14 PR(3F. K. HULL, LL.D., F.R.S., ON OUR COAL RH;SEKVKS 



sliilling's Avonkl amount to £10,000,000 per annnin. wliicli niifi;ht 

 .a:o to tlie relief of our increasing taxation, or form a sinking 

 fund with the same object in vieAv. In any case it would to 

 some extent help to recoup the State for the drain on her 

 mineral resources. Lord Salisbury has recently expressed 

 his astonishment at the patience with which the public bear 

 the burdens of taxation imposed upon them ; and I venture 

 to think that if our Continental neighbours could be made 

 to contribute towards the relief of these burdens to the 

 extent of ten or twelve millions sterling, the result would be 

 hailed with gratitude. Nor do I believe that such a duty 

 would have an appreciable effect in diminishing the output 

 from the mines. In the first place forty millions of tons is 

 ■only a small proportion (less than one-fifth) of the total out- 

 put ; and in the second, the use of our best steam coal is of 

 such prime importance to Continental States, especially for 

 their fleets, that an additional charge of five shillings a ton 

 Avould be no impediment to their demand for it. In support 

 of this view it may be observed that the average price of 

 coal in these Continental States is higher than in the United 

 Kingdom ; for while in this last named, the price in the year 

 1898 was Qs. 4^f/. per ton, in Germany it was 7^. A^d., in 

 France 9s., and in Belgium 8s. 9^<'Z. per ton, in Britain it was 

 about 5s. 6d. per ton ; so that by comparison of averages the 

 price of British coal with an export duty of five shillings 

 would not be increased to the full extent for these countries 

 above that of their own averages. 



I do not therefore fear that a small export duty such as is 

 liere suggested would injvire the foreign coal trade, while on 

 the other hand it Avould benefit the country generally ; nor 

 can I admit for a moment that it violates the principle of Free 

 Trade taken in its legitimate sense ; for in the words of a 

 recent writer, Free Trade is not a law, but a "variable ex- 

 pedient." 



I now come to consider the question of a Royal Commission. 

 It is urged in several quarters, and amongst members of 

 Parliament especially by ]\Ir. D. A. Thomas, the representative 

 of one of the principal mining districts in "W'^alcs, that Her 

 ^Majesty's Government should be asked to ap})oint a second 

 Royal Commission for the purpose of ascertaining Avhat is our 

 real position as regards our coal reserves. It is noAv alK)ut 

 thirty years since the first Commission held its investigations, 

 and, as we have seen, the increase of consumption since that 

 period has been remarkable — I might even say, phenomenal. 



