The Express.
London, England, 1853-11-29 00:00:00

sytnptoms of our having a severe winter, the Great
Coal Qu”stion has become everybody's question.
What, then, is its present slats? A week spi
the best cones were sold in the Pool for 231. a ton, ,
whilst at the corresponding period of 1832 theirice
there was only Pts. a ton. Here, then, we haws ;
rise is the wholesale London market of 7s. a ton;
and that not caused, on these two particular days,
by any diminution of supply—for on the 21st of Nov.,
1833, there were 122 ships at market, against 77 on the
22nd of November, 1832. The supply of seaborne i
coal is consequently at least quite as great, probably
on the whole much greater, in the November of 1853
than it was in the November, 1832 ; and, as prices
are still rising, it would appear to follow that, in 1
spite of the dearness of everything else, the demand
of London fur coal, and the ability of its inhabitants
to consume fuel, are increasing. In this inference
there is at all events some consolation. Under a
restrictive commercial system, with prices generally
at their present figures, consumption would have
fearfully declined; whereas, under the influence of
commercial freedom, consumption is fully main-
tained, notwithstanding coals are 325. a ton retail
price; and fine wheat was sold in Mark-lane yesterday
at 80s. a quarter.
A rise in twelve months of 7s. a ton in the retail
price of coals would involve, assuming none but the
best coals to be used, an increased outlay by London
at the rate of 873,0001. a year on seaborne fuel alone.
But there is in London at present a remarkable pe-
culiarity in the Coal Trade, for, whilst the wholesale
price of the best " Lambtou'a" is marked at 23e. a
ton in the Billingsgate Coal Exchange, railways pro-
fess to deliver the same article to consumers at their
own doors for 265. ed. a ton ; that being ss. 6d. or
6*. a ton cheaper than coal merchants who
purchase on the Exchange can deliver at. There
are then two prices for the same commodity in Lon-
don ; and these two prices have again this peculiarity
of their own, that the railways which sell at the lower
price could, it is obvious, obtain nearly the same
average as the ordinsry coal trade are obliged, selling
only seaborne coal, to ask. Under such circum-
stances, were the ability of railways to supply the
London market equal either to their inclination or to
the public demand on them, prices generally, it is
clear, would fall to the railway level. But
there is the pinch of the whole question.
London requires 3,000,000 tons of coal an-
nually ; whilst as yet railways can only
furnish it with 500,000 tons. The great balance of
2,500,000 must consequently be seaborne, and the
difference of price between the same qualities of coal,
seaborne and railway, is accounted for by the high
value of freights. At present railway transport to
London is cheaper than sea transport ; only the
means of railway transport are much more limited
than the means of sea transport. There seems, how-
ever, to be a downward tendency to some extent in
coal freights; they have ruled as high as thirteen
shillings for the northern ports, but are now some-
what lower. Nevertheless, with a long winter in
prospect, there is an opinion very generally entertained
that they will not fall below an average of 10s. This
opinion is based on the grounds that no considerable
number of vessels from the Baltic trade have, as yet,
gone into the coal trade ; no building of ships for it
on a large scale is in progress, though some few
screw colliers have been ordered for delivery at long
dates; there is an uneasy state of feeling amongst
the seamen in the coal ports, which checks enterprise
amongst shipowners; and it is quite possible that
wintry storms may this year again still further di-
minish the coal fleet. For these and other reasons
it is doubted whether freights will tall to an extent
that will materially benefit the consumer ; and even
if they do fall, the unusual scarcity of coal in every
southern port will create a eorepetition for shipping
that will be unfavourably felt in London.

itailways, of course, will bring every ton of coal
far us that they can carry, and, that they may con-
tinue to be able to sell coal cheap in London, they
will charge heavily for fuel at all those inland points
where they have no rivalry with water carriage.
But all that they can accomplish for London is not
likely to lower the general price of fuel t, any great
extent. What, then, can be done to cheapen coals?
A great deal might be effected in the north,
but, unhappily, by labourers only. The wages
of both colliers and seamen have been greatly
raised, but increased rates of wages are
not accompanied by increased production ;
irdeed in many cases higher rates of labour have
only led to less work. Were it possible to persuade
the Durham pitmen to earn more money by working
harder than they now do—saving their spare cash
for " a rainy day "—the effect of their greater in-
dustry might be to lower very considerably the price
of fuel in London. We say that such might be the
effect ; not, however, without corresponding exer-
tions on the part of the searaen. Tide after tide, day
after day, is lost in the coal ports, by the apathy and
indifference of sailors ;—and by this loss, the means
of sea transport is for all practical purposes pro-
portionally diminished. Thus between the colliers
and the seamen the supply of this metropolis with
fuel is limited and restricted; prices are rising, and
the " fuel prospects" of the working classes are be-
coming serious. Combination on the part of the coal-
owner, there is none. What with high wages and
high freights, and high prices of every commodity
they use in producing coal, the coal-owner has
smaller participation in tl.e greatly increased cost of
fuel than any other party to its production. To
blame them for the present state of things is simply
to display a want of knowledge of the facts or great
prejudice, for no part of the public would profit more
by labour increasing the supply, or by augmented
means of transport reducing the freight of coals, than
the coal•owners.

The Government, too, might do something to lower
the price of seaborne coal, by suspending the laws
which restrict the coasting trade to vessels of English
build and register. In a great emergency like this,
when people of all classes and degrees are, at the
very commencement of a winter, suffering in their
pockets from the high price of fuel, caused by a dimi-
nution in the number of ships engaged in the
coasting trade, it is the duty of the Go-
vernment, not to wait until it is moved to
act, but itself to !!ct promptly on behalf
of the public. It is indeed quite possible that on
legally opening the coasting trade to foreigners we
might be disappointed as to the number of ships they
would send into that trade; but every foreign vessel
entering it would be &gnat advantage to the country,
suffering as it is just now from want of means of
transport. We cheapen the cost of commodities
to our colonies by throwing their coasts open to
foreign vessels, why sletull we artificially keep up
the price of coals to otmelvca by shutting foreign
ships out of our coasting trade? This part of the
, Great Coal Question at 1. apt is one that will attract
parliamentary attention.

E
DEATH itONt COLD AND EXPwstIX .—Yesterday
Mr. Carter held an inquest on the body of Fiume'
Farquharson, aged 73. The deceased, who was the widow
of a gentlennui formerly the owner of immecse estates in
the we,i was an inmate of the Lambeth Work-
house. On Thursday she left the house with the other
aged pauper. who are allowed a monthly holiday, and did
not .rturn, hut early the next morning tier body was found
bleu to the Loughborough-road. Iler clothing was wet
threugh and the night had been exceedingly cold. In the
course of the inquiry it a! p. asst that it is not the practice
to allow elderly persons anything to eat while out on their
holid .y ; hut that if Du y hove no friends they must come
heck to obtain food, sad in 'hot case they are not allowed
to go nut again the same day. This was condemned by
several of the jurors ; bat a simple verdict of " Died from
cold and exposure" was ultimately agreed to.