COAL 837 



From the same Keport the following remarks on the duration of coal in these islands 

 is abstracted : 



' The Commissioners, before proceeding to investigate the question of the duration 

 of this quantity, based upon increasing consumption, think it useful to state the rela- 

 tion which 146,480,000,000 of tons bear to our present consumption, estimated at 

 115,000,000 per annum, in order that the vast magnitude of our stores of coal may be 

 better appreciated. Thus we find that 146,480,000,000 of tons will support our pre- 

 sent production for 1,273 years ; the same quantity would support an annual production 

 of 146,000,000 for 1,000 years ; of 175,000,000 for 837 years ; and of 230,000,000, 

 being double our present production, for 636 years. 



1 The question of the duration of the total available quantity turns, therefore, 

 chiefly upon the statistics of consumption contained in the Eeport of Committee E 

 (which was the sole labour of the Editor of this Dictionary), from which the following 

 facts are collected : 



'In the year 1660, the coal produce of the United Kingdom appears to have been 

 only about 2,250,000 tons, and 40 years later the increase was only 364,000 tons. 

 Fifty years after this, or in 1750, the quantity raised in the kingdom had increased to 

 nearly 5,000,000 tons. In 1800, the quantity exceeded 10,000,000 tons. 



' About this period the system of canal navigation was rapidly extending, and the 

 result was that coals were gradually finding their way into new districts, by which 

 means the consumption of coal was greatly increased. In 1816, the production reached 

 16,000,000 tons according to one statement, and 27.000,000 as given with considerable 

 probability by another. 



' Advancing to a later period, when coal statistics were more carefully collected, it 

 appears that in 1854 the production of coal was 64,500,000 tons. 



' From that period up to, and including, 1869, the progressive increase was exhibited 

 in a Table which has been completed up to the present time. 



' From the following Table (p. 838) it will be seen that the total quantity of coal 

 raised in this country had reached upwards of 123,000,000 in 1872. 



' In attempting to form an opinion as to what the future consumption of coal is 

 likely to be, it is necessary to consider the question which was referred to Committee 

 B ; namely, " Whether there is reason to believe that coal is wasted by carelessness or 

 neglect of proper appliances for its economical consumption ? " The conclusion arrived 

 at by this Committee was, that " for some time past in our manufactures there have 

 been constant and persevering efforts to economise coal, by the application of im- 

 proved appliances for its consumption." The Committee had reason to believe that 

 " in some branches of manufacture, the limits of a beneficial economy appeared to have 

 been nearly reached, and that in other cases a gradual effort would continue to be 

 made for saving fuel." It may be assumed, therefore, that the progress of economy in 

 using coal is not likely to operate in future with greater effect in keeping down the 

 increase of consumption than it has hitherto done. 



' The present consumption of coal for domestic use is generally estimated at one 

 ton per head of the whole population, and may be assumed to absorb nearly one third 

 of the entire production. It is probable that this rate per head will continue pretty 

 constant; because, although more economical methods of using coal in dwellings 

 may probably be introduced, yet the increasing wealth of the nation will cause coal 

 to be more liberally used for domestic purposes. The future increase of consump- 

 tion under this head may, therefore, be expected to coincide with the increase of the 

 population. 



' As regards the future exportation of coal, although a very large increase has 

 taken place within the period embraced by the preceding Table, yet there is reason to 

 doubt whether much further increase will take place in this direction. Upon this 

 point Committee E have reported that the probable development of the enormous 

 coal-fields of North America, and those of India, China, Japan, and other countries, 

 and the more effective working of the known coal-fields of Europe, will probably pre- 

 vent any considerable increase in the future exportation of British coal. 



' The large increase which, in recent years, has taken place in the consumption of 

 coal, has an intimate connection with the introduction and extension of the railway 

 system, but for several years past the progress of railways has not been exceptionally 

 great, and yet ihe consumption of coal has continued to increase with unabated 

 rapidity.' 



'Professor Jevons, in a work "On the Coal Question," which first appeared in 1865, 

 and which was in a great measure founded upon a previous work by Mr. Hull on the 

 Coal-fields of Great Britain, estimated that the rate of growth at that period in the 

 aggregate annual consumption of coal amounted to about three and a half per cent, 

 per annum, reckoning each annual percentage on the previous year's consumption. 

 He contended that coal, being the source of power, and required for eyery great 



