Middlemen in English Business 223 



dumped into a storehouse called a staith. The staith projected in 

 part over the water so that keels could be loaded by opening traps. 

 The keels carried it to the ships. ^ 



The coal-owners were not middlemen. Their relations to the fitters 

 will be discussed later. They disposed of their coal either to, or 

 through the agency of, the fitters. In the middle of the seventeenth 

 century they were constrained to sell to the magistrates of the city 

 of Newcastle.- They made various efforts to reduce competition and 

 secure special advantages in the disposal of their coal: (a) led by one 

 Gardiner they fought the monopoly of the coal trade held by the 

 Hostmen;^ {h) they procured part ownership in the ships so as to have 

 a preference in carrying their coal instead of others';^ (c) they made 

 contracts, containing discriminations in their favor, with certain of 

 the middlemen of the trade'' and resorted to other devices.*^ But they 

 always continued quite distinctly in the sphere of producer rather 

 than middleman. 



Keelman. 



The keelmen were the managers of the keels or lighters in which the 

 coal was carried from the staiths to the ships. They formed a sepa- 

 rate and distinct part of the population of Newcastle. '^ As early as 

 1655 there were at Newxastle 320 keels, with a capacity of 800 New- 

 castle chaldrons each.*^ The vessels used were built especially to 



coals." Grey, Chorographia, Harl. j\Iis., Ill, 279. In this respect the miners of 

 the forest of Dean in Gloucestershire stood in contrast. Here the principle of 

 "free mining" dominated. Restrictions of numerous sorts were laid for perpetu- 

 ating the small miner. Large-scale capitalistic mining was retarded in its develop- 

 ment. Nicholls, Forest of Dean, 45-47; V. C. H., Glouces. II, 22.S-4. 



' See description in Defoe, Com. Eng. Tr., II, 172-3. 



-"England's Grievance Discovered in Relation to the Coal Trade," 1655, 

 quoted in Anderson, Origin, II, 431. 



3 Social England, IV, 447-8. 



* Rep. from Com. H. C, X, 551. 

 59 Anne, Cap. 28, Sec. 1. 



* The colliers in Dean Forest, Gloucestershire instituted a system of "bargainers" 

 who fixed the prices at which the coUiers would deliver coal to outsiders at the va- 

 rious towns. This was a case of simple joint agreement to maintain prices — a joint 

 sales agency. The mine law court appointed these bargainers and the colliers did 

 not underbid one another. The system was set in operation in 1668. After 1680 

 the mine law court itself fixed the prices. Nichols, Forest of Dean, 45, 52; V. C. H. , 

 Glouces. II, 223-4, 227. 



^ Surtees, 105 : L. 



^ 136 Newcastle chaldrons were equivalent in capacity to 217 London chaldrons; 

 the former held 53 cwt., the latter 36 bu. 



