The Sun.
London, England, 1836-09-28 00:00:00

AitRIVALS.

I
Whost. I Barley.
English ..... ......... 4,410 vs 1,670 qrs.
Irish . ........ "....•"•• - --

Foreign 00000 -......-..........1

Oats. Flour. •
1,630 qrs 2,830 sacks
10,860 -

(From the New London Price Current of Sept. 27.)

SUGAR.—This afternoon there is a revival in the demand
for British Plantation Sugar. Several parcels of yellows have
been sold, averaging 695. for low. In the Refined Market
the shippers are almost the exclusive buyers, and have given
863. 6d. for Lumps entitled to the double bounty, or 455. 6d.
for double Crushed. This afternoon there was an improved
request for Refined goods from the grocers at steady prices ;
455. 6d. obtained for fine Crushed.

MAURITIUS.—Went off at 535. a 645. for very ordinary to
good brown, middling yellow ,655. 6d. a 665. good and fine,
675. 6d. a 695. 6d,
FOREIGN.-100 chests Bahia by private contract, good
brown at 265., and good white at 375. a 38s. ; at auction 726
boxes Havannah were all taken in, not within 2s. 6d. of the
buying-in prices being offered, good white bought in at 455.
a 475., low to good yellow 325. a 365. ; there have been further
arrivals of Havannah and Brazil.

MOLASSES.—This afternoon a parcel of fine Antiguas have
been sold at 355. being a fall of 2s. from the highest point.
Rum, BRANDY, AND HOLLINDS.—Six. hundred puns. Ja-
maica Rum, 29 to 36 per cent. over have fetched 4s. 2d. a 4s.
6d., and fine 4s. 9d. for 36 per cent. over; and Demerara
4s. 2d. for 32 a 34 per cent. ; a Government contract has
been issued for 75,000 gallons ; there have again been several
arrivals. Brandy or Geneva is not cheaper, but at easier
prices there are not sellers.
TALLOW..—The demand for Petersburg Yellow Candle may
be noted 3d. a 6d. lower, 435. 6d. a 435. 9d. having been ac-
cepted. This afternoon there was a brisk request for Tallow
:corn the scale at 435. 6d.

COFFEE.—Mocha is freely offered at a decline of several
sUlings, but without finding buyers ; ungarbled may be pur-
chaset. at 585., and clean at 635. The demand for Foreign is
still confiri'd to St. Domingo, at steady prices ; 535. a 545.
paid for 560 hnas o. god and, fine coloury ; of Brazil 4,690
bags offered at aut,,i-6-1 ,re all taken in at 503. 6d. a 51s. for
good ord. coloury, the -vs were not within Is. a Is. 6d. of
these prices. Sea damaged, small quantities, went at 455.
6d. a 475. 6d. _ _

OILS.—The home trade have pumbased small quantities of
Pale Seal at 48/. a 49/., and Cod at 501. per tun. Seed Oils
are still heavy of sale, and although the prices of Linseed Oil
given way to 395. This afternoon► 50 tuns of Southern Whale
offered at public sale went at a reduction of 205., and sold at
38/. los. a 39/. 55., for good and fine quality.
SALTPETRE.—At auction 1,650 bags went at 265. 6d. a
275. for ord. Madras, refraction 122-.
INnrco.---The Indigo inspection has nearly concluded, and
consist mostly of good shipping qualities, valued at 6s. 3d. a
7s. per lb.
TEA.—With the exception of there being a little inquiry
after green Teas, there is nothing doing.
RICE.—Good White Bengal has been sold at 16s. 6d. A:
public sale this afternoon 100 Bengal rice sold at 16s. to
16s. 6d. for good white.

COUNTRY CORN MARKETS.

Public attention having been directed to the supposed
combination of the great coal-owners of the North to raise
the price of the commodity, and to force an article of infe.
rior quality upon the London market, the following extracts
from the Report of the Committee presented to the House
of Commons immediately before the recess, together with
the evidence, though not yet published, will be interesting
to our readers :
The Report commences by describimg the principles and
objects of the combination, or, as it is denominated by the
parties themselves, the " regulation for the limitation of
the vend."
"It is necessary for your Committee to observe, that
previous to the compact directly pointed at,' (the compact
among the northern coal-owners, under the denomination of
the 'limitation of the vends') an agreement is stated to
have taken place in the year 1771. Meetings were called
in consequence of alleged irregularities to which the coal
trade was at that time subject. The result of such meet-
ings produced a determination to fix the prices of coal,
which appear to have been settled in the ratio of the sup-
posed value from 12s. to 15s. the Newcastle chaldron, and
the agreement seems to have been common alike to the
Tyne and the \\Tear.
" About the year 1786 or 1787, a particular species of
compact was resorted to, which, with temporary interrup-
tions, yobr Committee believe to have existed ever since.
Its avowed object was to apply a remedy to a heavy de-
pression in the price of certain kinds of coal, and to avert
the danger, connected with it, of the abandonment of seve-
ral colleries.

" This compact appears, with occasional alterations in
its conditions, affecting particular pits, to have been an-
nually renewed, and though suspended since the Ist of
January, 1800, the interruption has arisen from a disagree-
ment of the parties concerned on the terms of its re-
newal, and is by no means to be deemed a final derelic-
tion of the measure.' " The compact is a general one, be-
tween all the collieries of the Wear and those of the Tyne,
by which the whole of the estimated vend on both rivers,
being divided, three parts are to be supplied by the latter,
and two by the former.
" The precise nature of the agreements for the regulation
of the vend of coals in the North, which have continued,
with some interruptions, from the year 1771 to the present
time, is rendered very clear by the evidence of Mr. Robert
William Brandling, a part owner in three colleries on the
Tyne, and Chairman of the Committee of coal-owners at
Newcastle.

" In 1880 he explained to the Committee the nature of
the regulation as follows :
" When it is understood by the coal-owners that all the
parties interested in the coal trade on the Tyne and Wear
are willing to.enter into an arrangement of this nature, a
representative is named for each of the colleries, these re-
presentatives meet together, and from amongst them choose
a Committee of 9 for the Tyne and 7 for the Wear ; this
being done, the proprietors of the best coals are called upon
to name the price at which they intend to sell their coals
for the succeeding 12 months ; according to this price the
remaining proprietors fix their prices ; this being accom-
plished, each colliery is requested to send in a statement of
the different sorts of coal they raise, and the powers of the
colliery—that is, the quantity that each particular colliery
could raise at full work ; and upon these statements the
Committee, assuming an imaginary basis, fix the relative
proportions as to quantity between all the colleries, which
proportions are observed, whatever quantity the markets
may demand. The Committee then meet once a month,
and according to the probable demand of the ensuing
month they issue so much per 1,000 to the different col-
leries ; that is, if they glee me an imaginary basis of 30,000,
and my neighbour 20,000, according to the quality of our
coal, and our power of raising them in the monthly quan-
tity, if they issue 100 to the 1,000, I raise and sell 3,000
during the month, „and my neighbour 2,000 ; but in fixing
the relative quantities, if we take 800,000 chaldrons as the
probable demand of the different markets for the year, if
the market should require more, an increased quantity
would be given out monthly, so as to raise the annual
quantity to meet the demand, were it double the original
quantity assumed.'
" In the evidence before the Committee, Mr. Brand-
!kg states, that the nature of the regulation has been
the, same whenever it has been renewed, the object being
to apportion the vend to the different colleries, according to
the quality of the coal and the powers of raising tlrat coal.
" Do you mean by that to affix what quantity shook' be
supplied by each colliery ?—Yes, with relation to their
competitors, without any reference whatever to the total
quantity to be supplied to the market.
" Have you any statement of the quantities fixed on by
that vend for each colliery to supply. There is no quan-
tity fixed for each colliery, except once a-fortnight ; the
basis is merely an imaginary quantity ; it is a quantity
assumed, and may be 800,000 chaldrons or 1,000,000
chaldrons ; the basis is taken merely to apportion the rela-
tive quantities as between the collieries ; the coal-owners
meet once a fortnight, or 26 times a-year, and according
to the price in the London market (by which we judge
either of the deficiency or excess of the supply), the quan-
tity issued, which is to be divided amongst the colleries, is
determined.
" What do you mean by the excess of supply in the
London market,' and how, do you ascertain that ?—The
way in which that is ascertained is this ; we get the price
from London, we know the price the collieries have fixed as
their selling price at the places of shipment ; we know also
what is the average freights from the shipping ports to Lon-
don ; we add these two together, and we consider that as
the fair average price which the coal ought to bring in Lon-
don. If we see by the markets in London that the price in
the Pool has exceeded the price we censider to be the fair
price, which is a price something below what the coals from
other districts can be supplied at, we issue a large supply ;
if it is below that, we consider the supply is more than the
demand requires, and we diminish it ; at the end of each
fortnight we meet and examine these lists, and according
to them we apportion the quantity to be supplied by each
colliery.
" Then, are the committee to understand that it is not
the quantity which regulates your arrangement in the
North, but the price which the article brings in London
which induces you to increase or decrease the supply ?
The price in London is the only guide as to the quantity
issued by us.'
" Iri 1830 Mr. Brandling stated to the Committee, that
the monthly quantities of the vend were regulated by the
view the Committee took of the probable demand for the
ensuing month : that the actual quantity is fixed once a
month or once a fortnight, according to the probable de-
mand in the different markets ; and the market lists trans-
mitted from London, showing the quantity on hand, is one
of the circumstances which regulate the monthly quantities?' r
" In order to fix the price which is considered in the
North a remunerating price, the Committee of coal-owners
calls on the proprietors of the best coals to state the price
at which they intend to sell their coals (the present regula-
tion price oofoatblileebest Stewart's Wallsend being 28s. 6d.
the Newcastle elialdron), and the proprietors of the inferior
coals then fix the prices at which they will severally sell
theirs. The coal-owners, having fixed their prices, then
sstatere a a
whata s
quantity
profit. on the basisTue
greatest they o
difficulty u g
h
ought haveto t e
Com-
mittee
to
u
experience is in satisfying the parties that they have
got their fair proportion of the vend in the general arrange-
ment. Every difference which may happen between the
parties is referred to two indifferent persons, who, if they
differ, appoint an umpire ; the great object of the regula-
tion hieing to enable all to have a fair proportion, and all to
have some profit. The items forming the coast of produc-
tion, including the expense of bringing the coals to the pit-
mouth, and to the staith or shipping-place, al e not consi-
dered by the Committee of coal-owners (although they may
be generally known to them) in allotting to each the parti-
cular portions of the vend. The agreement is voluntary on
the part of every coal-owner, and all parties must concur
before the agreement is binding on any one.
" Having obtained the relative price of each colliery,
either by agreement or by arbitration, the Committee of
coal-owners then proceed to examine the viewers, as to the
general powers colleries to raise the particular description
of coals ; they ascertain the proportional power of raising
cools of the same quality, and of different qualities, from
the different pits. They assume 800,000 chaldrons or any
imaginary quantity, to be the basis of the supply ; and, ac-
cording to the price and powers of the different colleries,
proved before the Committee, the proportion which each
shall have to sell every fortnight is regulated, and the
quantity fixed by the Committee must not he exceeded in
that fortnight ; but, during the year, the Committee may
proportion o
double or treble the assumed quantity for the basfis.
each colliery, being sometimes by price, sometimes by the
powers of raising, sometimes' by both ; and the whole is
matter of negociation between the coal proprietors and their
Committee. The coal trade was open part of the year
vend
itY
have no fixed rule for alloting the ro o
i
1833, and on the 13th of July a general meeting of coal-
owners was held at the Coal Trade-office, Newcastle-upon-
Tyne, Mr. Brandling in the chair, when resolutions were
agreed to, with the view of including all the collieries in the