§ * MR. DAVID THOMAS (Merthyr Tydvil)I beg to ask the Vice-President of the Committee of Council on Education if he can state generally what progress has been made in the investigation now being conducted by the Geological. Survey at South Kensington; whether all the parts of the revised Survey relating to the coalfields of Great Britain will be completed in time to be available for the recently appointed Coal Commission within the next couple of years; and whether the new Survey, in so far as it has gone, has added materially to the quantity of coal estimated to be available when the Royal Commission of, 1866 reported, and particularly to the area of coal believed to underlie the newer formations.
§ THE SECRETARY OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. GRANT LAWSON,) (for Sir J. GORST) Yorkshire, N. R. ThirskThe re-survey of the North Staffordshire Coalfield has been completed. With regard to the South Wales Coalfield, the main portion will be 721 finished in two years; and that of Pem-brokeshire will probably not be completed till rather later. The remaining coalfields to be re-surveyed on an six-inch scale cannot be finished within the two years mentioned. The results of the re-survey have not added materially to the estimates of the Royal Commission of 1866.
§ MR. DAVID THOMASDoes the latter part of the hon. Member's answer apply to the quantity of coal estimated to underlie the tertiary formation?
§ MR. GRANT LAWSONI gather that the estimates have not been materially added to.