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COAL MINES Of

an Office at Newcastle (originally brought for-'ward in 1 797j and revived in 1805) for cob*lecting and rendering information relative to thestate of the collieries in its neighbourhood ;and the progress that has been made as to as-certaining the nature and constitution of theStrata, below those Scams to which the work-ing of this Country has been confined,” sug-gests that the proprietors of collieries in theneighbourhood subscribe to such an establish-ment, and direct their agents to deliver intothe office plans of the boundaries, with anyother information relating to their respectivemines. After this Mr. Thomas suggests eightother rules necessary for the regulation of suchoffice, and which appear very applicable.

Thomas Chapman, Esq. Civil Engineer, sug-gested some further measures upon this head,and urged the increasing necessity of parlia-mentary interference. I perfectly coincide inthe general rules laid down by these gentle-men, but think they ought to be establishedunder an act of parliament expressly for thatpurpose, and empowering a superintendent tosee all the regulations carried into effect. Thisought in the first instance to form the objectof the existing society for bettering the stateof the mines; and it is to the members I sub-