Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1873-03-08
,rae Coal Question IN England.


the demand for Goals the coal-owners /
saw their time had come, and up went /
prices eight shillings at bound, forty |
eight shillings ton instead of forty. |
To-day they are fifty shillings, and it is
expected that next week will see q rise |
of another ten shillings. These are the |
prices of the best Goals, but inferior |
kinds have gone up in the same proper
ton. The poor who buy, not in tons, |
but in half-hundledw weights and smaller |
quantities, suffer terribly, for what is
fifty shillings to those who can afford to
buy by the ton, is nearer five pounds
when sold at retail. Sir w. Armstrong,
the engineer, calculates that a rise of a
shilling a ton means fine on the people
of 95, 800, 600 sterling. According to his
reckoning, the country requires, for do
nestle and industrial purposes, 100,-
600, 600 tons of coal year, and 10000
900 goes in exports. The present sup
ply is much below this demand, and
there is apparently no hope of its being
Immediately increased. 1t is impossible
to shut ones eyes to the fact that the
coal question is becoming a serious one.
There is, first, the exhaustion of the
stock stored away in the bowels of the
earth. AS far as absolute exhaustion
goes, that is far off story, and some
substitute will surely be invented be-
fore it comes to pass. But there is one
form of exhaustion which is very near
us, and that is the exhaustion of coal
which is at once good and cheap. The
possession of coal of excellent quality
within easy reach, SO that it could be
cheaply worked and sent into the mar
ket at moderate price, has hitherto
been the mainstay of British commerce.
The supply of good coal near the sur
face is now pretty well used up. There
is still vast quantity of good coal, but
it lies in deeper and more awkward sit
uatious, and consequently it is more ex-
pensive. aft - ~ - 81 z.
The working expenses are heavy and
working expenses, with transport, make
up the price of coal. The royal COM
missioners who investigated this sub
ject few years ago reported that, &C
cording to the evidence laid before
them, there was an aggregate quantity
of LAG, 4S0, 900, 600 of tons of coal at
workable depth. With a consumption
Of 115, 100000 tons per annum, this
stock would last 1878 years at the rate
Of LAG, 900, 900 tons, 1000 years of 49,
100000 tons, S37 years, or of 100000
0O0--being double the present produc-
tion-636 years.
Perhaps, to some extent, the coal
owners are also anxious to limit pro-
duction. The compact for diminishing
the market supply of coal, known as
the " Limitation Of the Vends," dates
as far back as 100 years ago. The prin-
cipal coal-owners of Durham and North
cumberland undertook, by this agree
ment, that each colliery should send out
only fixed quantity of coal ayear. A
committee of the trade held monthly
meetings, and regulated the rate Of
production, and the price at which the
different kinds of coal should be sold.
And something of the same kinds done
to this day. By limiting the supply,
the owners are enabled to raise the
value of this commodity, and the coal
waits in theirgreat cellars underground
until they choose to dispose of it. 1t
may be doubtful, however, whether the
temptation to make money as fast as
they can will not counterfeit the temp
tation to secure apparently large profits,
and an owner who sells as much coal as
he can produce is likely to be richer at
the end of so many years than the own
er who, though he gets higher price,
sells smaller quantity. The check on
production is mainly applied by the
miners, and at the present moment the
owners are only taking advantage of the
reduction of the coal supply, which has
been caused by their men. In the north
of England an able bedied colliermakes
eight shillings to ten shillings by a
days work of six and half hours. In
the Midlands, golfers earn from ESQ
to G200 year. In South Wales, where
the great strike is now going on, golfers
might be making from thirty shiIlings
to forty shillings week, at the lowest,
if they chose. Some of the men were
earning as much as 600 to $50 month
before the strike.
This estimate is not quite SO cheer
full as it looks, when we begin to exam
inc the grounds on which it rests. The
commissioners came to the conclusion
that the probable quantity of coal con-
tanned in the ascertained coal-felds of
y the United Kingdom was 80, POT, 900, 900
of tons, at depth not exceeding 1900
feet from the surface. In order to
make up this grand total, they added a
guess as to the amount of coal which
may geologically be supposed to exist
under the permian, near red sandstone,
and other uperincumbent strata, in
districts where has not yet been proved
to exist by actual exploration. In the
opinion of Mr.. Hull, one of the geolo.
gists attached to the Government Sur.
yey, and who first called attention tc
the rapid exhaustion of the coal treas
| ures, the commissioners not only in
{ cluded in their calculations number
of coal-seams thinner than ought to bt
{ considered workable, but added an enor
nous area which, being concealed under
, newer formations, must be regarded
with some suspicion until actually ex
plored ~ They were indeed, sanguint
enough to suggest that great eoal-fielt
= would be found underneath the German
Ocean. 1t is not only possible, bu
lprobable, that the known areas of Goa
: may be considerably increased by future
t discoveries, but it is best not to be tot
confident as to the amount of treasur,
$ trove which is thus hidden away. Again
}, it is possible that coal may be worked
r at lower depth than 1000 feet. Al
t this belongs to the future and the I'm
4 certain. The actual state of things nov
existing may be this, that of coal actu
4 ally knownlto exist there is not NOR
t than 80, 000,G00,000 Of tons, Or there
s abouts, and that, while the annual con
4 sumption is 100000 or 115, 100000