The Coal-Trade.
The Times, 1824-02-03T00:00:00

TO TIIE EDITOR OF THlE TIMES. toU have receatly, Mr. Editor, amongst other subjects of great domestic interest, turned your attention to the abnses which exist in the Uo-trade, as conducted in the city of London. This is, w ithl out doubt, a question of verybigh importance to all ranks of so. ciety ' but it is peculiarly so w-ith reference to the labouring classes. Thast they should procure a plentiful s1ipply of fiuel, whichl in a cli- mate,so cold, humid, and variable -asours, is a prirsmry necessary of life, at the cheapest p,ossible rate, is - a consunumation devoutly to be wished." Your exertions to promote that object are alike credit. able to vour feelings and your understanding; and it is to be hoped that those exertions, assisted by the effrts 'of the present Lord Mlayor, and by those of other public-spirited indinduals, tmlembees of the corporation, will ultimately be rewvarded by the suc- cess which they so well deserve. The subject, you are aware, has been lately taken up by the Court. of Common Coune 1, andi my mo- tive in nowv addressing voo, is to poinit out the evils which have been so Jiutly inveighed agamnst, and to show, as I presently will, that tha Committee of the Common Couneil, to lxohoi the matter was re- 'erecd, have not in their report devised any remedy for those evils. About two montlhs ago many individuals made serious complaints tothe Lord Mayor of various abuses whieh prevailed in the coal. trade. Tmose abuses, it was stated, not only had the effect of raisintg the price:of coals on the eonsumeri but in some instances facilitated the imposing on him of an inferior article, while he.was cb4qrAeili4 for the best commnodity. It was alleged, 'first, that the grea;an4opoly at the pit's mouth was most unfavourable to the publ it-tetest; aud. in the second place, it was averred.that tile. evil.i~t ratlly heightetied by ntalpiactices whichi were known to cAl-merchants jilbcmselves, Instead or.buyipg of the hlc.ieiy: ; 1ark4lane, they thsemsnelves freighted ships, so that it was evidently their interest-to keeli-ttlhe price of coals, instead of endeuvourig to reduce it. Buyinghl1qiarter of n cargo of their own coals of the better sort, raised the pride bf the iday sometim-s not less than s. or more above what ought-to have been the reaf rate of the nret bhs Lord iMayor, who feels anxious to remove such abuses, uuidthese representations before the Common Council itt the middle of December list. The consequence was, that the business was referred for inquiiry to the Codal and Corn Committee. After hav- Ing tfe subject under their consideration for more than a month, thew liave at lengh made-a ve6y voluminou., report, which was submitted te ast urt of Common Council. From that report, as read by their officer, it appears that the Committed bave examined the coal- merchants themselv^e, on} the one lhand4 who throw the whole fault onthe wnttof a sufficient 'number of meterg'; antid it appeaTs that th.ey have,.on t le other hand, examined the coal-nIters, who al. ege, that they are sufficienitly numerous to work all the coals that arc ttceeesary~ not at all taking into cousiderdtion that coals some- trnzes come into the market in a great glut, and that tlerefore the Clearir, and general 4,enand must be irregular. The whole result of he abours of the uommittei sieenR to be merely the recommen- dsiionobf 12 additional' neters. 'They have made no inqtgiry what- efer as to the rRoiopoily atthe nioutii of the pit :ineitier liate they cn teed into oit 8x:tOsu of' the practices ofithe coal.merchaurt in buying therir owrn coals, and thues matiifeee iee&ing up, instead of lov enng, - the price ofi thi necessary articld Dnor have tlsgy' .recommendeud any' substnitial remnly l-wJatgr -for those' absuses which wnre plainly pointed out. 1tsbotili be recollected, tHat the mere it,ttion of this questoZ withinl thelast two twntlLt, bsp .Eoug$t dovi the. eof.cat t1 rTate ofikomit 7s. t6 Os. a dhial; dron; and bEd o e:fecient:.piasure been proposed, there is 1 noodoubtbut.tbati'eteuctiojvwonld ave been much enorecon; siderable. SNo suchi iseiear hss-hewev4r, been proposed by the -Cornmitsee. ThIy confined their ex2minition to the two nterested P'dti; 'and, what' is mota little? singulaf, it does not tlppear, as war stated by the. Lord pSayor in the Court of Common Cdtn- cil,t'at the Cormuijitee havee ver called on hig Liordshin to know wbheter he could furnish theni with any information on tie subject: and yet, Ibelieve;they cauld not have applied toaquarter moreliIely tehavr favouzed them with useful facts and valuable Suggestions. There i another evil of a very eculiar nature, wbich., at lt, the Committee mlght have remedied. ' It .s this-that while there are thirteen or 'foirteen sorts of Wall's-end coatsi 'te differ- ence between the qualities of which are frequently fs., 6s., or 7s. a chaldron, no distinetdoim wbatseever is . made ini the. meter's ficket. The coals; no roattet whet their quality may be, are merely designated as " Wail's-end." Here the coa'-merchant must necessarily make a very great and a vei7,unjust profit. He may charge the purchaser the price of the highesi dnd best WVall's.- end, while he supplies him with the worstandlowest: and he thus gahis five ort iX shiUings per deldron, in addition to his other f derived Vrom the tnalpraceicea to which I have already alluded. *Yith respect to all these matters, the Committee appear to have made no inquirv at all. T'ney have not pointed out the abuses, nor have they oerfred any thing in the shape of a tangible remesly. In- deed, it Is not to be hoped or expected, thbt a committee, so con- stituted, ever will be brought to do so; fbr it should be borne in niind, that the coal-meters, who are upwards of 100 in number, are appointed by the Coal and Corn Comunittee. Common report gives out, that this Committee have entered into a compromise, by which, in rotation, they nominate a coal-meter whenever a vacanicy occurs. This is an immense sourcc of patronage thich, ai it enables the members of the Committee to provide for their poorrelatives, they will, of course, be very anxious to preserve as little impaired as possible. If the number of coal-meters were greatly increased, the alteration would not impose any additional charge on the public, but it wou}d lower the salaries of the existing coal-meters in proportion us the dutles.of the offlice were discharged by a more extended body of in- dividuals; and, the co3l-meters being appointed in the manner I have described, it is very natural that the Committee wvould not take any step to lessen their emoluments, if they could avoid it. From the general purport of the reporto as I heard it read, it was quite ma- nifest that thte intention of the t omrtittee was to preserve their pa- tro%age unimpaired as far as they possibly could. Hoping that you will Persevere in brineing this subject before the publie.I sub- scnbe myself vour constant reader. CA RRO- I. S. To prove the ili-effects Which the public experience from the practice in which the coalnmerchants indulge,of purchasing their own coals, I can state it as a fact) that a friend of mine. showed me the printed price from the Coal-exchange, for a quarter of a cargo purchlased by X coaI4merchane, uwhich was absolutely ?s. per chaldron nigher than the ra.te ar Yhich mny friend parchased the reimainder of the cargo, TiH CO4l-TRADE.