xxxvn ACTIVITIES AT 70 YEARS 205 



inquiring of Sir Arthur Vivian, whose knowledge 

 of the Welsh coal trade was intimate. Sir 

 Arthur replies : 



November 24,th, 1904, 



BosAHAN, St. Martin, R.S.O., 



Cornwall. 



My dear Avebury — . . . Very little House coal is sent 

 comparatively from the Welsh Coal-fields to London — 

 as a rule, the highly bituminous coal is brittle, and in 

 our Morfa Colliery we do not in consequence, get 25 

 per cent of Large in our working, although we have 

 one good vein, and of an excellent quality. I think 

 the following figures might be taken roughly to represent 

 the division of the cost of a house coal, worth 25s. per 

 ton in London, viz. : 



lOs. Cost of working inclusive of 6d. or 9d. per ton 



Royalty. 

 10s. Railway carriage, truck hire, terminals, etc. 

 Ss. Cartage, commission, storage, rates, waste, and 

 profit, etc. 



25s. 



If, as you say, the Royalty should represent the 

 value of the coal in situ, the profit should be the return 

 on the Capital employed. I cannot help regarding 

 myself the present rate of wages (owing to the pressure 

 of the Trades Union), as far too high for the permanent 

 benefit of the Welsh Coal Trade, and many of the smaller 

 Winding Collieries have been stopped, probably never 

 to be opened again, as the " falls " which occur in the 

 steep measures, are so extensive when the levels are 

 no longer watched and kept in repair. 



Very many thanks for your kind invitation. I hope 

 some day you will be able really to come and see me 

 here. — -Yours sincerely, Arthur P. Vivian. 



It shows the variety and wide sympathy of 

 his outlook, that on November 14 he took the 

 chair at Bromley at a Salvation Army Meeting, 

 at which Mrs. Booth was speaking. She dined 

 with them at High Elms before the meeting, and 

 Lord Avebury writes : " Ursula and I drove 



