The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-07-19 00:00:00

THE COMMITTEE ON COAL.

Although the Committee on Coal has con-
cluded its laboarg, tho evilence taken before it
can hardly lao said to have produced a satig-
factory praio n the ',Alit, tniud. All the
witnesses tieum tu agree thdt coal will never be
so dap again whilst the present state of affairs

remain unaltered. And we have not to search
fir to ascertain the cause of this enormous rise
in tatioe, and the eonscipient panic attendant
upon it. Notwithstanding tho contradictory
nature of the testimony expressed before the
Committee, it is patent that for years past there
has been a steady and increasing demand for
coal, principally owing to the large exportation
and the consumption by the iron trade. The
mine owners with perfect legality, acting upon
the maxim that every man has a right to ask
what price he likes for his wares, raised their
prices, and the result was that the men in turn
' became discontented with their scale of wages,
and struck for more. This combination of un-
fortunate circimistauces had, as our readers are
doubtlessly painfully aware,the effect of causing
an upward" movement, which is in progress even
now ; the prospect of there ever being any im-
portant change the other way being as remote
as ever.
It is customary with the ordinary English
house-holder to hear his reverses patiently and
with perfect equanimity, hut there have been
indications darling the coal famine, to give it its
proper name. that these virtues are beginning
to waver beneath the pressure brought the pres.
sure brought to bear upon them. Ati we have
previously slid, the masters are fully justified
in selling their coal for the highest rate they
can I unnage to obtain, hut to our tilled we can
not quite see the necessity for such a large in-
crease in the price as compared with years gone
by. It is admitted that the trade disputes, the
, foreign export and legislature enactments,
might, with justice, have caused them to raise
j their prices a little, but scarcely so much as they
have done. It is not very easy to see why an
! uncomplaining public should be made to bear
the burden as they are forced to do in this in-
stance. It is admitted that coal owners have a
margin for profit far from small, why then
should they not, like other tradesmen, infringe
occasionally upon that margin in order to meet
any little unforeseen expense without cooling
down upon the consumer. But it is impossible
not to observe that economy in the use of the
" black diamond" will effect mere—or at all
e rents is a better plan to rely upon than a re-
duction in the price, the prospects of which are
at the present thee chimerical and illusory to
the extreme. Many useful and cheep devices
and inventions are in vogue, but are not for
some reason used to any extent solely because
the public are unacquainted with them ; for in-
stance there are improved stoves anti fireplaces
constructed on the principle of giving the maxi-
mum of heat with the minimum of fuel, the re-
verse of which being effected by those in general
use now. Would it not then be a great deal
better that sono:thing should be tried in this
direction, because,by reducing the demand for
coal, the price would necessarily fall. It rests
with householders whether they continue to jog
along the same old route, contented with paying
the ruinous prices withont stirring themselves
in the matter. As We have pointed nut, the
remedy lies in their own hands, and they have
nobody else to blame if they do not choose to
take advantage of it. At all events it should be
the common resolution of every section of the
conimunity to consume as little coal as possible,
for by steadfastly adhering to it incalculable
good cannot fail to be done.