The Sun.
London, England, 1868-10-01 00:00:00

WELSH COAL.

The following appears in a contemporary e The Bute
docks at Cardiff were made before the value of Welsh coal
for steam purposes was discovered. Coal of an inferior
quality for household purposes and iron were found in the
neighbourhood of Cardiff, and the docks were formed
there to facilitate the export of those articles. Men of
small means used to dig coal and convey it about in
carts. Some Welsh vessel had carried abort ten tons
of it to London, and the person who possessed it applied
to a dealer to take it off his hands as it was useless,
and the latter sold it for a mere trifle to the manager
of some of the Thames steamers. This was upwards of
twenty years ago. The captain of one of these steamers
reported that the coal was the best he had ever used, for
it generated more heat and caused less smoke than north
country coal. The manager then applied to the dealer for
more of the coal, or to tell him where it could be obtained,
but the latter said he had no more, and all he knew was
that it came from Wales. A thought now struck this
person, who is still living, that something could be made
out of this coal, and he and the present Sir James Duke
set out together on an exploring expedition. They
first went to Bristol, and there they learnt that there were
coal-pits near Cardiff. They proceeded to Cardiff and put
up at the Angel Inn there. During the evening a servant
came into the room with a scuttle full of coal. One of
the travellers examined the contents of the scuttle, and
said to his companion, ' Why, here is the very article we
are in search of.' They rang for the landlord, and
said to him, ' You have a curious kind of coal here ;
where did you get it from ?' The landlord replied that
he wished he had never seen the coal ; it would not burn
well ; it covered his house with dust ; and that it came
from a place about twenty miles off. The travellers at
once went to the place and engaged to take any quantity
that could be supplied. Soon after this Welsh coal
became celebrated throughout the world for steam
purposes. The French Government purchase thousands
of tons of Welsh coal annually for the use of the French
navy. The Welsh coal-field commences in the Forest
of Dean and extends to Milford Haven. The coal
dug from the former place is too bituminous to be
of use, and that which is dug from the latter place is
anthracite. Midway between the two places, or about the
neighbourhood of Cardiff, the coal is less bituminous and
less like anthracite coal ; in fact, it possesses the precise
qualities necessary for steam purposes. The Marquis of
Bute gets a royalty for every ton that is dug out, and for
every ton of the same coal that is shipped. He has the dues
on the shipping that comes into the docks for the coal,
and he has the ground-rents on hundreds of houses in
Cardiff. Hundreds of persons are getting rich, and tens
of thousands of persons are getting a living out of the
Welsh coalfield. There are a great number of barren
spots where nothing but a smoking tall chimney is seen.
Beneath that chimney, in the bowels of the earth, there
are perhaps a thousand men digging and delving for coal.
The rows of cottages in which they and their families live
are two or three miles off. The coal fetches about 7s. or
Bs. a ton at the pit's mouth."