The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-02-08 00:00:00

THE COAL QUESTION!

Last .saturday afternoon Sir William Arrostmeng, C. 11., de-
livered his inaugural address as el of the North of
England Institute of Mining ani Mechanical Engincers, lit
tine Worst Memorial Hall 011 Neweasii•-on-Tene.
Sir William, in speaking of coal in an economic as
weasel in a technical point of view, observed that Our
consnmptien of coal had been increasing at a rate
which could not poosibly last, for if the increme at
4 per cent, per annum, computed in the manner of come
pound intereet, weut on, we should soon arrive at ime
possible quantities. If nothing else arrested it, how-
ever, a Where of mining labour was inevitably tend-
ing to have that effeot ; and but a few years
would probably have eloped before the com-
ber of hands became inadequate to meet the
required demand, had not the miners precipi-
tated the event by restrictieo the hours of work.
Tele work at the face of the coal nme only amounted to
thirty three hours per week, and that in the coon tit the
eteallieed, men ; the average bring considerably below
that limit. The men worked hard, even harder than
formerly, while at their post ; but, with the le.
duced working-time, the output must ueeesearily be
lower. The point bad been reached at which the
' demand heel overtaken the supply; thongh at the
present increase of 4 per cent, per annum a small
time to the present output would maintain the
eimilibrium. The annual loss to the community
owing to the additional cost of fuel (exclusive of ex-
portation) amoumed to 44 millions sterling, a RUM
which, if added to the existing taxation, would be
considered latterly ruinous; and yet we were paying
the equivalent of such a tax, with this difference,
that the money did not go into the coffers of the
nation. ('oil ownere hail Ling been aware that I mita-
thin of quantity was the only effectual mode of ramieg
pri.m, but they bad never been able, by their own
(talon, to maintain a restricted production. At last
their workmen had dons it for them, and we raw the
result. Whether the trade of the country would bear
up against the heavy burden of dear coal, combined as
it was with dram.es of other product., was a question
on which he should not attempt to prophecy. It was
in vain to appeal for relief either to the coal-own-re or
coal-workers; *elf. interert was the ruling principle of
trade, and it was visionary to expect that men would
sell either their labour or the produce of labour for less
than the market value. Speaking, then, as one of the
public, and not as a coal-owner, he s eirl they must
strive to economise the use of coal. Speaking am Pre-
sident of an institution of Mining mid Mechanical
Engineers, he said they most endeavour to make up
for the deficiency of human labour by a more extended
tuie of mechanical labour. _ _ _
• • ' •

Sir William then considered bow cat might be
economised. The waste in domes ic use and in steam
engines was simply shameful, and in ironmaking and
oiher manufacturing processes it was comidelable.
By a simple and unobjectionable depot tore from the
conventional fireplace-- by advancing it a little iut3
the room, and constructing it with proper heating
surfaces, as in many stoves POW in use, a saving of
dornes;i3 fuel to the extent of one half might be
attoined. In steam engines, at best, not more thou
one-tenth of the the 'retie effect of the fuel wae
realised. In the Elswick Works his firm had erected
two Corliss engines (to do the work previously per-
formed by ten smaller engines), with boilers of the
best construction, and one of these engines was now
using 24 tone of (nal per week, a;ainst fit) tons used by
the engines it hod superseded. The general result
was that the number of firemen was much diminished,
and, notwithstanding the summons rise in the price
of coal, the required steam power was now obtained
at a lees Cwt than before, alter allowing for interest
on the capital expended
Having referthed to other appliances for economis-
ing coal in locomotive and marine engines, the Pre-
sident remarked that, speaking generally of coal
consumption in all its branches, there could be little
doubt that, without carrying economy to its extreme
hulks, all the effects we now realised from coal could
be attained with half the quantity in use. If a res
duction to that or approximate extent were effected,
we should hear nothing more of scarcity or prohibitive
prices for many years to come.
Speaking of the increased value of labour in manu-
facturing and mining enterprises, Sir William con-
templated the possibility of rural labour being so
diminished in supply and increased in cost that, un-
less the growing cost of a;ri3ultural labour and
horse-work could be counterpoised by a more exten-
sive nee of steam power, they might expect much of
the land in this c .untry to be thrown out of cul-
tivation.
In conclusion, he referrid to the resulta arrived at
by the late Royal Commission as to the extent ( f our
available coal and its probable duration. It was as-
sumed that coal could be worked to the depth of
4,0001 t, and if as, 146,480,000 tons of coal inignt be
made available. At the present rate of consumption
that supply would last 1,273 years; but increasing at
the rate it had done for-the last fifteen years, it would
be exhausted in 110 yearn The truth probably lay
between these two extremism. Vast quantities of the
coal, however, could never be worked except at a price
which w iuld render it more advantageous to purchase
coal from abioad. He thought they would look in vain
for cheaper labour to enable them to work the less
valuable coal, and the one hope for the continuance of
on: prosperity, as dependent on our coal, rested on the
skill and perseverance of mining and mechanical ergi-
. . . . .

Mr William Armstrong was acorded a Marty vote
of thanks for his adlress.

In connection whit the foregoing, The T+lhrs hae
the following leader :-- .

Sir William Armstrong has been reading a homily which
gem 10th. quick of English comfort and English prosperity.
It is fortunate for the preacher that he Is bacierd by circum-
stances, and that adversity compels us to be willing hearers.
N thing else will ever make us reasonahle. The English are,
and elweys were, and by preiumptioe always will be, the
mot wasteful of nations. If we have more them monah, we
think the supply infinite, and throw a NY)as 11111e1 Ili MY use
It would be hard to name anything wheel earl cal ii either
a comfort or a IWlttry, or a sm,ple necessity which we do not
squander with prodigal improvidence. In the matter of Coal,
Sir Wililnut Annetrotet observes tied. wile Veer for domestic or
for mannfaeturing purpo.es, we might molly make half do
the present amount of work. By bringing our grate. a little
more forward, and presenting more of the ironwork to the
air of the room. we might have twice a. much beat, without
losing that sight of the fire which is essential to the Fmgliesh
Preside. The domestic question—that is, the warming of
our houses—has been so amply discussed lately iu these
columns, and such s variety of suggestions has been volun-
teers that we need not renew the controversy. The
question before us is not what is best, most cheer-
( iii, and most Et gash way of warming our houses. No
doubt, that is easily answered, for the true old Eng-
lish way is to light a fire in one or two rooms large
enough to romt a sheep, while the other rooms, the pas-
sages, tit., staircase, arid the bedrooms are left In a tempe-
rature which certainly ha. the effect of keeping the family
circle sitting en permanence round the sacred hearth. Our
boast.l. • temperate climate, but we create *tropical and in
arctic one of our own. It is of no use talking ; necessity
alone will drive people to economize one of the greatest and
most wonderful gilts of Provitence to man, anti to this
nation especial:7. Sir William Armstrong tells us that, at a
very liberal computation of the Coe' within our reach,
if we go on Increasing the consumption at the present
rate of increase, in little more than • century the light
of England will be extinguished. Onr hearths will be
cold, our streets dark, our public buildings chill
as sepulchres; our furnaees will no longer run .with molten
one, it resound with the hummer; our manufactories and
workshops will he Idle our railway, will no longer be
Detre:led by the I ecomotivs ; our shipping will revert to
sails, and our mened-war to wood, if, indeed, the trees sur-
vive the fierce demand f•er fuel. The prospect is little leas
horrible and ineeeceivable than the extinction of the sun
itself in utter dark nem. At our present rate of consumptiore,
if we are wise enough or compelled by successive Strikes not
to become still more extravagant, Eugland may survive as a
Coal-producing and Coal-consumng co•netry for near
thirteen hundred years; otherwise, if we do not repent, the
year A. D. 1053 will see our final doom.
The most striking statement in Sir William's address, made
at Newcestle-on-Tyue as President of the North of England
Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineering, is the
economy he has effected at the Elms ick Works. ills firm has
there erected two C Miss engines to do the work previously
performed by ten smaller engines, with boilers of the best
construction, and one of there engines is now using *41005
of Coal a week, gentlest Ce tons used by the engines it has
superseded The-geberel result is that the number of fire-
men is much diminished, mei, notwithstmeling the enormous
rise in the price of Coal, the steam power required is now
obtained at net cost than before, alter allowing for interest
on the capital expended. After this testimony from hie own
experience, we are ready to take Sir William Armstrong's
word for the statement that enginei generally consume ten
times as much C ell as is theoretically necessary, nine-tenths
iteleg simply wasted by faults of construction an 4 manage-
ment The full value ("Ms statement can only be appreci-
ated by those whose lot is cast filer near manufacturingtewne
or who are otherwise well acii quieted with them. The chief of
these towns are formes of chimney., varying In height trim
tic poplar to the Webb gtonia we read of, a hundred of them
Im inedietely in view, and throwing out a continuous canopy
of smoke exteudlng over the whole cowhand suburbs and of%
thickness that oan only be ierom eed. It is, indeed, good
idles to be told that nine -tenths of this smoke is un-
neees.ary. and as merely hi utish a waate as when an lodim
kills • deer for the sake of its tongue, leaving the body to rot,
or when • wolf kills a sheep furs mouthful. eloredity anti
legislation Sr. equally powerless in the matter. A timely re
bake has now come from the Pit Itself, in the form of a rise
of price., which Sir William estimates as a quasi-penal fine
of forty, fur millions bin icte lon the British consumer. We
have been taxed to that eminent by the coelowners and pit-
men, whom Sir William describes as more in harmony
and caoperation than outaiders can see. They could only
raise priolli by stopping the supply, %filch for a long time
has been running away from the demand. The demand has
now reached the eupply, and the consumer is at the mercy of
the coal producer. -hr eectis !" we may say, for no mercy
is shown. But, hard as the lesson has been, "sweet are
the uses of adversity," and at hut we may all see not only the
duty but the necessity of economising the great staff of
British industry.
For the gement' question, and as regards either industrial
or domestic ems, all that is wanted is • little application of
that common sense which we ermAnt..to-Ebeleele/elee...eme-eleeelde
of OUT cute. Bet the plain fact Is that no thought is given to
the matter, not them vim are interestod in the largeet
connunption ere our masters. There lea ronspiracy to
make our fires wasteful and unprofitable. We have no
Wish to substilete the German stove for the open grate, for
good results Can be obtained without a menace which it
would be nothing short of treason to recommend. But
we are quite certain that in any house, of any scale, the
fireplaces, including the kitchen range, will be found to in.
vu lee an expenditure of Coed elude out of proportion to the
income of tee probable tenant. If a man, for example., his
only n hundred a year, and a tamely, he emnot Mord to
' spend ten pounds a year on Coal; yet he will find that each
. Is the consumptien, even at prices much lower than the present,
for which his fireplaces are Calculated. Of course he remit
economize in one way or other, and of course he does. But he
in not Beene. In almost every clam of habitation there is found
one stuoid and fatal economy, the child of thoughtless
extravamome and equally unreasoning thaft it Is the
uuwarmed. unventilated showroom, the genteel parlour or
the handsomely furnished drawing-ro em, generally guiltless
of fire, unless lighted for a visitor or for attire festivity. The
best room in the house, the largest, loftiest, sunniest, and
most cheerful, Is kept generally as chill as the cellar. A
house well warmed throughout Is scarcely to be found in
Great Britain, though in scarcely • single house is there not
Coal enough consumed to warm every room la it, lilt were
only intelligently employed.

Referring to the extraordinary price of coal, the
Daily News of Wednesday renuarke
The question of the hour in London Is the price of coal.
It ir a very old experience in the metropolis for a snow-
storm or a severe frott to send up the fuel lon famine price;
and rae thao t venty years ago coal mu, for a few weeks,
higher than it Is to day. But we are unable to give London
hues. holders the consolation that the present rise
Is due to any such temporary cause. The article
which we publish in another column todlay shows
that the present riae of price has arisen from the fact
that the demand exceeds not merely the supply in London,
but the astual output of the collieries themseives. It is not
that the great national stock of coal is falling, but that it
cannot be got from the deep coal cellars where nature has
stored it for us as quickly as we consume It. In the
course of time this suddenly expanded demand will be
overtaken by the tradually Increasing supply, and lower