Common Council Report Upo...
The Times, 1824-02-12T00:00:00

(From a CorrespondenLN TIne Report of the Committee of the Corninon Council upon the subject of coals, presented at the last Court; hass been printed, and is'oow before us and never, surely, was there a reference of so mitch importance to all ranks of society, and especially to the labourinig classes, which appears to have. undergone so little investi. gation, or to have failed so completely in producing a remedy for the evils complained of; or even eliciting infonnation upon the subject. The Committee, it slhould seem, either could not, or would not, understand the real Aubjectreferred to their consideration, ior instead of "endeavouring to ascertain the cause of the bigh price of coals," they have contented themselves with some inquiries from the parties more immediately interested, as to the mode of the de. livery of the article fronm the ships; and after maturely deliberating, as they say, upon all the Rircumstances, are of opinion, if 12 more meters are appointed,-not that coals will fall in price, not that the monopoly at the pit's moutht will be broken up, not that the tricks at the coalmarket will be prevented, but-that t' the object of the _emorialist. (the coal-dealers) would be nearly, if not altogether, obtained." WVhat the coal-merchants think on the one hand, and what. the Coal-meters have to say, in replv, on the other, is set forth at length in the repot, but for the Committee itself they seem not to know what to think; for, w;tl the exception of the above suggestion of 12 additional meters, anda subsequentdeclaration that to them the present prices of coals do not appear to be excessive, thev have given neither infornation ne'r opinionon the subject referred ftothemn. In December. 1823, when the various co'nplaints to the Lord Mayor at the Alansion-house called the public attentiori to this sub- ject, the market-price of coals was .7s. 3d. per chaldron. The war. price, on the-average from'1805 to 180J, it appears, was 55L 2d. Since thbepeace areductioatotf6s or 7s per cbaldron has taken place at the pit's mouth,and a- warduty of 3s. 2d. per cbaldroq has been disconti- nued. It was, therefore, with great justice 1vged. that taking tbesc re- ductionsinto cousiceration,together with the differencein the expense oft'reight, the decreased rate of insurance, .and the alteration in the value and coat of labour, no adequate' reduction bad been muade in the pice- of' coals: but, o the conitrarv, that the public were charied, ilproportion, eveu higher for that article than in tbet-time This wasthe coiplaint.; and that proper investiyattoa Would have afforded some remety-is evident, as thels ere agitation of the sub- ject'had the efect of producing an inedtliaetredductj of 7a.r&.8. per ebaldron. Althdu?hl thefe has b Wut. kdttctbn itprilce at. the pit's nimout iinNeWeas le, 'no suckt re tio # 'te e h W3 c As re- gaidi gunderland. Had the Lomnaitt'tee 4ire ire-6fIUse of this, they mibt probably bave.inthrused the pablieby whit means the Lambton's and Stewart'e alays maintiin the same higjs priCes They *hai'e, jt secnss,-learoed fjom a?Ir. Uttbus and if lumo0ur speaks tri.e they obtained the same haet froen a eoal-inezcIhat's owii ocn.w1ed>3ne, tbit tC ?i+?lD iih; 07s cods, siml afterwards buy a portion of them at a hi rate them- elves, to fix the market price, i. c. the price to te consumer, selling- the rest of the cargo to the Tetail dealer 2s. or 3s. per chal- dron undtr that price. Mr. Uptoir says; this is one cause of in- Creased prices; but whether'this practice is an evfi or a good or whe- ther it can or ought to beprevented, the Committee leave the Court and the public to their own conjectures. There are from fifteen to twenty. different sorts of coals brought to London-under the-denomination of Wall's End, varying in price sometimes from 34s. to 41s. per chaldron. If a consumer who orders the best WVall's End,. gets the inferior sort (for the rueter's ticket only expresses " WalPs End,") and is charged the price of the best, the coal-merchant's profit will be immense : 2s. or 3s. per cbaldron in the first instance by the fictitious pricesetat the market, ai. twice as much'morebv the difference between the price of the best and the worst W.all's 1;nd. Wthether this ever has, does, or can happen, the Committae, in their " mature deliberation to as. certain the high price of coals," have not deigned to inquire. There are various other abuses and practices, all tending to en- hance the price of coals, which a diligent and active inquiry might have developed; but without dwelling longer on w'at the Coem- nmittee have not done, we will shortly notice what they rea?ly pro- fess to have performed. They heard Alr. Joseph Ilurcombe at length, but not-one word of the information they received from that gentlemam, or whether they gained anv infonnation from him at all, is to be discovered in the report. they next received a me- morial from one hundred and three merchants and others, engaged in the coal.trade, stating, that ships are frequently kept wait- ing ten, twelve, fourteen, and even eighteen days, gangs of men anti horses standing still, for want of meters; and by an account annexed, it appears that in 1801, there ere ninety.. three meters, when the quantity of coals imported into London was 884,339 chaldrons; and in 183.3, when the quantity imported was nearly double, viz. 1,4-37,251 chaldrons, the additional number of meters was only 24. This obvious insufliciency of meters neces. sarly enhances the price of coals.-first, by the expense attending the ship, &c., being tept idle, which must be clarged on the cargo - and again by the arrivals, bowever numerous, even to a glut of the article, haning no immediate effect to lower the price, as it is always known some finte must elapse before the coals can be metered and brought to market, whatever thc quantity in the port. In December last, when the coals were so high, there were no less than 947 vessels with coals in the river. The meters are, no doubt, as they state, frequently unemployed, and i' the arrivals were regular, would be adequate in numrer to the wlhole increased importation; but as regularity of arrivals is impossible, and as an increase in the number of meters would cause no additional expense, nor any rise in the price of coals, they being paid only according to the quantity metered, there would seem no difficulty in remedying this cvil by the appointment of 40 or 50 additional meters The patronage of the Committee, indeed, both to those w1o have already received it, as to those poor relatives who may be looking forward to the enjoyment of it, woald be rendered considerablv less valuable; for a coal-meter's place, instead of producing himi, as at present, between 2001. and 3001. per annum, would nor then bring in more than from 1001. to 1201., and consequently, as the public will inifer, (for no reason is given in the report to show that twelve will be sufficient) the appointment of twelve additional meters only is re- eomnmcnded by the Committee. It is obvious, therefore, thatunliesI the Court of Common Council take this matter into their own hands, the public will look in vain for any redress on the subject ef coals. The necessity for a considerable addition to the number of meters is clearly made out by thie report. This the Conimon Council can remedy themselves. The grea; use of the coal.market is to fix a reasonable price to an article of indispensable consumption, and of [ which the public have no m-eans of judging, either as to price or qulality, at the time they purchase- but if by the combination, abuses, and practices of the dealers, this object can be partially or entirely defeated, it were betterat once to petition Parliament to do away w ith the wrhole monopoly of the coFal trade, and allow the full and free admission into l,ondon of inland coals. COMIfMOAN COUNVCIL REPORT UPO THIE DELI. VBRY AIND. PRICE OF COALS.