The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-07-28

ALL DUE no IT'S COAL
speeinl Correspondence

Special Correspondence
CARDIFF, July II.
Saturday last. when the great Alexan-
ira docks and new City Hall were open
ed by the king and new avenue in the
municipal park named by his Majesty
was an important date in the history OF
both this city and the principaty.
The growth OF the metropolis Of Wales
has been remarkable Cardiff has dcvcl-
opcd rapidly from u small cluster Of
houses hanging on to the skirts of an
ancient castle into n city with the finest
municipal buildings in the, kingdom, and
population c'ose on 100000. In the
rapidlty of its growth 1t is more akin to
the mushroom cities OH the other side of
the Atlantic than to any town on this
side century ago there was not sim
gle dock at Cardiff. 1t was Just a sleepy
little sec port. containing about 400 houses
and population of a .littlo more than
1000 persors At, that period a vessel
used toEleave once a week with coal for
Bristol, and that coal was brought down
y from the hills, a distance of nearly TWEEN
I ty miles. on the backs of mules
Wealth in the Earth 8
A century ago the people of South
Wales never dreamed that beneath their
green hills lay wealth greater than even
the Imagination could conceive in the
shape of the finest coal measures in the
world, or that their small town would
bsaonne the chief exporting port Of the
world.
Tor two or three centuries the people
OF South Wales We're content merely to
Il get what coal they wanted for their own
use by digging a hole in the ground out
side their back doors, or If there was no
coal quite so handy, going to the nearest
hillside, burrowing hole, and then TAX
Ing out all they wanted. 1t never enter
ed the head of the most imaginative
sg We lshmanfof that day that nearly 5O0oO.-
GOO tons of coal would ever be won from
~ he bowels Of those hills in the course Of
4 a angle year and dispatched by steam
ships from Cardiff and neighboring ports
to all parts of the world
The New Dock.
The new dock is flfty-two acres in ex-
tent, about three acres larger than the
old east dock, The depth of water Will
Y be #forty-two feet. as against thirty-fve
feet Of the Roath dock and the thirty
Z one feet of the east dock. Seven rail-
ways connect with the Butte docks-the
Great Western. London and Northwest
ern. Midland. Taft Vale, Rhymney Bre-
G 1bt4 and N1eHthNrso,and the Pontypridh,
CNerphlly, 9iandruNewport Railway.
Just as 1t has been necessary to In
crease the mum Der of docks al Cardiff,
SO have improved shipping appliances
had to be introduced. The most import
ant Of these is the Lewis Hunter crane,
Of which Sir William Thomas Lewis.
" present head of the great Butte undertake
4 Ing, Is joint inventor. Half a century
ago it would have been regarded as
smart work to ship 700 tons OF coal into
- Vessel IN one day. Now, by using the
Lewis Hunter cranes as much as 10000
tons can he putainto one vessel in the
course of twentY-four hours. OFTEN COO
ions of coal are tipped into vessel in
IN hour. ii .tt5' i8, e5
I'M another direction one finds stril1-
Ing evidence OF how things have moved
since the first dock was begun at Car
diff Brunei. the great engineer, upon
whose report the Taft Vale Railway
was constructed, referred to the posi-
oility Of a. single engine bringing down
as much as 100 tons of coal at one time.
Today an engine will bring down a thou
sand tons at a speed twice as great as
d that mentioned bA the great Brunei.
ssardifr has .snaIiE Interesting build
ingss hut none more picturesque or with
more historical interest than Cardiff
Castle, belonEingsto the Marquis of Butte
The building dates from the eleventh
century, and a part of 1t is little more
than a ruin. caerphily Castle, now q
ruin, with its leaning tower and man!
traditions, is another Of the show places
that will be visited by their majesties
The Town Hall and law courts, thouyi
they. of course, are comparatively mod
ern, have very Interesting story OF
commercial prosperity to tell and cos
quarter of a million TO erect N
Z