Coal Mining.

The presence of good coal in Vancouver Island, and its absence on other portions of the Pacific coast, are much in favour of the province. A distin- page 78 guished scientific traveller, acquainted with the north-west, Dr. Robert Brown, M.A., President of the Royal Physical Society, Edinburgh, states that the only North Pacific coal specially fitted for steaming purposes is found in the British possessions, all others being of tertiary age and very inferior in quality—slaggy and often sulphurous. "In her coal-fields," Dr. Brown says, "British Columbia has, within herself, the elements of lasting prosperity."