The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-10-16 00:00:00

THE COAL TRADE OF LIVERPOOL.

A most interesting report on the coal traffic of the
United Kingdom, and the importance of its further de-
velopment in Liverpool, has just been published by Mr.
Braithwaite Poole, the able manager of the goods' depart-
ment of the London and North Western Railway. Mr.
Poole says :
" There are upwards of 3000 coal mines in Great Britain,
which employ nearly 250,000 men, women, and bays, under
ground and above, termed hewers, putters, trappers, over-
lookers, bankmen, &c., &c. The capital invested in working
stock, tramways, staiths, and harbours, altogether exceeds
£30,000,000 in value ! and the get of coal,' as it is techni-
cally termed, amounts to 34,000,000 tons annually; the esti-
mated value of which, at the Pit's Mouth,' is £10,000,0001
" Of this enormous quantity of coal, one-third is raised in
the Northumberland and Durham districts, from whence the
chief exports of the kingdom are made by the rivers Tyne,
Wear, and Tees, both foreign and coastways."

The preference given to these districts is partly on ac-
count of the quality of the coal, but mainly caused by the
railway and other facilities afforded for loading, without
undue breakage.
The Lancashire coal field produces about 4,000,000 tons
per annum : viz., in Wigan district, 2,000,000 tons ; Bol-
ton, 1,000,000; and St. Helen's, 1,000,000 tons. Of this
amount, in 1847 the exports were from Liverpool, 121,587
tons only, and in 1848, 131,947 tons. This small export
Mr. Braithwaite Poole attributes to the want of proper
staiths and other facilities for loading. The bulk of the
supply for Liverpool comes by the Leeds Canal, and the
St. Helen's Canal and Railway-630,000 and 480,000 tons
respectively. The London and North Western Railway
brings us 180,000 tons, which has increased from 80,000
tons in 18t2. The charges by both canal and rail have
been very greatly reduced lately—to the amount of 4s. 6d.
to 4s. 9d. per ton. Mr. Poole considers, however, that
the public have not had the full advantage of the reduc-
tion. The total cost of the best house coal at Crown-
street he considers to be about 103. per ton. By sending
their own carts and paying ready money, the public might
have it of full weight, and unmixed.
Mr. Poole recommends to the London and North
Western Company, that they should afford every possible
accommodation to this trade, by which at least one-half
per cent. increase of dividend might be secured. The
charges should be by full train load. The Crown-street
yards should be altered in their arrangements, and other
modifications of the traffic carried into execution. The
most important desideratum recommended, however, is
the appropriation by the Dock Committee of one of the
north docks for coal traffic expressly, and the formation
at such dock, by the railway company, of proper branches,
drops, staiths, &c., by which he considers that the town,
dock estate, railways, and canals, would all be benefitted
together, which, in our opinion, would unquestionably be
the case.

On Thursday morning, when the steamer Admiral, from
Liverpool to Glasgow, was off Corsal Point, one of the
cabin passengers leapt over the side, and was never seen
again. The unfortunate man is said to have been Mr.
Greig, master of a Dundee and Liverpool trader. He re-
sided in Dundee.
ALARMING ACCIDENT.—On Saturday morning the
" King Orrey," after having undergone a complete repair,
started from Douglas for this port with a full complement
of passengers, and a very heavy cargo. She had not pro-
ceeded more than two miles before it was discovered that
something was wrong with her machinery, and she was
unable to proceed. Captain Quayle signalised to shore
for assistance, and the Mona's Isle, which was in the har-
bour, and had steam up, proceeded to her assistance, and
towed her safely into port, when it was discovered that
the stoppage of her machinery was caused by a carpen-
ter's wedge nearly 12 inches long having got into one of
the valves. It was of course immediately removed, and,
after a detention of about four hours, the King Orrey pro-
ceeded to sea, and arrived here early on Sunday morning.
THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH COMPANY.—Messrs.
Willmer and Smith have published a long letter, from
which we get an insight into the extortionate charges
made by the company. They say, '• For this message,
which occupied about ninety-eight lines in the Morning
Herald, we paid the Telegraph Company about £2l, and
were, nowithstanding, thrown off the wires for more than
half an hour, to satisfy the monopolising spirit of the
company." In another paragraph, they observe, " We
must not omit to state that parliament granted to the
Electrie Telegraph Company an act to communicate intel-
ligence at uniform rates, and without preference to any
party. Their present price from Liverpool to London is
over 6d. per word. It is reported that to some papers
they charge is. for every nine words; others ls. per line,
and others 6d. per line. To the Glasgow Daily M ail
they supply more than a column of news per day for £2OO
a-year. The North British Mail for tne same intelli-
gence £3OO. The Hull news room is supplied with all
intelligence for £l5O per annum ; whilst the Liverpool
Exchange do not get much more than half the quantity
given to the Glasgow papers. although they pay £3OO a-
year." Sooner or later there must be a radical change in
the matter of telegraphic messages.
CURIOUS INQUEST.—On Wednesday, an inquest was
held on the body of a child a year old, named Patrick
Morris, the son of parents residing in Prophet-street,
Toxteth-park. The coroner had been induced to hold the
inquest in consequence of the following certificate of the
child's death having been sent to the registrar of the dis-
trict :—" I certify Patrick Morris has died from culpable
neglect, together with exposure to the cold, on the part of
his own mother. G. Manley, M.D." The mother of
the deceased, stated that the child was lately taken ill,
and seen professionally at Dr. Whittle's surgery, by Mr.
Bickerton, who administered medicines which gave relief.
A few days after this, witness took the child to Dr. Whit-
tle's surgery, when she saw Dr, Manley, who gave her
some medicine, which she gave deceased as directed.
The deceased kept getting worse. She went to Dr.

Whittle's surgery several times, but was unable to see
any one. She always kept him well wrapped up. He
died on Saturday. Mary Kirkham, a neighbour, stared
that after the child's death she called on Dr. Manley for
a certificate. He asked her if it was for the person who
had said that his medicine had killed the child, and giving
the certificate we have quoted above, hoped the mother of
the child would have some trouble about the matter.
She also stated that he had only seen the child once, and
that was on Friday. The coroner strongly censured the
conduct of Dr. Manley in giving such a certificate. Dr.
Manley said that he had not given the certificate with the
intention that a coroner's inquest should be held. The
jury immediately returned a verdict of died from natural
causes. On Thursday, Dr. Manley applied to the coroner
for his expenses, but the coroner refused to allow him the
usual fee.