The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-07-13 00:00:00

THE PRICE OF COAL.
atom the Standard.)

“Forsome time peel. London, Birmingham, and other
great centres of trade Imre had increasing difficulty
in obtaining a sufficient supply of coal, and this scarcity
is reaching a point which may fairly be described as
alarming. The Califaili of the scarcity are these : the
stoppage of production etc:l:dant upon the late die-
pirlee elreet working hours, the demand arising from
the enoriUtree trades in our iron diatifete, together
with the yearly ffieeetringsuppliestollussia, Plerniany,
and other countries, unit the !Present colliery strikes.
Unheard-of quotations are imnihtent.” We quote these
words from the circular of a leading firree sino they only
too distigetly represent the truth as regards besh the
pre,ent and, it mey be feared, the future also. Happily
the warmth of the actoet eeason prevents the dearth,
as, comparatively speaking, It may be called, from
being so severely felt as it would hest, the later and
more inclement months of autumn and in the winter;
but at no time, in any household, small or great, can
the family et:rt....only be carried on without some
amount of fuel, no thtt every household in the king-
dom is affected, more or less, by the continual rise in
prices. The best quality now sells in the metropolis
f or thirty-two shillings a ton, the most inferior for
twenty-four; while coke commands its guinea. Nor
is tiffs by any means the wcrst of the matter. Should
winter come upon us, and find the state of affairs un-
changed, momething between two and three guineas, or
little short of a Coal Famine may be apprehended,
with what results to the comfoilts of home, to the very
existence of the poor, to all manufacturing interests.
need hardly be suggested. An aggravated coal tariff
endruing for any length of time must tell upon
the cost of every other commodity—upon every-
thing produced by machinery, upon travelling by
steam, upon hotel charger, upon gas, upon a thou-
sand and one necessities or conveniences of existence.
But the main point just now to be kept in view
is the hearing of a dear fireplace upon the daily
and domertic wants of the community. Whatever
eine may be dispensed with, mankind must eat' and,
in civilised lands, in order to eat, must cook. More-
over, in bitter weather no necessity of life is more
urgent than that of an artificially heated temperature,
without, which the aged, the sick, the very young, and
especially the very poor—for with the poor warmth
comes next to food—must endure the extreme of suffer-
ing and swell in a serious degree the bills of mortality.
Under the most favourable circumstances an enormovs
demand is always sure to exist, and it is being con- ,
tinrially enhanced, while the supply is more than pro-
portionately checked. •
With regard to the causes assigned by the eminent
firm to which we have referred, though nominally four
in number there are practically no more than three—
the controversies between masters and men in the
mining counties, the prodigious development of our
iron trade' and the unparalleled amount of exporta-
tion. As far as the first is concerned, it is a question
of time. The warfare must sooner or later corns to
an eni, and the woduction be resumed. This may
happen in the comae of a week, or Piet for months
to came, ford from the present aspect of the coal
districts it is to be feared that the pits will riot be
worked again very soon. In the meanwhile the
stock in hand is diminiehing with alarming rapidity, '
and should the strike become universal prospects will
grow very serious indeed. There is no apparent dis-
position to yield, and while the colliers declare them-
selves able to hold out for an indefinite period, their
employer's are positively making up for their losses by
*the extraordinary advance in prices. The second
reason given for the augmented cost of fuel is one
, which we cannot even desire to see removerl—the
ever-growing prosperity, notwithstanding all foreign
competition, of our iron industry. Unless one
industry begins to languish it must draw largely
upon the other, and so indirectly tax the general
public. Nor, as we have said, can we wish it to be
otherwise, for of late apprehensions have been en-
couraged with regard to the successful rivalry ef us by
foreign manufacturers, and since it is of the utmost
importance that England should not cease to hold her
oa.n in this respect, we cannot begrudge her iron-
masters whatever fuel they may require for feeding
their ma7hinery.
It is far otherwise with regard to the last remaining
cause alleged—the immense and increasing purchases
of English coal by Germany, Russia, and other coun-
tries. Theis have amounted during five months only
of the present year to live milljimior of tons or upwanks
of half a million morellan during is similar period in
teat year. A suggestion has been made, of which we
heartily aperove, that this OialilaW might be to a
certain extent checker] by a reasonable export dirty
on the material which has been called the third
net:Resits, of life—the order running, bread, meat, coal.
We doubt whether the lard might not take the second
place. At all events, 'neat without coal is of no
great nee. l'he revenue thus derived would be consi-
derable, and infinitely better than the dribblings pro-
duced by any half.hundrial of Mr. Lowe'a expedients.
Not that the trade would in any very serious degree
be impeded; but the strain upon our stock would
certainly be less, and some limit put, perhaps to the
rise in prices. Coal at thirty-two shillings a ton, an
increase of four shillings in lees than a fortnight, and
daily expectations of a further advance—and all this
in the very meridian of the Rummer, when every one
is complaining of the heat, when ice is the principal
luxury of the season, when awful tel. s of sun-stroke
come to us from the New World, wl umbrellas
answer to their etymological meaning, wL every con-
ceivable device is resorted to for warding ... the rays
of the sun, when pith hats amaze the sea .4e, and
pungarees are common in the streets. Why, 1: coal,
from its lowest to its highest quality, is so costly now,
what would it be if our climate should before long
take another of its unnatural twists, bringing east
north winds or sleet or frost to our half-famished fir,
sides?
It must be remembered that, in impplying the
foreigner so lavishly, with no general benefit, but
rather harm, to ourselves, and only for the enrichment
of a single class, we are practically assisting him in his
competition against us in thaw branches of industry
which have made us what we are, and especially in the
manufacture of warlike engines, the production of
which has provoked a world-wide rivalry. Russia, it
bee been suggested, must put a stop to her importer

tions so soon as winter approaches and the ports of
the Baltic are closed •' but that is exactly the con-
tingency against which she is now providing, bybnying
nemtly all that can be had in the market and
la 3 ing op gigantic stores for the frozen season, herself
possessing almost inexhaustible mines, Which sire Ma
not yet the meanis of converting into colleriss. Those
in taste= Siberia are at present too distant to be
attainabi:', while it may be imagined of what ads
vantage to hef Ns the easy importation from Ens.laisl
when we recollect that only. a few years ago ti,e
mere cost' of transpoelisibg coal for the use a the
steam HAD& on the Anil Sea was twelve pi mods
sterling a ton, while the Caspian flotilla was ILOOPi-
taiped at an almost equal expensx We may reiy upon
it that whatever impost we levy the Russians would
still he cur customers; but in addition to them sad
the Germans, the French. the Spaniarde, the Allel--
triams, the Italians, the Eztyptiana, and even the
Americans. come to our markets. The French. the
Spanish, the Italian Governments coal their strain
harks from our tutura, so do most of the great trading
companies of the COLtillellt j PO do the principal
packet lines. It jaws who net goiog the lowomitives
of the Indian, of the Swedish, of the Daroilv and
Black Sea, of the Ninth Russian, and of the h.,;yptian
railways; and it has been properly remarked that
shile we are thus increasing the cost to ousels ea
we have not founi it possible to provide any sub-
stitute for that which pnimista to be the back-
bone of an future industry throughout the world.
Experiments have been made, but on no very
extensive scale, in France with brinactlts, or
" agglomerated coal," manufactured from the dust
usually heaped and wasted at the pit'a mouth—and
in the consumption of no other article does so lunch
waste occur—but these can never till up the gap caused
by excessive exportation. Other nations are mine
economical, or. if we please, more selfish. To take the
example of Holland. The Dutch buy as much coal as
they can, in order to save their peat, abundant though
this is. No proprietor is now allowed to cut peat even
on his own land without official authority. Without
suggesting any such interference with property at
home, and without believing in the coming exhaustion
of our collieries, we cannot but look forward with
deep anxiety to the approach of next winter, which
seems to hang a dire menace over the heads of the
poor—the menace, whatever the weather, of a tireless
hearth.