386

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

February 21, 1913.

would get a better absorption. He thought that was so
with the absorption of CO-2 in the cartridge, and, if
anything, it might be better than where they had the
sticks of potash lying in a bag ; but, as he had pointed
out and would still repeat, the serious danger was to
have an apparatus which had a negative zone and which
had joints which might leak. Indeed, it was possible
for them to leak no matter how careful the testing
might be or how competent the instructor.

This concluded the meeting.

THE COAL INDUSTRY OF INDIA *

By Sir Ralph Percy Ashton.

II.—The Prospect for the Future.

The value of a retrospect, however, is mainly measured
by the facility or otherwise which it gives for judging
of the future. The total production of the British
provinces and native States for the last 20 years is
shown on the diagram on page 331; the curve, at first
easy, becomes annually more steep.

There was continued expansion from 1881 till 1908,
but with checks in 1884,1892, 1896 and 1902.

These checks in production previous to 1908 have
invariably been preceded by temporary low prices, and
oonsequent pause in development, followed in a short
time by a scarcity of coal and very high prices, which
have successively been relieved by the extension of
railways along a new line of easily worked outcrop.

At the commencement of the period of 30 years which
is reviewed, the East Indian Railway had branches to
Barakur and Toposi and Giridi, but there were few
sidings, and a great quantity of coal was carted to the
various big despatching stations, viz., Barakur, Sita-
rampur, Raneegunge and Toposi.

In the first 10 years the outturn had increased from
1,000,000 to 2,300,000, but scarcity was felt. Meanwhile
the Bengal-Nagpur Railway had been started, and ran
a line to Sanctoria and Desherghur, which brought into
the market a lot of first-rate coal.

At this time the Giridi coalfield was supplying all the
wants of the East Indian Railway, which had plenty of
good coal for its own use, and thought in those days it
had sufficient to supply itself for 162 years.

In 1880 Dr. Saise stated that:—“ The output of the
Giridi coalfield is 400,000 to 450,000 tons per annum, of
which the East Indian Railway raises 250,000 to 300,000
tons ; assuming an output of 500,000 tons, the coalfield
will have a life of 162 years.”

In 1892 Giridi coal rose to Rs. 6 per ton.

The East Indian Railway, however, though not anxious
about its own supplies, was anxious to anticipate the
Bengal-Nagpur Railway in entry to the Jerriah field,
and sent Mr. Ward to survey it in 1889-90. Mr. Ward’s
report was very favourable, and steps were taken to enter
the field, and coal was sent down the extension in 1893.

During these three years, however, the East Indian
Railway had been running new lines along unopened
outcrops in the Raneegunge field. Assensol and
.Sitarampore were connected by branch lines with
Toposi, following the outcrops both of the upper and
lower Damuda series, and the production continued to
expand. After the Jerriah connection was effected, the
market was flooded with coal, and the best quality from
the latter field was sold with difficulty at Rs. 1/12 per
ton into wagons. The lower (Raneegunge) field coal
having an advantage of 12 annas in railway
freight obtained about 12 annas more, but was barely
profitable. However, the demand and production rapidly
increased, and in the second 10 years the annual pro-
duction increased from 2,300,000 tons to 6,635,000. Even
this enormous expansion had hardly kept pace with
demand, and in 1899 Deshurghur and Sanctoria coal had
risen in spite of it to what was then considered the high
price of Rs. 4. In subsequent years, however, the
Jerriah output enabled supply to get ahead of demand,
and prices for these best qualities dropped to Rs. 3/7 in
1903.

The Department of Commerce and Industry gives
the average prices of Bengal coal for the year for 20
years, from which the subjoined curve is made up. The
above curve, however, is only an indication of tendency,
and does not mark the extreme of the oscillations of the
price of first-class coal, owing to the fact that the average
includes the price realised for dust, rubble and inferior
coals. The most inferior coals only come into the
market when there is a coal famine, and the average
arrived at by their inclusion does not mark the price
that the best coals are obtaining at such periods of
tension. Thus in 1903 the best coal was at Rs. 3/7,
while the average was at Rs. 2/4, a difference of Rs. 1/3,

* The first article appeared in the Colliery Guardian of
February 14,1913, page 330.

whereas in 1908 the best coal reached Rs. 6/12, while the
average was at Rs. 3/12, a difference of Rs. 3.*

It has also to be noted that though the depression of
1911 was the severest on record, prices did not fall to the
level of the previous depression of 1903-5.

The increase in raisings of the years 1906-7-8 was
altogether abnormal. It was caused not only by
natural expansion of the industry, but also by a general
effort to rush out as much coal as possible to meet
very high prices, and by companies who wished to
make a show. A number of these companies, offspring
of the “ boom,” took up native workings and worked
feverishly at the coal most easily wrought without any
regard to the future. During the period when this was
happening the American crisis of 1907 occurred, followed
by a world-wide depression which reached India in 1908
and accentuated the reaction from the boom, and there
is little wonder that production fell back 900,000 tons in

1909.	The striking point is that prices did not drop
back to the previous low level, and the explanation is
that the cost of raising in the previous seven years had
gone up all round.

The reaction of 1909-11 was partly the cause of the
present boom, but there are more permanent causes at
work and there are not now those prospects of relief
that in former years quickly led to increased raisings
and reduced prices. Every promising outcrop in both
the Raneegunge and Jerriah fields has now been opened
up and connected by rail. The best of this outcrop coal
has been worked into pillars, and a large area of these
pillars has been taken out.

It is true that the Ramghur and Bokaro fields will
shortly be linked up, but though Mr. Ward, the manager
of the East Indian Railway Collieries, has inspected the
fields, his report has not been made public. This fact is
ominous when we remember the wide advertisement
given to the same gentleman’s report on the Jerriah
field in 1889-90. Had his report of Bokaro been
similarly favourable, it would have been to the interests
both of the railways and of the proprietors of the mining
rights to publish the fact. It may, indeed, be accepted
that the Ramghur and Bokaro fields, therefore, which
are 25 miles further than Jerriah from the port, will
bring little relief, and that they will not prove ever to
vie with the old fields.

There are also several other fields of similar character
lying in the Damuda valley between Bokaro and
Daltongunge, viz.: Kuranpura, Aurunga and Hutar,
of which little is known, but which are believed to be
similar in character to the two first-named. Moreover,
the remoteness of these fields must prevent their ever
competing on equal terms with the fields which adjoin
the Delta and are nearest to the port.

The cost of raising from 1,000 ft. shafts is less than
the cost of hauling even an additional 20 miles, and the
capital cost of sinking shafts to this or greater depth,
will be less than the cost of exploiting the hills of Chota
Nagpur with mineral railways, while existing mining
establishments now employed on the upper seams will
be able to exploit the lower ones without additional
management charges.

The many native workings which were exploited in
the boom of 1906-8 have been worked to their maximum
capacity, and many of them are on the down grade.

The output of the Giridi field, which rose to 829,271
tons in 1905, has fallen to 704,443 tons in 1911, of which
632,778 tons were raised by the East Indian Railway, who
bought out the only other important colliery. This out-
put will never be increased, and the East Indian Railway
has to buy greater quantities of coal every year in the
open market.

The Singareni fields output topped 500,000 tons in

1910,	but its expansion is slow, for it had reached
469,000 tons in 1900.

The output of the Central Indian fields, which
reached 193,000 tons in 1903, has dropped to 143,000
in 1911.

The output from the Central Provinces is still small
at 211,616 tons in 1911. It was 196,981 tons in 1902.

The output of Assam, in spite of continued efforts to
meet an urgent demand, appears to be stationary, or on
the down grade, as it reached 305,563 tons in 1909, and
had gone down to 294,893 in 1911.

The effort to raise coal in Burmah and Kashmir
proved fruitless, and the Punjab, Baluchistan and
Bikaneer, after many years’ effort, contributed only
90,000 tons among them.f

The hope of the future thus continues to be placed in
the old fields, which probably still contain enormous
supplies of coal at lower depths. The extent of these
supplies is, however, rendered problematical by the

* Investors' India Year Book, G-. H. le Maistre.

t The above figures are from the note on “ Coal Production
and Consumption ” by the Commercial Intelligence Depart-
ment of India for 1911.

prevalence of trap dykes, which have burnt out the coal
in their neighbourhood. In fact, the startling theory
is held by some that the best seams of the Jerriah field
are burnt out below certain depths. At the best
however, this prevalence of burning, serious at an
outcrop, is ten times more serious at great depths*
where it may not be detected till large capital sums
have been sunk in reaching it. So far no law or method
has been detected in the distribution of trap, or in its
effects. Boreholes, therefore, only give indications of
conditions where the bore is put down, and do not
necessarily indicate conditions a few feet away.

Moreover, the winning of coal at greater depths by
means of shafts means a departure for ever from the
old easy-going style, when Bengali Baboos and gangs
of earth coolies could, without capital expenditure, open
up a quarry in the outcrop of a big seam and supply
sudden demands.

In fact, relief from the present position, and provision
for the future increased demands of trade, can only be
attained by the expenditure of large capital sums in
deep shafts, or larger sums in the extension of railways.

The former process will tend to concentrate the coal
trade in the hands of larger raisers who can find the
necessary capital, and will lead to a general increase of
costs, and a greater necessity and ability to maintain
prices.

Chart A shows that production and consumption
have averaged over 12,000,000 tons for five years, for
though 1912 figures are not yet published, they are
probably higher than those of 1911. Out of this figure
the Jerriah field, which was opened less than 20 years
before, has contributed over 6,000,000 tons a year from
the shallow workings that are now partly exhausted.

Such being the position in regard to supply, it is well
to look at the position in regard to demand. Figures
of the consumption on the railways have already been
given. The mileage of the open railways increased by
750 miles per annum during the last decade, but while
this increase is going on the use of coal per mile of open
railway is also increasing. In the year 1900 only 83 tons
per mile were used,* but in 1909 121 tons per mile were
used. As in England 527 tons per mile of coal are
used, it may be expected that the use of coal on Indian
lines will continue to increase.

During Lord Curzon’s viceroyalty the extension of
railways reached 900 miles per annum, and this rate
will probably again be reached or exceeded. It seems
safe to estimate, therefore, that by 1933 there will be a
mileage of 50,000 miles of railway in India, and a use of
200 tons per mile, with a total consumption on the
railways of 10,000,000 tons per annum, and that the
average annual increase in railway consumption will be
300,000 tons.

In India, moreover, railway consumption amounts to
about 30 per cent, of the total consumption, but, as
India becomes more industrial, the consumption by
industries will form an increasingly greater percentage
of the whole. In England the proportion is about—
industries 92 per cent., railways 8 per cent. It is safe
to expect that by 1932 industries will increase their
proportion of Indian coal to, say, 75 per cent, from the
present 70 per cent., but if that proves to be the case
India will require about 40,000,000 tons of coal per
annum, or its equivalent in other forms of power.

This tendency will throw an enormous strain on
capital and labour, and it is probable that such an out-
turn will not be reached, because the higher price of coal
will check the expansion of trade which would otherwise
occur.

The figures of export coal previously given have shown
that this trade has been approximately stationary. It
appears probable that if the above view of the needs
of internal trade is substantiated, the export will
diminish, and that the course of the coal trade will run
in the other direction, and coal prices will be limited by
the rate at which coal can be imported. During the
current year, with good Bengal coal at Rs. 5 to Rs. 5/8,
import into Bombay and Karachi is commencing.

If it is considered that the above views as to the
future requirements of India are exaggerated, let it be
remembered that the following new factors are now
operating which have not operated in the past.

1.	The Tata Iron and Steel Works estimate, when in
full swing, to use 250,000 tons per annum. The pig
iron from these works is now in demand, not only in
India, but in Japan and Australia; though the steel
works are not yet working they no doubt soon will be,
and there appears to be no reason why they should not
be successful, in which case they will be followed by
other and larger works, and every form of engineering
will naturally follow in their train.

2.	Forests are being more carefully preserved, and the
Indian population of 400,000,000 is slowly accustoming

* Investor's India Year Book. GK H. le Maistre.