DESCRIPTION OF A COAL JUNE IN INDIA.

Otago Witness, Issue 585, 14 February 1863, Page 3

DESCRIPTION OF A COAL JUNE IN INDIA.

In the United States R tilroad and Mining Jirgister is tuven the following letter by Dr Samuel Lilly, the Consul-General of JSTew Jersey at Calcutta, respecting Indian coal mines and railways : — The mine visited by Dr Lilly is in the Rancegunge coal-field, which is tapped by the East India Railway, and in which, in JBGO, there were 49 collieries in operation, the joint [(reduction whereof was 8,559,097 mauuds, or 305,682 tons. "Calcutta, March 14.— 1 have just returned from a trip some 300 mile? in the country, during which I visited the Bengal Company's coal mines at Raneegunge, some 180 miles north-west of this. The region is a hilly one, washed, or rather drained, in the wet season by streams which are now nearly or quite dry. The surface barren, except in the wet season, when, by securing the water in pools, some rice and a few vegetables are raised. The overlying rock at the mines is a micaceous sandstone, and quite soft. The opening I visited has bgen worked for a number of years, and is entered by 130 steps cut down a tunnel or slope, as in your region, in a car, we walked down an open staircase. The vein worked is abpuS ?eye,n feet $Si<?k. T.ie

coal is bituminous in character, out no skill or science has as yet been able to coke it. The coal is hauled from the breasts— say. where now worked, some three- fourths of a'mile— in a hand-car, and hoisted up in baskets perpendicularly by gins turned by women, or drawn up by ste-iin by «a chain working over a pully and cylinder to the surface, when it is placed in railroad cars to be sent to market. The mines are perfectly dry, and even dusty. A gang of miners consist of 10 persons, a portion of whom are women. These gangs mine 100 maunds per diem each on an average. A mauud is SO lb. The miners work with bar and wedges, no powder being used. A very srnirt active miner will sometimes earn 8 annas per diem, but many do not average more than one-fourth that sum, so that the pay' is from 6 to 24 cents per diem for each person. All these are natives, of course ; and I was told by the superintendent, a very intelligent man. that it is impossible to introduce any improvements in raining. There are a number of - collieries worked in this country, but the one I visited is almost the only one which pays dividends to the stockholders. This coal is used for steam and culinary purposes, and is sold in Calcutta for 5 to 7 annas per maund, while English coal sells for 9 annas. j "I am told that some mine in the eastern t portion of Bengal yield a coal similar to the Welsh semi-anthracite; but there being no facilities for getting it to market, save the'uncertain one of the rivers, which are nearly dry a large portion of the year, it does not p*ay to work them, Railways are being constructed, and the country opened up, so that it is thought that in a few years they will be brought into profitable use, a-id English coal driven entirely from the market. Iron, copper, &c. abound in some regions, but there is no limestone in convenient proximity, and the coals not being colceable (I invent the term) they are not worked to advantage. All these defects are being remedied, and it is believed that a bright future is open to various metallurgy operations in India. The railways are constructed very Hibstantially and at a great cost. The Ens: India Railway, which extends some 1,000 miles north-west from here, is to be a portion of the line connecting Calcutta and Bombay. If; is now open to Monghyr, 304 miles. I went to that place. The country through which it passes is a vast plain, traversed by some streams which are from half 1o one and a quarter miles wide in the rains. The most of the masonry ati \ the ballast of the road is formed of bricks. Near Monghyr, there is an upheave of a nearly pure flint rock, which cro-SdS the plain ; it is some 300 feet in height, and as it U very abrupt in its margin, the road traverses it by a tunnel 900 feet in length. I did not learn the cost of making the tunnel, but I did learn that two or three sets of contractors were ruined by it, and the company finished it themselves. The engines and carriages are all in the English stvle° the former being built in England. All the material for the track is imported from there, to even the cross-ties and chairs. I have looked closely into the construction of the road, &c, but as it is impossible to go into detail in the limits of a letter, I leave that until we meet, which I now hope will be before the summer is ended, as the last mail brought me official notice that N. F. Jacobs, of Michigan, was appointed to succeed me on January 17."

The Federal Army.- 'I he Times New Yoik correspondent, writing on the 28th ult, after repeating bis former account of the destitute state of the i i ederal army, and that the recruits are idling about their respective localities because the Government have neither blankets nor rifles to arm them with, says that yet it is constantly reported that the army is on the advance, which is intended to have a decide] efi.'ct on the elections. In another part of lua w»e says:-- "On the draft being postponed to the 10th November, the applications for exemption have within the last few days been exceedingly heavy. Many thousands of persons above the age of forty-five have been inscribed on the list; and it is computed that fully 30,000 Irishmen and Germans, who have never taken out letters ot naturalisation, are ready and intend to prove their non-liability. The cities of New York and Brooklyn, notwithstanding the liberality of the richer citizens in adding to the bounty money promised by the Federal and the State Governments, are still deficient, it appears, in. nearly 10,000 men, the bounty having failed to attract Ihe requisite number. The conscription is inevitable."

Fatal Duel at Chaw.eston.~A fatal du?l had taken place at Charleston, between Colonel W. R. Calhoun, of the lst South Carolina Artillery, and Major A'fred Rhett, of the same regiment. Major Rhett, the challenged party, waived the "drop" shot, whioh he preferred, and shot the "rise." He was dra-sed in full uniform ; Colonel Calhoun in citu n s dress. Both fired almost simultaneously, Major Rhett in an instant after Colonel Calhouii. The latter missed, and fell with a ball through tho middle of the body. He survived only about anhour. The quarrel which lei to the unfortunate result is said to have had its origin as long a?o as April, 1861, at the lime of the bombardment of Fort Sumtner, in what Major Rhett considered repeated official trespasses of his infetioi 1 officer.

The Tax Biu- The Washington correspondent ot the Philadelphia Press says of the operations oi the lax Udl :— ♦• Enough is known to enable careful observers to state that the Tax Bill, judging fnm the reports already received at the Tre'sury, will p-odnce an almo-t incalculable revenue- sufficient to pay the interest on the public debt itself, and to leave a lartjc ma^in ibr the necessity expenses of the Government as long as the war contiu ucs. One very competent authority states that the income derivable from the tax system will exceed by at least 50 per cent, the amount con tern plaied by ttie sanguine trainers of the I, ill." All this vrill be good news, if true (says the A r , w York Evening E.xp-m,) but with gold at a premium above 30, and demand-notes at •27 and 23 ; and Government bonds far behind all State aud railway bonds, the facts show but very little public confidence in the Secretary of the Treasury and \\m system of finance.

Novelty of Photography.— -The Copeiluven ccrrespoiidpnt oj the Telejroph says :— " The sweerheait* of Fiitlu'tlaiul are juat being made happy by the pro luciion of miniature steivoseopic portraits, no larger than a pin's head, tuouph rendering tho feature 1 ? of the beloved object with all the accuracy of the ordinary cartes tie visitc. A lady true to tlie choice of her heart nny cairy the portrait of the fortiuii.te kniffht in a shawl {iiii or b trothnl ring, with all the pu'ilicify and secrecy dcmimied by love und bashfuliiL'ss combined : while her squire mnv raise his favorite eip.ir-iioldi-r to a higher olij-cfc of worship than heretofore, by studding it with the fair lineaments of his beloved. It is only necessary to carry a jjockft microscope to en.oy the otherwise invisible likeness, ami masmify an unmeaning speck into features eloquent with life aud love. After this, nothing remains for o^ed aunts, and other dragons or the duenna spee'es, but to give up the work of detection in despair, and avow at Lst that the world is too ninny for diem. To complete the utility of the invention in this line of art, love-letters may "be prepaid, in which an inexpressive blot upon v blank sheet of paper can contain untold worlds of unfathomabl i allection, and glowing assurances of perfect devotion.'

Tun Explorers' Gopfiss. -The inner coffins which contain the remains of Bnrko and Wills, ara made ot gun niut.il, and are said to be a portion of a Jot oi coffins which were imported from America some time back, and for which no use had been found uutil^ the present requirement of receptacles for the remains of the ill ustr.ous dead.— Mount Alexander Mail.

The Emperor of the French lias sent as a present to tlie Queen n pair of beautiful white cows and a bull, of the African breed, fiom Algiers They we ali pure white, have fine heads, and forms of the buffalo shape, but without any hump.

The Federal Blockade of tut. Southebh Ports. — On the 19th October, a Federal cruiser captired the Adelaide (British sehoonert near Wilmington. The captured vessel pot aground and was destroyed. The Stanley, which left Nassau, NP. on the 9th October, reports that the steamers 'Scotia Herald, and Leopard were 1 in port there— the latter was waiting, two of her engineers were dead of the yellow fever. The Antfia had twice attempted to enter Charleston, but each time had, to retuta to Nassau. The Hero, which was reported to havo been captured, attempted to run out of Charleston three times, but was obliged to return. She was fired into by the fleet, but no damage donc-Scofs-*f!K, A A B A^ N , A BI SHOP.-The report that Madume Anna Bishop was burned to death at MilZt U £-, ras oufc » we are "B lad to s »y» a mistake. The Milwaukie Wisconsin of Monday, in correctinir the state iient, says : - '-The Mm Bishop who thus met her. desth was nottho caatatrice. but the wife of tho landlord of the City Hotel at St Paul." Expedition to Texas.— The New Ydrk papers allude mysteriously to another .vast expedition »ow organising by,j£|t»Jerai Bank?; which is to attack the Confederates in their rear by landing- in Texas, where, it is again asserted, that there are thousands of Union men ready to degjare themselves when tho FefaraJ troopi amvs *