20th July.
Carty in March last we drew attention in these columns to the reconstruction by an international company with its head office in London, and constituted under the British joint stock companies acts, of the Chinese Engineering and Mining Ca., which owned and operated the most valuable coal-field opened in China up to date, and fortunate have been those of the in-We are now in Jd to that by feesh information gathered from the management of the new company, which cannot bub interest all our readers, not merely the many friends of and shareholders in the new company.
The old company's mineral assets consisted as is generally known of the mines at Taogshan, Linsi, and Hsishan, all taken over by the new company. An additional right over the entire Kaiping coal-field has been confirmed to the new company by the Imperial Bureau of Mines, giving the new company practically' wie limited resources in coal. This coal-field has a total length of sbout twenty-five miles and consists of two parallel basins. There are eight workable seams of coal having an average total thickness of eighty feet. The Tangshan wine has been opened to a depth of 1,350 feet vertically and about three miles laterally; the Linsi mine 600 feet vertically and one mile and a-half laterally; and the Hsishan mine 400 feet vertically and half-a mile laterally. The coal is of three goalitie, the distinction being based on the percentage of ash; "Navy," the best quality, has five per cent; "Locomotive," the second quality, nine per cent; and the third quality, which has a larger percentage, is sold for household and native use. A large quantity of best quality coal is being opened at Tang. shan and Hsishan, and an additional new mine is being opened at Pan-pei tien, four miles from Tangshan, especially to provide a larger daily supply of Navy coal. This coal has been supplied to various navies during the last few months, and large contracts are pending.
On taking over the works on the Ist of March last, the new company found the Tangshan mine flooded above the No. 5 level, the bottom 400 feet, embracing fifteen miles of tunnels, being flooded. The first of this month saw both the No. 5 and No. 6 levels recovered, and the workings on the No. 7 level are so limited at present, that its recovery is an easy problem requiring only a short time. 'A new shaft has of 1,850" feet, and is now being been sunk at Tangshan to a depth equipped with the mesh modern machinery and prepared for a daily outbud of 2,500 tons. With the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.