COAL TRADE. 



COAL TRADE. 



engage* with the proprietor of the mine to deliver the coal at so much 

 the ton ; hiring the labourers himself, using his own hon, and sup- 

 plying all the tools necessary (or working the mines. Tbesa butties 

 have in general been working miners, who, by the accumulation of 

 some little capital, or by the assistance of relations, nrc enabled to 

 engage a pit, with or without partnership with othi-r jiernons, and to 

 enter into a bond to raise the coal at a given price jx-r tun. " The 

 butty." says Mr. Tancred, in a Report on has become 



the middleman or task-master, and the pit's company his hired labourers, 

 from whom it is his interest to squeeze out as much profit by any aud 

 all means as circumstances will allow. The man of property, who 

 ponoosMco the royalty, sinks the pits, and erects the machinery, and 

 whose position therefore in society would ensure in general humane 

 mill liberal treatment of his labourers, is by the intervention of a butty 



y disconnected with them ; he neither hires nor dismisses them 

 from his mine, but hands the whole concern over, as far as the employ- 

 ment of the labouring classes is concerned, or any interest in their 

 welfare as hit servants, to an inferior." The miners entertain a bitter 

 to the " butty " system, and many of the proprietors are 

 Hiring to abolish it. In the Northumberland and Durham 

 district, the relation between the proprietors and the miners is more 

 direct and intimate. No middlemen or contractors are employed ; the 

 overseers, viewers, and other intermediate officers, are paid by regular 

 salaries ; and the working colliers receive in cash from the proprietors, 

 once a fortnight, the amount of their earnings. There is a bond or 

 agreement between the parties, differing from the " butty " system of 



ishire, and also from the " tutwork and tribute " system of the 



li mines. [MIXING.] This bond is annual, and by its terms the 

 miner is ensured a minimum amount of wages, generally to the extent 

 of seven or eight days per fortnight, which the owners are bound to 

 pay the men whether the mine be working or not; beyond this 

 minimum, whatever work the miners may do is paid for at a stipulated 

 price. The wages are paid for the quantity of coals raised. This 

 northern system however, like the limitations of the vends, baa been 

 much affected by railway rivalry. 



t'ntil recent years, women and children were largely employed in 



.;nes. In Northumberland and Durham there were nearly as 

 in .my women and children as men in the pits ; and in Lancashire and 

 Yorkshire a much larger ratio. The statements made public concerning 

 the condition and treatment of the-e women excited much attention 

 about eighteen years ago, and led to the passing of an Act of Par- 

 liament in 1842 (5*6 Viet c. 99), of which the following is a brief 

 abstract : From the time of passing the Act no female, other than such 

 as were so employed previously, was to work in any mine or colliery ; 

 and that after three mouths from that date, no female under eighteen 

 years old should be so employed ; nor any female whatever after 

 March 1, 1843. After this latter date, no males were to be employed 

 under ten years of age. No person to be apprenticed under ten years 

 of age, nor for longer than eight years (except in the case of enginc- 

 wrighta and others who are only occasionally at work under ground). 

 \Vh-re there are vertical or other shafts, no steam or other engine to 

 be intrusted to the care of a person under the age of fifteen ; in the 

 caw of a windlass or gin worked by a horse or other animal, the driver 

 to bo considered the person in charge. After three months from the 

 1 owing of the Act, proprietors of mines or collieries not to pay workmen 

 their wages at any tavern or public-house. To enforce the observance 

 of these regulations, the following arrangements were made : Inspectors 

 of mines and collieries, appointed by the Secretary of State for the 

 Department, are empowered to enter and examine any such 

 works, and to report concerning them to the government ; any pro- 

 prietor violating the law as to the age and duration of apprenticeship, 

 is subject to a one varying from 6V. to 101. ; parents or guardians mis- 

 representing the age of children so employed are fined 40. ; a neglect 

 of the clause as to the care of the shafts, and also of that relating to 

 the payment of wages, subjects the offender to fines varying from 51. 

 to SO/. It was found, as might have been expected, that many young 

 iiertoni were for a time thrown out of employment when this act came 

 into operation ; but the evils resulting from the former system were 

 too great to be overlooked. 



The question respecting the available store of coal in this island has 

 been much canvassed. Mr. T. Sopwith, in an Essay published in 

 1M1 ('The National Importance of Preserving Mining Records'), 

 remarks : " The opinion that our stores of coal are all but inex- 

 haustible, rest* wholly on assumed data, and not ii[x>n an accurate 

 and detailed statistical account, such as alone could warrant a confident 

 opinion. This question will ere long become a subject of serious con- 

 cern, unless some measures are taken to found our calculations on a 

 solid bati*. It Is an easy matter to assume that a considerable thick- 

 Den of available coal extends over hundreds of square miles ; but the 

 different opinions formed by men of the highest respectability anil 

 talent, strongly prove how meagre aud unsatisfactory are the only 

 data on which these estimates are founded It is not, however, the 

 mere quantity of coal that is to be considered. Especial reganl nm.-t 

 be had U> a. quality, depth, thickness, extent, and ; 

 the inferior seams can only be worked in conjunction with thom 

 by their superior quality, repay the expenseof working them at depth* 

 varying from 3nO to 600 yards ; and it may readily be conceiv, 

 inferior coal only could not be profitably raised from pits > 



depth to three or four times the height of St. Paul's Cathedral, unless 

 the price of such inferior coal was raised to more than the present 



price of the best coal It is not the exhaustion of miii 



the period at which they can l>e profitably .. -In !. that merits earnest 

 and immediate attention." These lemarkx, from .> ;- well 



acquainted with the subject, are worth moi.- ih m the vague a..-. 

 made by some geologists and writers on statistics. In this as in 

 branches of industry, we must r the pos*; 



of supply, but also the price at which the thing can be 

 market. It is supposed that the total yield of all the collieries 



Kingdom is about 50 million tons yearly. In 1864 the North- 

 umberland and Durham yield was about 14 million tons; of which, 

 04 millions were shipped coastwise, 24 exported, 2J converted into 

 lir.lly. This produce would have covi-i id with a 

 layer an inch thick a road a thousand miles long by six yards broad. 



In relation to the coal-trade of recent years, three circumstances 

 must be taken into account, the effect of the removal of the duty, in 

 increasing the amount of export ; the effect of railways, in increasing 

 the supply and lowering the price; and the -TCW collier 



steamers, in expediting the transport and lowering the price. We shall 

 offer a few remarks on all these points. 



The coal duties were repealed in 1885, so far as concerned coals 

 exported in British ships ; while the duty on those exported in : 

 ships was reduced. Great activity followed, for ships were now enabled 

 to carry out coal instead of ballast to foreign countries. The exigencies 

 of the state led to a re-imposition of the duty in 1842; this at once 

 checked the foreign trade, which did not recover itself till the final 

 removal of the duty in 1845. The trade had been gradually growing, 

 from about 870,000 tons in 1827; 740,000 in 1885; to 1,600,000 in 

 1840, and 2,000,000 in 1842. The discouragement brought, it down to 

 1,700,000 in 1844. After the final removal of the duty, the trade 

 extended in the following remarkable way : 



1846 ' . 2,531,108 tons. 



1848 2,785,801 



1850 3,351,880 



1852 3,640,194 



1854 4,309,255 



18S6 5,879,779 



1858 6,519,956 



These figures are very significant, showing how rapid has been the 

 advance in this department of our export trade. These returns include 

 culm and coke as well as coal. The extent to which different foreign 

 countries are our customers for fuel may be illustrated by the figures 

 for the year 1858 : 



!; .1 314,082 tom. 



D mnark 392,604 



Prussia 409,402 



i- Towns 521,401 



France 1,332,541 



Spain 331,818 



Tuikey 187,430 



United smtci 300,707 



Malta 118.S25 



West Indira 90,154 



Other countries (about) 1,100,000 



The extent to which different collieries contributed towards these 



figures, in 1858, may be thus shown ; 



From Tynr, Wear, and T .... 3,600,000 tons 



Yoik*liiiv 250,000 



Liverpool .... 470,000 



South Wales and western counties . . 1,400,000 



Scotland 880,000 



leaving about 400,000 tons from other part*. 



The Loml .if c ml is by far the most remarkable 



feature in the trade. In 1814, when the pi ,\ as 1 3>. per ton at 



Newcastle and Sunderland, it was AH high as Hi. in London, so heavy 

 was the coasting duty, and so large the profits of the colliers, owners, 

 and all concerned. In IS" I, when the Newcastle price was lOj. Oi/., the 

 l...!i.liiii piico was !!>. This addition of 84. 3d. was made up of an 

 immense number of items, including freight, weight office, entry, City 



metage, scorage, factorage, commission, insurage, policy duty, 

 and delivery charges. In the year just named, London bought 

 2,800,000 tons of coal, which rc,Miire4 the sen-ices of 8000 ships. In 

 1842 the qu ' nitad to 2,700,000, in addition t > ;i small quan- 



. uial. Toe Qret lc<n tin- chief agent 



in bringing about an im; MU to London ; 



!' illiary own forkshire and nth' i 

 , by which inl.ii>' <1 be brought to the metropolis at a 



\v price: a double consequt ..I, -other i 



panics h.ive adopted a Mini!. i." pvstem in relation to other counties, and 



i tliumbcrl.n iy owners have l<ecn brought 



into a state of healthy co Their limitation < Is was 



brought to an end in 1845, even 1 efore the railway system had devo- 



"lc. By the year 1853 the sea-borne coal 



: ID had increased to 3,400,000 tons (about 11,000 shiploail 



]way transport nearly reached 1,000,000 tons. In 1857 the quan- 

 tities were 8,160,000 tons brought by sea, and 1,280,000 tons by railway 

 and canal : showing a steady rise in the inland mode of conveyance. 



