High Price Of Coals.
The Times, 1824-10-25T00:00:00

It is expected that the Cens and Col commrittce will ooa naske thelr repor.t to the Court of Common Councdl, on the aubject o'f the enormous price of coals. The coal -merchants of the metropol2r, although they declare that they are nDt tramentdl in keegpng"up the price, have taken offence at the public exposure of the gross im. position practised daily upon the public, at the same time that they [admit the nceessity of a areveurtive measure. A communication vas aonme time ago made to the LOR-D llAyoa. firm a committee of sbh owners in Sunderland, accounting for the exor-bitant price of cook, notwithstanding the various measures adopted to cnteract the efforts of the monopolists. 'ihiscommunication wag uabiitted to the Corn and Coal Comtnittee, with a recommendation by his Lordship who agreed in every word of the statement, which has been conf!rm by all subsequent inquiries and inrestigations 1. t ism follows:- " Slmdarlaad. " AMy Lord,-As Chairmen of the Committee of Ship.owners for preparing a bill intended to be brought into Parliament duriog the present session, far regulating the loading of ships with coals in this port, similar to an act of Pa rliament sihich hes e2isted for game imne, and been attended with the most benefidal effects at New- eastle-upon-Tyne, I beg to solicit the honour of the suptport antd inilience of your Lordship and the Cor oration of the dty of Lon- cJon, in the attainment of an object whrch it iB conceivea will tend greaty to the advantage of the shippihg inrerrst and of e public. " he necessity of this measure, it issubmirted, isrendered obvi. ous by the fact, that the sale of certain ,orts of the best coaal,wbich it is unnecessary to say is rmost advntagewus to the ship-owner, has for a considerable time past been almost entirely engrosed. by a. few individual coal-fitters, to the exclusiorn of the shipping interest in general, and injury of the public. The profais 4ich have bean derived fromn this monopoly bv the parties alluded to have been very considerahle,and theirinterest i' shippinghefla?egradyiocressed, and it bardly need be said will, under such circumstances, continue to do so. " The object of the hill in question is to destroy sto injurious and. selfish a mronopoly, and to ]ay the trade open to every inldividual sbip-owner, so that strangers as well as the sbip-Qwnees residing tll this port may have the same fair and regular tunm in the loadiig of their ships as they arrive,-a riaht they are at presezt deprived of, by reason that the parties aboveimentioned make a point of either withholding the coals until their own ships arrive iii port, Or, as is frequently the case, will onlv load a eargoA far a shIp-owner, on condition that he agrees to take on the following voyage a cargo of an inferior quality, by which it Iu probable he los;esmore thanIhehnd previouslygained, This,theCtimutitteefor conduedng the bill submit with confdenee to yoar Lordship, is cm. duct altogether unjustifiable, and such as they &artter thernseYees your Lorc ship will at once condemn, by supporing the measure by a petition to the House of Commons with as little delay as possible, praying that te bill mrLy pass into a law, and by giving it your de. P~ded support. " It has been understood within these few davs, that the cta_T. owners and fitters united mean to oppose the bil: their reasor.s for so doing may be easiiy inderstood when their reLftive ritur- tions towards each other are considered, and which it is pre4unmed wiil be viewved in their proper light by the Legisl&ture, aid that tber will not sanction the nmonopoly complainedof, which, tioighan evil In itself of great magnitude, manv increase to an incaic bia extent, if the coalfitters have the power at all times when is may serve their iterest, to keep bhck a supply of couls from the publc I have the onour to remain, my Lord, most rdtpectfnlly vour Lordship's most obedient and humble servant, "PElY.dP LAING." It is, we understmnd, the intention of the ship-ovners traag tO other parts where coals are shipped, to apply to Parliarent to ehrow open the trade: and it is believed that if the snosapoly were thug attacked, the combination between the coal-owners and tle fitters would be dissolved, and the price of coals sustain a redaction fin nitely greater than is generally supposed could result from acornplete revolution in the system. The Lord Mayor is determined to pursue the inquiry which tas given 5s much ofimce. ke does no autrihute to tie coal-merchants of the metropolis anv parti^ipation in tle plan by which incalculable suns reach the pockets of the monopolists: but he hopes that by a constant exposure of their successive plans' the monopoly, which he invariably condemns upon all oc=csions as he very WOrst that has yet corne under his observation, inasmuch as is tends to harass, and in some cases to destroy the poor, will ultk rinately be depsrived of all support. rGIGH PRICR OF COALf.