It may be necessary, before commencing a rather lengthy paper, subdivided into a great number of sections, on the Present State and Probable Duration of the Northern Coal-field, and other remarkable matters connected therewith, or included within the range of the subject, to mention to the members of this Institute, that, as many of our most influential members reside in foreign parts, and others at a great distance from the Northern Coal-field, to which we desire chiefly to direct our attention with a view to improvement, it appears extremely desirable that this Institute should possess a large and accurate map of the coal district in Northumberland and Durham, accompanied by sections and plans, with a written description of the whole, so as not only to render elucidation easy to strangers, but to serve the mining engineers of the district as a work of reference and a guide for the future.

The increase of collieries both in new and old districts, and the manufacture of iron and coke, in which a certain description of coal is largely employed, may warrant an extension of this plan a few miles beyond what may be termed the N.W. limit of the coal-field, so as to include the North Tyne coal and iron ore district; and also beyond the county of Durham, so as to embrace the rich iron ore of the Cleveland district, on the Yorkshire coast, and contiguous to the long-proposed harbour of Redcar, with its extensive capabilities of improvement.

Having already prepared a long document on the subject, it is my intention to submit it to the Institute (together with a plan and sections of the coal-field) under the following heads :— Chapter 1. Situation of the Coal-field; its general Character, Boundaries, and Divisions. — Chapter 2. Dykes and Faults. — Chapter 3. Rivers and Ports. — Chapter 4. Strata of the Coal-field. — Chapter 5. Colliery Districts and Coal Seams. — Chapter 6. The different Kinds of Coal. — Chapter 7. Coal Formation in the Tyne District. — Chapter 8. Districts distinguished by the Nature of the Coal they chiefly produce: Household Coal District. — Chapter 9. The Coking Coal District. — Chapter 10. The Steam Coal District. — Chapter 11. Doubtful or more precarious Districts. — Chapter 12. General Remarks on the Districts. — Chapter 13. Public Railways and Docks. — Chapter 14. The Coal-field in Sections. — Chapter 15. Prices of Coals. — Chapter 16. Estimate of Coal, Rents, Working and Leading Charges, &c. — Chapters 17 and 18. Number of Collieries, Pits, and Workpeople employed. — Chapter 19. Annual Quantity of Coal raised from Mines in Great Britain, with the Number of Underground Workmen. — Chapter 20. Comparison of Collieries, Pits, and Underground Establishments in Durham and Northumberland, with other places. — Chapter 21. Weight of Coal in the Solid and Broken State. — Chapter 22. Coal and Coke. — Chapters 23 and 24. Duration of the Coal-field. — Chapter 25. Concluding Observations. Any extra information which any of the members may be disposed to afford me, especially in respect of details which can only be reached through the various representatives of local collieries, will be acceptable, and if it reach me in time shall be embodied in the paper. And with regard to anything that may seem to require correction or be open to debate, I shall be very happy to hear discussion upon it.