THE QUARTERLY 



JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 



APRIL, 1873. 



I. THE COAL-FAMINE. 

 By Professor Edward Hull, M.A. F.R.S. 



Jj"^\ EARTH in the midst of plenty. Such is the ex- 

 ~ Jr^7 pression in general use with reference to coal in this 

 ^^~* year of grace, 1873. In London (as I write) the 

 price is 50 shillings a ton ; in Dublin, 40 shillings ; in Bel- 

 fast, something between the two. In various parts of 

 England and Scotland the price ranges from 30 to 50 shil- 

 lings, according to circumstances. The price may be con- 

 sidered as generally doubled all over the country ; and in 

 some districts — situated even on the borders of coal-fields 

 themselves — it is often difficult to procure a ton unless by 

 notice delivered to the coal-merchant several days beforehand. 

 All classes feel the pinch, with the exceptions of colliery pro- 

 prietors and coal-miners. The wealthy, of course, still keep 

 up their fires, and pay heavily for the luxury ; the middle 

 classes, clerks with small salaries, civil-servants, curates, 

 and professional men commencing life, are obliged to stint 

 themselves of warmth, and find that there is much more 

 difficulty in keeping a balance between income and expendi- 

 ture than heretofore. And the poor — one may well pause 

 to enquire how they manage to keep out the winter's frost 

 and cook their little meals while every hundredweight of coal, 

 costs two shillings or half-a-crown. Christian philanthropy 

 steps in, and by establishing coal-funds and various means 

 of relief, helps to alleviate the distress ; but many a poor 

 widow or worn-out labourer has the ordinary privations of life 

 aggravated fourfold by the want of a good fire — one of the 

 few bright and cheerful things to be seen in a poor man's 

 cottage. We commend this consideration to the attention 

 of that mysterious authority which assumes the right of 

 limiting the supply of coal in order to keep up the price. It 

 may be a supreme source of gratification to have the power 

 of crippling industry, disorganising trade, and causing a 

 severe pressure amongst a " bloated aristocracy," but do 

 the men who pull the wires of this secret organisation ever 

 vol. in. (n.s.) u 



