SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
[Under this heading we notice such Books of the week as have not been reserved for review in other forms.]
The Coalfields of Scotland. By Robert W. Dron. (Blackie and Son. 15s. net.)—This is a very valuable book, exhaustive, we should say, of its subject. It is mainly, of course, of a technical character, and is meant, in the first instance, for those specially interested in coal-mines,—proprietors, managers, and others. But there is one portion of the subject which concerns every one, and this is fully discussed in chap. 14, under the title of "Duration of the Coalfields." There have been scares, which might indeed be called periodical, about the imminent exhaustion of our coal supplies almost from the time when the seams began to be seriously worked. Export duties, not for revenue but for protection of the supply, have been imposed, not, we may be sure, without loud remonstrance from the coal-owners. (It is curious to see how the very prosperity of these gentlemen, putting them, as it does, into positions of advantage, gives them special oppor- tunities of making themselves heard. Whole industries perish unnoticed because they are too lowly placed to obtain a hearing.) The real facts of the case seem to be reassuring. To sum these up, we may say that about 1,500,000,000 tons have been used, and that nearly three times as• much remain to be worked. This latter figure refers only to what Mr. Dron calls "proven coal," that is, seams the depth, thickness, and quality of which are well known. Beyond these seams there is a reserve of "unproven coal," thin or deep seams which could not be worked with profit while there are more accessible stores available, but are not by any means to be left out of account. The total of this reserve is estimated at about 6,000,000,000 tons, just four times the total of what has been worked hitherto. All the coalfields, of course, have not the same prospects. In one, perhaps the most important, from the number and magnitude of the dependent industries, the Lanark coalfield, exhaustion is in sight, —that is, if a future distant some- thing less than half a century is in sight.
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