will find that the intimation referred to by Mr. Harbison and Mr. White was that we were to act upon those three names that were offered as associate members; that the action on those was delayed on account of not being able to act upon them under the old Constitution, because under that there were no associate members. It was distinctly stated that this action referred to those three applications. I think if the record is searched you will fail to find there was any intimation that the law was to be broken afterward. Of course the committee was appointed before that action, because there was no Council then to act upon the applications. We were still acting under the old Constitution when the committee on membership was appointed; but the moment that Constitution went into effect that committee was discharged.

Mr. Harbison—The report of the Executive Committee was two-fold-part verbal and part printed. The verbal part was that the action of the Committee should not affect the applications which might be received at this meeting, except so far as classification was concerned. The printed report also classified the applicants. The entire report was adopted by the Association—the verbal portion as well as the printed; the verbal portion being that it would not apply to applications received at this meeting except as to classification. That was adopted in conjunction with the printed report making the classification. So that in strict parliamentary law you cannot shut out these applicants, if they are eligible, because you adopted the report of the Committee, which was two-fold.

MR. CLARK-I will ask if in strict parliamentary law any man who is elected to his office outside of the Constitution is legally entitled to that office or is legally a member? It is not so held in State, municipal or national elections. I think any man who is now elected outside of that Constitution is not a member of the Association. There is no objection to any man who has applied for admission; and they would have been reported favorably upon and immediately if the Constitution had not stood in the way. But as it is, if I know anything of parliamentary law, we cannot now elect those members. We have a Constitution, and whatever the verbal arrangement or understanding

of the Executive Committee may have been, we have nothing to do with it. This Association now stands upon this printed Constitution which it has adopted.

MR. WHITE-I maintain that the Constitution is practically not in effect until after the adjournment of this meeting. The officers elected under that Constitution do not take office until after we have adjourned; and the general understanding was, in the discussion of that subject, that the Constitution did not go into effect, and did not practically affect this meeting, except that we all agreed that the classification of members therein provided for should take effect as quickly as possible. It seems to me that our quibbling on technicalities will belittle us considerably, and will amount to nothing as a protection of this Association. This Association is big enough and ugly enough to take care of itself.

THE PRESIDENT-You have heard the motion as offered by Mr. White. It is that the applications of these gentlemen be referred back to the committee, with instructions to report at this meeting. Are you ready for the question?

The motion prevailed.

Mr. Jas. D. Perkins, of New York city, read his paper on—

GAS COALS, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO PROVINCIAL COAL.

Mr. President and Gentlemen of the American Gas Light Association:-The invitation of your Committee to submit a paper to the Association at the present session was not only unsolicited but entirely unexpected. The subject assigned to me was one with which I have been somewhat familiar for nearly forty years, although I can hardly expect to add anything to the general fund of information already in the possession of the members of the Association.

"Gas

The subject assigned to me by your Committee was, Coals, with Special Reference to Provincial Coal." I shall make no attempt to separate the special from the general subject, as during a large part of the time to which reference will be made the two have been so closely interwoven as to render such division impracticable.

For a period of nearly 60 years prior to 1880, Provincial coals occupied a most important relation to the gas industry of the United States; and a brief sketch of their early history may find appropriate record within the limits of this paper, and not prove entirely uninteresting to the members of the Association.

It is a matter worthy of note that the first recorded mention of the existence of coal in North America had reference to the coal deposits of Cape Breton. This occurs in a French work published in 1672 by one Nicholas Denys, who was appointed Governor of that island by Louis XIV., in 1637. In 1654 he secured from the French government a concession to "search for and work all mineral deposits of the Island." By virtue of this grant he made some trial shipments of coal to France, where it was highly esteemed; but Denys was more interested in fishing than in coal mining, and when his patent was revoked, in 1690, no organized effort had been made to develop these valuable deposits.

Following the above in chronological order appears the first record of the existence of coal within the present limits of the United States. This occurs in a report made by Father Hennepin, the Jesuit, in 1698, wherein he speaks of coal deposits on the Illinois River, near what is now Peoria.

Returning to Provincial coal, the first attempt at regular mining in Cape Breton was made in 1720, when the celebrated fortress at Louisburg was constructed by the French Government. The fuel necessary for the large force employed in this work was obtained from a coal seam on the north side of Cow Bay. A considerable trade had sprung up about this time between Cape Breton and New England, and in 1724 mention is made of a vessel having "loaded coal at Cow Bay for Boston." The records are silent as to further shipments down to 1745, when the island passed into the hands of the English, who held it for four years, when the French again came into possession. From this time forward until the reduction of Louisburg by the English in 1758, the mining of coal at Cow Bay appears to have been limited to the wants of the forts at Louisburg and Halifax; but between 1763 and 1767 applications for leases to work the Cape Breton coal mines were made to the British Government. These applications met the approval of the Governor of Nova Scotia,

under whose directions an accurate survey of the island was made in 1766. In his letter to the Home Government the Governor refers to the only coal mine then open; viz., that on the north side of Cow Bay, where there was a block-house located upon the site of what has since been known as the Block House Mine.

It was about this time that further evidence of the existence of coal in the United States was furnished by Colonel Cregan, a prisoner in the hands of the Indians in 1763. The coal was located on the banks of the Wabash, in Indiana. This was followed in 1770 by the discovery of coal in Western Pennsylvania.

In April, 1767, in accordance with the recommendation of the Governor of Nova Scotia referred to above, a coal-mining lease was granted to certain Halifax merchants, under which they guaranteed to produce and ship not less than 3,000 chaldrons of coal within eight months. This undertaking they failed to carry out, their shipments within the time specified amounting to not quite 2,300 chaldrons.

It is interesting to note the points to which a portion of this coal was sent, as bearing upon the operations of the Cape Breton collieries in later years, and also to contrast the capacity of the vessels employed in its transportation with those of the present day.

Of the 2,300 chaldrons named, there were shipped to New York 60 tons; Providence, 54 tons; Boston, 44 tons; Philadelphia, 45 tons.

From this time forward, until 1826, continued attempts were made to extend the operations of the Cape Breton collieries, alternately by lease to private parties, and by Government itself, but with apparently little profit to either. Lack of facilities for preparing the coal properly for market, and the uncertain tenure of the leases under which some of these efforts were made, were the main obstacles in the way of success. The quantity mined in any one year prior to 1826 does not appear to have exceeded 10,000 chaldrons, while the average for the 40 years preceding that date was but little over 7,000 tons. Such was the condition of the Provincial coal trade in 1826, and a more discouraging one could scarcely be imagined.

In the exercise of his royal prerogative, and in one of those freaks of liberality which characterized royalty at that time, George IV. had granted to his impecunious brother, the Duke of York, a lease of all the mines and minerals of Nova Scotia (the island of Cape Breton having been annexed to Nova Scotia in 1820), with certain exceptions, for a term of 60 years. This grant was dated August 26, 1826. As the Duke of York had no means of working the mines on his own account, even if he had possessed the ability, he transferred the lease in 1827 to a company which had then been recently organized in London under the name of "The General Mining Association," and in 1828 this association secured the control of the Albion Mines in Pictou, which, up to that time, had been held by private parties, and not covered by the royal grant. This gave to the association the exclusive working of all the mineral properties in Nova Scotia and Cape Breton belonging to the Crown. The efforts of the management of the association were directed mainly toward placing upon the market such coals as were best adapted to domestic and general steam purposes. Anthracite coal had only recently come into the market, and there was a large demand for bituminous coal of such a character as the association could supply; hence the rapid increase in the sale of Sydney coal in the New England States, and for many years this coal enjoyed the highest reputation for house use in open grates as well as for steam purposes. But as the present paper has reference to gas coals mainly, I turn to the consideration of that portion of the business of the association specially connected with such coals.*

At the period referred to (about 1830) the gas industry of the United States was in its infancy; it had scarcely assumed the proportions of a distinctive feature in the manufacturing enterprises of the times. The requirements for coal were insignificant, and no special efforts were made to meet them. Newcastle coal was the standard gas coal in England, and formed the larger part of the supplies of the gas companies then in operation in New York and New England.

*For the historical facts given above I am indebted to the admirable work entitled, The Coal Fields and Coal Trade of Cape Breton," by Richard Brown, Esq., published in 1871.