province of Limbourg, only
about one-eighth lying in the Province of Antwerp.
As regards quality, 51-o'per cent, consists of gas
coal, 21*5 per cent, bituminous, 20 per cent, coking,
and 7 per cent, anthracite coal. Private exploiters
have also to reckon with the fact that the Belgian
Government has reserved three areas, amounting in
all to 200 sq. kiloms., in exceptionally advantageous
localities, where the thickness of cover is particularly
favourable, being generally only between 385 and
850 metres in depth.

From a mining standpoint this question of cover is
of the first importance on account of the large quan-
tities of water* contained in the porous horizons,
giving great trouble in shaft sinking, which in most
cases has Only been overcome by the adoption of the
freezing process. In other respects the coal seams
are favourable for exploitation, the dip of the beds

being but small, and, so far as is known, faults of
any considerable magnitude being few. The seams
are dipping at a low angle towards the north, the
steepest inclination being in the eastern portion of
the field. Minor folding, however, occurs, and
probably further irregularities will manifest them-
selves as the beds are developed in working. The
number of seams of coal met with in this field is
comparatively small, being only 46, whereas in
Westphalia there are 76 workable seams and in the
Mons basin 112. The thickness of the seams varies
from 0’40 to 2*20 metres, but the latter is exceptional
and has only been found in one boring. About
one-third of the seams, however, exceed Im. in
thickness. The mean thickness is about 0-8 m.,
which somewhat exceeds the mean of 0-68 for the
Belgian coal field, but falls short of the value of
0’9 m. for Westphalia. We may, therefore, assume
that the output per man will be somewhere between
the value of 232 tons per year as got in Belgium and
275 tons per year in Westphalia. The seams also
vary in quality, showing a tendency to increase in
volatile matter towards the west.

It is reasonably certain that, within the next
10 years or so the Campine coal field will be
producing annually not less than 20 million tons of
coal. The difficulties to be encountered in developing
this field do not promise to be greater than have
been experienced in Rhenish Prussia, where very
similar conditions prevail, and where the resources
of practical mining have been adequate to overcome
natural obstacles. We may, therefore, look forward
to the time when the Campine coalfield will be an
active factor in the coal industry of Western Europe.

We believe that there are very few’
Wasted natives of these isles who remain in
Effort. doubt as to what are the paramount
duties of the race and of the men
and women that compose it at the present time, and
for as far ahead as can be seen. It is a definite
stage on the road to victory to be able to envisage
defeat and to be prepared for every sacrifice to avert
it. It is impossible to ignore, however, that this
singleness of purpose is greatly endangered by risky
opportunism and the absence of any clear construc-
tive policy. Thus far our achievements have nearly
all been due to a genius for initiative, and in but
small degree to the logical thought and foresight, of
which the French seem to be so much more capable
than ourselves. The result has been that, whilst
these achievements have been many and great, they
have at the same time been attended by inordinate
cost.

If one seek for the causes, we believe that they
will be found, apart from the abiding temperament
of, the people, in our deep-rooted affection for free
and independent institutions ; in the fact that all our
pursuits have been founded on peaceable intent.
These concepts of human destiny, the very end for
which we are fighting, have led us over and over again
to misuse our resources since war was declared.

The country appears to be faced at this time by
two very dangerous tendencies—one being the weak
desire to go on as before, the other the intention to
turn every man and woman to a new job. It must
be obvious that the true path lies between these two
extremes, but as yet there does not appear to be any
settled conviction in the minds of the people or the
executive as to the course that should be steered, and
much time and energy are wasted in feeling for the
way. Anyone that has followed the proceedings
before the appeal tribunals must feel that hundreds
of cases need never have been brought before these
courts, had a few guiding principles as to rejection
been clearly laid down, and that the decisions have
swayed through an immense arc between extreme
severity and leniency, in which the sovereign needs
of the country have too often been obscured. But,
taking only the finite cases, it is reasonable to ask
whether the manhood of the country has always been
utilised to the best advantage. At the outset of war
colliers flocked to the Colours, although efforts were
made to check such patriotism by the diffusion of
absurdly optimistic official views. A little later the
pendulum swung in the other direction,< and miners