142 COAL UNDER SOUTH-EASTERN ENGLAND.
smaller than ever ; and even the chance of the Dover measures
being found to extend beneath the Nore into the region of south-
eastern Essex is reduced by the absence of Jurassic strata in the
boring at Crossness (Kent), although there, as well as at Richmond
and Streatham, there is some uncertainty as to the age of 'red and
grey rocks,' which immediately underlie the secondary series."
COAL UNDER SOUTH-EASTERN ENGLAND.
Reports by T. V. Holmes, F.G.S., and W. Whitaker, F.R.S.
THE possibility of finding workable seams of coal under Essex
has, from its vast commercial importance, naturally attracted
great attention in our county since the hypothesis was first
started by the late Mr. Godwin-Austen in 1855 in a paper read
before the Geological Society, "On the Possible Extension of the
Coal-Measures beneath the South-Eastern Part of England"
("Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society," vol. xii., page 38).
As there is now a certainty that the search will be undertaken in
earnest it will be useful to present the gist of the reports of Mr.
T. V. Holmes, Mr. W. Whitaker, and Dr. Taylor, prepared for the
"Eastern Counties Coal-Boring Association," for permission to repro-
duce which we are indebted to the secretary, Mr. G. F. Mansell,
who was the first to take the matter up practically, and who has
since June, 1891, worked in the most energetic and business-like
way to bring this question to a practical trial. We must also call
attention to the important paper by Dr. Irving, who expresses
views of his own, printed in the present number.
The problem was first brought under the notice of our readers
by Mr. T. V. Holmes, in his paper on "The Subterranean
Geology of South-Eastern England," being his Presidential Address
at the meeting of the Club on January 28th, 1888, and which was
given in full, with illustrative diagrams, in The Essex Naturalist
(vol. ii., pp. 138-158). To this valuable paper the reader should
refer for a discussion of the hypothesis put forward by Mr.
Godwin-Austen.
At the time Mr. Holmes's paper was written it was very doubtful
whether any experimental borings in S. E. England would ever
be made. But, since 1888, the Directors of the Channel Tunnel
Company have made a boring at Dover reaching the Coal-Measures