The Edinburgh Review: Or Critical Journal

artisan and peasant in the south of England. Whatever may be said as to the equality of Englishmen's rights, it is worse than ludicrous, so long as this tax exists, to talk about the equality of their burdens.

Several statements have recently been made in the House of Commons, which have set, in a very clear point of view, the superior condition of the labouring classes in the northern counties, as compared with those in the South. A good deal of this difference must no doubt be ascribed to the pernicious system so general in the South, of paying wages out of poor's rates. Much, however, must also be ascribed to the operation of the coal duty, and of the various regulations under which the coal trade is conducted. Were there a heavy tax on the beef, beer, or leather, used in the southern counties, which did not extend to the north, does any one doubt that it would have a most injurious effect upon the individuals subjected to its influence? But fuel being quite as indispensable as any of the articles referred to, a tax on it must equally affect those on whom it falls, and must depress their condition, as compared with those who enjoy an exemption from so oppressive an impost. It is singular, that so obvious a cause of the greater poverty of the peasantry of the south should, at least so far as we know, have totally escaped the notice of our legislators.

Besides the duty of 6s. a-chaldron payable to government on coals carried by sea, they are subject, especially those imported into London, to various charges, if possible, still more indefensible. But, before proceeding to investigate these items, we shall lay before our readers some account of the prime cost and price of coal.

Much has frequently been said of the coal-owners' monopoly ; but we are satisfied, after a pretty careful investigation of the circumstances, that no such monopoly has ever existed, and that the enormously high price of coal in the metropolis is to be ascribed wholly to the various duties and charges laid upon it from the time that it passes from the hands of the owner, to the time that it is lodged in the cellar of the consumer. What means have the coal-owners of obtaining a monopoly price for their coal? They enjoy no exclusive privileges of any sort; they are a numerous body; and the trade is as open as any one else to all capitalists to engage in. Instead of the business of coal-mining being, generally speaking, an advantageous one, it is distinctly the reverse. Sometimes, no doubt, large fortunes have been made by individuals and associations engaged in this business, but these are rare instances. The opening

of a mine is a very expensive and hazardous operation, and of very uncertain result. Collieries are exposed to an infinite number of accidents, against which no caution can guard. The chances of explosion have, it is true, been a good deal lessened by the introduction of Sir Humphrey Davy's lamp; and some mines are now wrought that, but for the invention of this admirable instrument, must have been entirely abandoned. But besides explosions, which are still every now and then occurring, from the carelessness of the workmen, and other contingencies, mines are very liable to be destroyed by creeps, or by the sinking of the roof, and by drowning, or the irruption of water from old workings, through fissures which cannot be seen, and consequently cannot be guarded against. So great, indeed, is the hazard attending this sort of property, that it has never been possible to effect an insurance on a coal-work.

Mr Buddle, of Wallsend, a coal-owner and engineer of the highest respectability, and intimately acquainted with the state of the coal trade, informed the late Committee of the House of Lords, that Although many collieries, in the hands of fortunate individuals and companies, have been perhaps making more than might be deemed a reasonable and fair profit, accord'ing to their risk, like a prize in a lottery; yet, as a trade, ta'king the whole capital employed on both rivers, he should say that certainly it has not been so.'-(Report, p. 56.) Again, being asked, What have the coal-owners on the Tyne and Wear, in your opinion, generally made on their capital employed?' He replied, According to the best of my know ledge, I should think that by no means ten per cent has been 'made as simple interest, without allowing any extra interest for "the redemption of capital.'-(P. 57.)

In addition to the vast expense attending the sinking of shafts, the erection of steam-engines, &c., and the risk of accidents, the coal, after being brought to the surface, has frequently to be conveyed seven or eight miles to the place of shipping; and those whose collieries are in that situation, have to pay way-leave rents, amounting, in some cases, to L.500 a-year, for liberty to open a communication, or a rail-road, through the properties lying between them and the shore.

But the coal-owner is subjected to still farther difficulties. The smallness of the coal used in London is uniformly remarked by every individual from the north who visits the metropolis. And yet, singular as it may seem, none but large coals are shipped from the Tyne and the Wear for London. The cause of the metamorphosis which the coal undergoes in its passage to the consumer is not, however, difficult to discover ;

It is

and it strikingly illustrates the nature of the regulations under which the trade is placed. Coals are nominally sold by the owners to the shippers by weight, or by the chaldron waggon, which is supposed to contain, when full, 53 cwt., and is stamped as such at the Custom-House. But the weight of the waggon depends in a great degree on the size of the pieces with which it is filled, so that in point of fact coal is sold by measure. stated by the celebrated Dr Hutton that, If one coal, measuring exactly a cubic yard, (nearly equal to five bolls,) be broken into 'pieces of a moderate size, it will measure seven bolls and a half; if broken very small, it will measure nine bolls; which shows that the proportion of the weight to the measure depends upon the 'size of the coals; therefore accounting by weight is the most ra'tional method. The shippers are well aware of this, and insist upon the coal-owners supplying them with large coal only; and to such an extent is this principle carried, that all coal for the London market is screened, as it is technically termed, or passed over gratings which separate the smaller pieces. Inasmuch, however, as coals are sold in all their subsequent stages by measure, no sooner have they been delivered by the owner, than it is for the interest of every one else into whose hands they may come before reaching the consumer, to break them into smaller portions. The ship-owner,' says Mr Buddle, and every person from the consumer through the whole chain of dealers in ، coal up to the coal-owners, cry out for round coals; what is the ، object of that ? Although our waggons are loaded by weight, it is quite notorious we sell by measure; and every hand that those coals pass through, from the mine down to the cellar of 'the consumer, every time they are lifted, an increase of mea6 sure takes place; consequently every man, from the coal-owner to the consumer, is benefited by every breakage of the coal. "This has been carried in some instances to such an extent, that I have found it necessary to place persons on board ships to prevent the crew from breaking the coals with the carpenters' 'mauls! I believe that the profit of many of the retailers in 'London arises chiefly from the increase of measure by the 'breakage of the coal.'-(P. 59.)

That such a system should have been so long persevered in, is truly astonishing. Some scores of acts of Parliament have been passed to preserve the public from fraud in the measuring of coal, and yet any coal-merchant who chooses to break his coal a little smaller than his neighbours, will, by making the same quantity measure farther, defraud his customers quite as effectually as if he sold them larger coal in a deficient measure. But though the attention of Honourable Gentlemen has been repeated

ly called to this easy method of defrauding the unsuspecting citizens, it does not seem to have ever attracted the smallest portion of their concern. They have continued, with an Irish sort of discernment, to occupy themselves in stopping up the spigot, while the liquor was running out at the bung-hole.

But what has been already stated is not sufficient to show the whole mischief arising from the regulations enforcing the sale of coal by measure. The quantity of coal separated by the process of screening is often very great,-amounting, in some cases, to from 20 to 25 per cent of the whole; and the greater part of this residue, containing a portion of the very best coal, is burned on the spot. I have known,' says Mr Buddle, at one colliery, as many as from 90 to 100 chaldrons a-day destroyed. If they 'were not consumed, they would cover the whole surface, and in the burning of them they are extremely destructive; they de'stroy the crops a great way round, and we pay large sums for in'jury done to the crops, and for damage to ground.'-(P. 72.) The waste of coal is in this way enormous; and the coal-owner is obliged to charge a higher price upon the coal sold, in order to indemnify himself for the loss of so great a quantity, and for the mischief he does to others in burning.

The sale of coals by weight instead of measure would, therefore, be a great and signal improvement. It would, by relieving the coal-owner from the necessity of screening, enable him to sell his coal considerably cheaper; it would take away all motive from the shippers and retailers to break the coal; and it would afford the best attainable security to the public against the frauds to which they are now exposed.

It has, however, been said by those who profit by the existing system, that the sale of coal by weight would not really put a stop to fraud, but would merely turn it into a new channel; and make that be done by wetting coal, which is now done by selling it in deficient measures. But the fallacy of this representation is obvious. Very few individuals ever think of re-measuring the coal brought to them; and besides, as has been already shown, the correctness of the measure is no security against fraud, so long as it is impossible to regulate the size of coal. But were coals sold by weight, every one would see, at once, whether they were unusually wet; and any dealer who should attempt to defraud his customers in this way, would immediately lose his employment. Luckily, however, it is not necessary to argue this point speculatively. It has been decided by the experience of Scotland. Coals are here uniformly sold by weight, and we are not aware of its ever being stated that the practice causes them to be unduly wetted. Nothing, therefore, can be more futile than this objection to the plan of selling by weight; and we do

hope that the Legislature will at length see the necessity of interposing to put an end to the practice of selling by measure,a practice which, while it raises the price, and occasions the destruction of a vast quantity of coal, opens a door to the commission of every species of fraud.

In despite, however, of the heavy expense attending the digging of coal from the mine, and conveying it to the shore, and of the waste occasioned by screening, the coal-owner only receives from 12 to 14 shillings the chaldron, for that very coal which is afterwards sold in London for 50 or 55 shillings! And enormous as this difference must appear, it is less than it really amounts to; for owing to the breakage that the coal undergoes, it may, we are assured, be moderately estimated, that five chaldron of coal at Newcastle or Sunderland, are expanded into six or seven, previously to their being lodged in the consumer's cellar. We shall now very briefly enquire into the items which quadruple the price of coal in its transit from the owners to the consumers. These have been specified in the evidence of Mr Buddle, (p. 21.) from which the following account has been drawn up. The charges are all per London chaldron.

Charges in Sunderland Harbour.

Fittage and keel dues, when loaded by tubs, L. s. d. (the most expensive method,) including con

L. s. d.

veyance by water for seven miles,

Casting into ship,.

Trimming in ship,

Coast lights, &c. &c.