Irish Coal Trade. 1O7 



comforts of so many depend, is here, as in most 

 other places, subject to great fraud and im- 

 position ; enhancing the price to the consumer 

 without profiting the fair trader. An act of 

 parliament requires that the selling price should 

 be exposed on the mast of each vessel, as also 

 the place from which the coals were brought. 

 The porters, to whom the buyers send their 

 orders, lay the masters ofHhe vessels under con- 

 tribution ; for while they charge the consumer 

 with thirty shillings for a ton, equal to a London 

 chaldron, the masters of the colliers do not, 

 probably, receive more than twenty-eight shil- 

 lings. Many attempts, on the part of the own- 

 ers of the vessels, have been made to correct 

 this abuse, but hitherto without effect : this ap- 

 pears extraordinary, as it should seem that the 

 coal sellers have as direct an interest as the 

 consumers in its removal. Great preference is 

 given in various parts of Ireland to different 

 coals, some choosing one sort, some another, 

 without any known specific reason for the se- 

 lection of either. 



The quays, when the opening is completed 

 from Carlisle bridge, will be above a mile in 

 Irngth, and as eminently remarkable as any 

 thing of the sort in the British empire. The 

 wet docks will be extensive, but these seem to 



