468 Our Coal Supply and our Prosperity. [ Oct., 
the conclusion that whilst it is as clearly impossible for any one in 
the present day to estimate, even approximately, the future sources 
of our coal supply as it would be to compute the quantity of fish 
in the sea, still we have every reason to hope that, provided our 
consumption increases in a moderate ratio, the stores at our disposal 
are not likely to be exhausted even as soon as the more sanguine of 
our statisticians have calculated. 
And now we enter upon the fourth inquiry, to form some idea 
as to our future Consumption of Coal; and here we must remark 
that Mr. Jevons’s want of business knowledge has led kim into 
statements which such gentlemen as Mr. Gladstone, or Mr. Mill 
would not be able to question, but which, as we shall show, will 
not bear discussion either on the basis of past a or of our 
commercial prospects. 
We must begin by asking: How is our presen supply 
consumed ? No one can give more than an approximate answer 
to this question. The labours of the Royal Commission will 
doubtless throw fresh light upon it; for with such an untiring 
caterer as Mr. Robert Hunt, the Keeper of the Mining Records, 
they cannot fail to accumulate much valuable information. But 
for the purposes of our inquiry, and with sufficient accuracy to 
lend confidence to our conclusions, we may safely employ the 
following approximate figures :* 
The total quantity of coal wel: in Great Britain Tons. 
in 1865 was about . . : aa «98000 
Of this there were exported abbott sc icy seaomnarit ik 9,200,000 
Leaying for home consumption . . . . . . 88,800,000 
Sayabout . . 89,000,000 
It is estimated that for domestic purposes each inhabitant 
consumes a ton of coal, and the population of Great Britain may 
be taken in round numbers at twenty-four millions :— 
For domestic gee therefore, we ee Tons. 
estimate . . . 24,000,000 
For all purposes of pig-iron manufacture, that is 
to say, for making the pig; engines, &e. about 15,000,000 
For all purposes of converting iron eS 15,000,000 
Porigas-mialeme iy £0 e ae ek ee of 10,500,000 
Hor textile dbrics eee 3,000,000 
For all other purposes < 21,500,000 
Total ,, 89,000,000 
Now let us consider these items separately ; and deferring for 
the present the question of our coal exports, as they are intimately 
* Of course these approximate figures are the result of careful inquiries. 
