216 COAL UNDER SOUTH-EASTERN ENGLAND.
Stutton to Harwich is approximately that of the strike—or is, in other words,
nearly at right angles to the direction of the dip of the beds. We do not know
whether the dip at Stutton is northward or southward, but the ascertainment of
its direction would give information of much less value there than with rocks
not squeezed and disturbed, and dipping at a low angle ; for at Stutton the dip
is probably very variable, and the local dip and the general dip may by no
means coincide.
As a spot for the next bore-hole of the series, it seems evident that a place
some eight or ten miles either north or south of Stutton should be selected, for
that distance, while it would probably be sufficient to give a change in the
Palaeozoic rocks, would not be so far away as to put us out of touch with the
results attained at Harwich and Stutton ; for we must not forget that any coal-
fields which may be locally preserved will be found to owe their preservation
to their having been thrown into basins separated from each other by older
rocks.
These coalfields are probably of no very great size, and, therefore, if a place
fifty or sixty miles from Stutton be chosen for the second boring, it is obvious
that it will be impossible to correlate the results obtained with those of Stutton
and Harwich.
A good place for the second boring would be somewhere about Great Bentley
or Weeley, S.E. of Colchester. For on the one hand it would be a sufficient
distance from both Stutton and Harwich ; and on the other it would be a little
eastward of the region damaged by the Essex earthquake of 1884, under which
district Palaeozoic rocks older than Carboniferous are probably unusually near
the surface. A greater thickness of Tertiary rocks will have to be passed through
around Great Bentley than at Stutton. Possibly, however, there may be less
Chalk, and it would be difficult to fix upon a more likely spot for a possible coal-
field in this direction.
Northward of Stutton, Bramford, where the Chalk comes to the surface, is as
good a place as could be chosen in that direction. There are also wells in the
Chalk in the marshes near Orford, which might possibly be utilised for coal
exploration, the water from them being brackish. But, in the first place, a boring
nearly due south of Stutton, about Great Bentley, and another nearly due north
at or near Bramford, seem most worthy of recommendation.
W. Whitaker.
T. V. Holmes.
Having examined, with Mr. Holmes, a great extent of the core at Stutton, as
well as a great number of specimens sent to me, one is not surprised at the fruit-
less search for fossils. Possibly, however, the breaking up of further specimens
may show something.—W. W.
The Directors, while having the greatest confidence in their
geologists' advice, felt it would be well, in the interests of the
shareholders of the Association, to have the expert assistance of a
mining engineer also, and with that view consulted Professor
Galloway, of University College, Cardiff, who visited Stutton, and
he has forwarded the following letter, which entirely coincides with
Messrs. Whitaker and Holmes's report: