1867.] ( 197 ) 



VI. BELGIAN COMPETITION IN THE IEON 

 MANUFACTURE. 



By Bernhaed Samuelson, M.P. 



To appreciate the capacity of a country for producing Iron, it is 

 necessary in the first instance to ascertain its facilities for sup- 

 plying fuel. 



Belgium possesses extensive deposits of Coal, and an industrious 

 population. The colliers of Belgium are content to earn on the 

 average barely one-half the daily wages paid in this country ; but 

 owing to the great dip of the seams of coal, and to other causes, 

 the labour of extraction is greatly in excess of that in most parts of 

 the United Kingdom, and consequently the cost of labour per ton 

 is far greater than in our coal-mines. 



For instance, the average cost of ordinary labour in the pit and 

 at the pit's mouth is, in the district of Liege, 3s. 2d. per ton, and 

 in that of Hainault, 4s. 9d. per ton. 



In three pits fairly representing the various conditions of coal- 

 mining in the North of England, the corresponding wages, during 

 the last six months of 1866, were, on the average, — 



No. 1 Pit. No. 2 Pit. No. 3 Pit. 



Is. Id. Is. 6fd. Is. IQ^d. 



The charges for propping, &c, are proportionately greater in 

 Belgium than in this country ; and the general result is, that the 

 price of coal at the pit's mouth per ton is, at Liege 10s. 6d. ; 

 Hainault 13s., against North of England pits, 5s. to 6s. 6d. per 

 ton. 



So onerous are the prices of fuel to the Belgian iron manu- 

 facturers, that on the 8th of January they resolved, at a meeting 

 held at Liege, to take measures for procuring a supply from the 

 Prussian coal-fields. 



The coal-mines of Belgium — 



Produced, in 1865 11,840,703 tons 



Against, in 1863 10,345,330 „ 



Increase in two years .... 1,495,373 „ 



The coal-mines in the United Kingdom — 



Produced, in 1865 98,150,000 tons 



Against, in 1863 86,292,000 „ 



Increase in two years .... 11,858,000 „ 



