CHAP. T. TYNE SHIPPING. 11 



the substitution of a month's notice previous to leaving, 

 having' given them greater freedom and opportunity for 

 obtaining- employment; and day-schools and Sunday- 

 schools, together with the important influences of rail- 

 ways, have brought them fully up to a level with the 

 other classes of the labouring population. 



The coals, when raised from the pits, are emptied 

 into the waggons placed alongside, from, whence they 

 are sent along the rails to the staiths erected by the 

 river side, the waggons sometimes descending by their 

 own gravity along inclined planes, the waggoner stand- 

 ing behind to check the speed by means of a convoy or 

 wooden brake bearing upon the rims of the wheels. 

 Arrived at the staiths, the waggons are emptied at once 

 into the ships waiting alongside for cargo. Any one 

 who has sailed down the Tyne from Newcastle Bridge 

 cannot but have been struck with the appearance of the 

 immense staiths, constructed of timber, which are erected 

 at short distances from each other on both sides of the 

 river. 



ML-STAITH ON" 1EE TINE. [By R. P. Leitch.] 



But a great deal of the coal shipped from the Tyne 

 comes from above-bridge, where sea-going craft cannot 



