Britain n!87o 226 aineral minerals. The earliest traces of its mineral riches appear iches of in the visits of men from the Mediterranean, who braved Jreat the dangers of unknown seas to gather the tin of Cornwall. Cornish tin still holds the first place in the annual reports on the "Mineral Statistics of the United Kingdom" drawn up by the keeper of mining records ; but, though by no means an unprolific source of riches, it has sunk far behind a number of other minerals, unknown, even in name, at the time the Phoenicians visited, in search of it, the island of Britain. In the last of those annual reports the mineral produce of Great Britain is summarized as follows, in regard to quantities and value, under nineteen headings, or classes, representing the produce of the year 1876 : Minerals. Quantities. Value. Coal Tons. Cwts. 133,344,766 16,841,583 14 79,252 13,688 9 79,096 6 23,613 8 48,809 14 4,228 1 2,796 17 3,805 4 23 10 337 10 3,971,123 610,785 2,273,256 23,561 18 258,150 61,741
46,670,668 6,825,705 317,186 600,923 1,218,078 90,142 43,870 28,092 9,783 4,478 172 230 744,224 319,853 1,136,628 24,479 625,000 18,571 13,750 Iron ore Copper ore Tin ore Lead ore Zinc ore Iron pyrites Arsenic -jVIan^auese Ochre and umber Wolfram , Fluor spar Clays Oil shales Salt Barytes Coprolites -. Gypsum Sundry minerals, including ) China stone j Total value of minerals produced in 1876 58,691,832 fotal Under another calculation, the keeper of mining records ralue of gives the following summary of the total value of minerals, n jj erals together with metals, obtained from the mines of the United Kingdom in 1876 : Coal 46,670,668 Metals, obtained from ores 18,668,818 Earthy and other minerals 2,887,367 ind iietals. Total value 68,226,853 Metals The metals obtained from ores are classified as follows, produced according to quantities and value, in 1876 : in 1876. Metals. Quantities. Value. Tons. 6,555,997 58,667 8,500 4,694 6,641 Dances. 483,422 293
16,062,192 1,270,415 675,750 392,300 158,011 106,262 1,138 2,750 Lead Tin Copper ... Zinc Silver Gold Other metals Total value 18,668,818 Chief articles of Bri tish mineral It will be seen by a glance at the preceding tables that the mineral wealth of the United Kingdom lies, in sub stance, in two articles, namely, coal and iron ore. From these springs, as immediate produce, a third, namely, pig produce. i ron> Goal and iron ore together form, as regards value, over nine-tenths of the mineral produce; while pig iron by itself holds nearly the same position in value among the metals produced in the United Kingdom. Coal. In the production of the by far most important article of Great Britain s mineral wealth, to which all others are but appendages, England and Wales stand foremost to such an extent as to throw the other two divisions [MINER ALS. of the United Kingdom into comparative insignificance. 1 Coa To the total coal produce of the United Kingdom in the duci year 1876, England and Wales contributed 114,554,278 En J tons, being five-sixths of the whole. The remainder, ^ 18,790,488 tons, was produced almost entirely in Scotland. the mines of East Scotland furnishing 11,667,648 tons, and those of West Scotland 6,997,904 tons. The produc tion of coal in Ireland in 1876 was not more than 124,936 tons. England and Wales arc officially divided into nineteen Coll colliery districts, very unequal in size, but so arranged, dist geographically, as to be within the constant and regular and inspection of the Government survey. The following [<->, table gives a list of these districts, with the number of collieries in each, and the quantities of coal taken from them in the year 1876. 2 Colliery Districts. Number of Collieries. Coal produce in 1876. North Durham and Northumberland South D urham 183 185 Tons. 12,580,500 19,411,123 Cumberland and Westmoreland Cheshire 42 39 1,401,603 584,380 Lancashire, North and East 385 8,265,000 Lancashire, West 174 9,125,000 Yorkshire 562 15,055,275 Derbyshire 261 7,025,350 Nottinghamshire 48 3,415,100 Warwickshire 29 884,750 Leicestershire 27 1,005,000 Staffordshire, South, and Worces- ) tershire ) 434 10,081,067 Staffordshire, North 152 4,077,548 Shropshire 64 1,054,049 Gloucestershire 89 1,257,547 Somersetshire 45 650,415 Monmouthshire 134 4,499,985 Wales, North 128 2,207,250 Wales South 400 11,973,336 Total . 3 381 114,554,278 Seeing the supreme importance of coal as the chief Enj material agent of modern civilization, and one the value of an< which, instead of lessening, is likely to become infinitely in c greater in future years, with the expansion of science and arts, the question has frequently been discussed whether the British coal-fields may not become exhausted at some time or other. The subject more especially engaged the attention of parliament and the Government in 1866, through the publication of a work by Professor W, Stanley Jevons, of Manchester, entitled The Coal Question, which, while admitting the immensity of England s wealth in coal, asserted that the present ever-increasing rate of supply could not continue in the same proportion for any great length of time. This theory found much opposition, others maintaining that the coal deposits of Great Britain were virtually inexhaustible, and that, properly managed, and with constantly improved scientific appliances, their riches would last as long, if not longer, than the probable life of the nation. The discussion in and out of parliament on " the ex haustion of our coal mines," important as it was, scarcely settled the main points of the question, namely, first, to what depth the coal mines of Great Britain can fce practi cally worked, and, secondly, to what extent the use of coal may be limited in the future, by the discovery of other motive powers. As to the first point, Mr Edward Hull, a well-known authority on mining subjects, laid it down, after practical inquiries, that the limit of coal-mining was not reached till the depth of 4000 feet ; but this again 1 See also COAL, vol. vi. p. 49.
- Compare with this the table at vol. vi. p 79.
