fenit, amount, in common, from six thousand to forty thousand, pounds and upwards, on each colliery.'

It

This statement must impress an idea of the magnitude of the trade, which the subsequent details will confirm. appears from the author's calculations, on which he says we may rely, that the number of persons employed in and dependant on the coal trade, on the river Tyne, is The number of persons employed, &c. on the river Wear

38,475

26,250

Making a grand total on the Tyne and the Wear of 64,725 To this estimate he adds a statement of the amount of the capitals employed in this trade; which will be found, he bélieves, to be pretty just.

There are upwards of 50 collieries in the neighbourhood of Newcastle and Sunderland; the capital employed in which, including the cost of Keels, &c. is upwards of £.1,030,000 The capital employed in shipping in the rivers

Tyne and Wear, in the coal trade,

1,400,000

The capital employed by the buyers in London exceeds, on a moderate calculation,

700,000

Total of capital employed

3,130,000

Respecting the management of the coal business in the river Thames, it is remarked that

• The Coal Trade alone, which exceeds the foreign commerce in the number of ships annually discharged, requires double the number of craft which is found necessary for the whole import and export trade of the river. 2196 barges, averaging about 33 tons (amounting in the whole to 72,468 tons) are chiefly employed in the coal importation.

• On some occasions, about 90 colliers (each requiring, on an average, 13 barges) are discharging at once, 1170 coal craft will then be laden with coals, occupying different parts of the Pool at the same time; while the chief part of the remaining craft, above and below bridge, are used as floating warehouses, until the coals can be disposed of.

The monthly supply of coals for the metropolis is estimated at 300 cargoes, of 220 chaldrons each, or 66,000 chaldrons. It is therefore no unlikely supposition, that (with some exceptions) 50,000 chaldrons, on an average, remain exposed to depredations in spen craft on the river all the year round.'

After this view of the extent and importance of the coal trade, Dr. Macnab proceeds to plead the cause of the coal owners of the North; and to justify a sort of combination among them, which he maintains to be as much for the public REV. SEPT. 1801.

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benefit as for that of the individuals concerned.-It is acknowleged that a general agreement had been entered into by the coal qwners to vend only a proportional quantity of coal in a given time from each colliery; and the Dr. contends that it was necessary to prop up the coal trade by such a regulation, which, though in its complexion it be contrary to law, is good in spirit, and beneficial in its effect. For this purpose, he adduces the evidence of Nathaniel Clayton, Esq. given before the Coal Committee of the House of Commons; and it must be confessed that he makes a plausible case in behalf of the coal owners; for Mr. C. thus strongly expresses himself: "I have no doubt, that one of the motives which led to this agreement, was the securing to the mine adventurer, an adequate profit upon that adventure; and I am equally clear (meaning to give a most impartial judgment on the question) that the public have been in the final result materially benefited by the operations of the agreement." By this last assertion, Mr. C. means that collieries have thus been worked, and made to yield a regular supply at a legitimate price, which otherwise must have been abandoned; and which, if once abandoned, could never have been resumed.,

Such is the manner in which the author resists the censure directed against the coal owners of the North for their combination but we have not local knowlege sufficient to decide how far his arguments are convincing. He speaks with muchconfidence on the subject which he discusses; and he hopes that the views which he has taken of it will not be deemed irrelevant, when the wide range of its operation is fully considered.

Dr. Macnab contends that a sufficient difference is not maintained between the price of the superior and that of the inferior coals, and that considerable inconveniencies arise from this circumstance. He says; I have made many experiments on the superior and inferior Newcastle coals for domestic use; and I have invariably been of opinion, whether we have in view economy or comfort, that the best Newcastle coal is preferable to the worst, in much higher proportion than the relative prices at market.'

Few will be able to decide on the general question here discussed but of this concluding remark every house-keeper is able to appreciate the value, and may apply it to a saving pur,

pose.

The subject again comes under consideration in the suc ceeding article.

ART.

ART. VIII. Observations on the probable Consequences of even attempting by Legislative Authority to obtain a large Supply of Coal from Staffordshire to the Metropolis; on the Iron Trade in Staffordshire and Shropshire in the large way; on the Iron and Copper Trades at Birmingham in the small way; on the Price of Coal to the Inhabitants of London and Westminster; on the Collieries in the North; on the carrying Trade of Sunderland and Shields; and on the Navy of Great Britain. In a Letter to William Manning, Esq. M. P. Chairman of the Honourable Committee of the Coal Trade. By Henry Grey Macnab, M. D. 4to. pp. 112. 10s. 6d. stitched. V. Griffiths. 1801.

IN N this second letter, written at a short interval after the first, (see the preceding article,) Dr. Macnab prosecutes the im portant discussion relative to coal and the coal trade; and though he has here avowed himself to be deeply interested * in the general subject, we are not the less solicitous of following him through his statements, and arguments, which he has been very indefatigable in collecting and arranging, Persuaded that they may be instructive as well as amusing, we shall proceed to the enumeration of some of them.

We are informed that the thickness of the main veins of coal about Dudley in Staffordshire is in general from ten to eleven yards, but varies from eight to thirteen yards; and that there the best coals are sold at the pit for 6s. per ton of 21 cwt. of 120 lb. to the cwt.'

That the seams or veins of Yorkshire coal are from three to ten feet thick, and that the best Silkstone coal is worth at ton.'

the pit 35. per

That the Cumberland mines, worked by 570 pitmen, produce per week 3960 waggons, each waggon containing one London chaldron and a quarter;'-and that

Newport coals (supposing the scheme would answer) might be brought from Wales by the canal navigation, to the annual amount of from 50 to 100,000 tons.'

Abundant as the mines of coal are in the internal parts of the kingdom, Dr. Macnab resists the idea of opening a supply for the metropolis from these sources. He lays before us, however, the opinions of Mr. Raby and Mr. Hardy, given in evidence to the Committee of the House of Commons on the Coal trade; the former of which considers, in opposition

* His words, perhaps, ought to be given: My situation in life, embarked as I am extensively in the lottery of mining, affords daily arguments which compel me to be "feelingly alive" to every mea sure which will risk, even in the most distant degree, the regular movements of the members of the unwieldy body of miners and manu facturers?'

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to the principle maintained by the Doctor, a competition be tween the Staffordshire and Newcastle collieries as the only means of keeping down the price;' and the latter deposed that the opening of a new market for coals of the district, about Bradford in Yorkshire, would not much enhance the price to the manufacturer, as the quantity of coals is so great that there are sufficient for both.' To rebut this testimony of Mr. Hardy, it is remarked that he means only the quantity of unworked coal, or the quantity in the bowels of the earth; and that he has not taken into consideration the difficulty of obtaining an increased number of pitmen. A correspondent of Dr. M. also has declared, that there cannot be two opinions about the inJury which the Shropshire and Staffordshire manufactories would sustain from the exportation of large quantities of coal from these countries;' and he himself positively asserts that destructive evils would be consequent on the very attempt to establish the plan in agitation, of an inland supply of coals, by canal navigation, duty free.'A short time (he says) will prove that the new source will neither be so convenient, nor economical as the old. In the mean time, many of the mines of inferior coal in the North will be lost, and should a continued frost take place, such as we have frequently had within these ten years, the metropolis would be completely at the mercy of the collieries of the North. His doctrine therefore is, that it is for the benefit of London and Westminster to depend on these Northern collieries, as they have been accustomed to do; since in these cities the supply from them has been so abundant, excepting under the extensive operations of war, as to reduce the price of the article so much as to render a regulation in the trade necessary, in order to prevent the ruin of the inferior mines.

All these objections merit the attention of the legislature: but, as they are far from being unanswerable, they will perhaps excite the animadversions of some gentlemen, who to a general view of the subject may unite that local knowlege which we cannot be supposed to possess. The opening of a new source of supply of coals for the metropolis, and the parts adjacent, must produce some changes in the trade, and some injury to individuals: but that specific measure may not be so national a tragedy as Dr. Macnab has supposed. However, it ought in all its parts and relations to be fully discussed; and we shall therefore attend him in his statements of the operation of the proposed measure on the iron and copper trades. We are informed that the quantity of bar iron made in Great Britain, when wood charcoal was used for that purpose, was never more than 20,000 tons in one year ;-that on account of the

scarcity of wood, it was reduced to less than 13,000, at the time when the mode of making iron with mineral coal was introduced:'-that we then imported from 60 to 70,000 tons of bar iron-that we now make three times as much as formerly, and have diminished the import one third ;—and that, if our exertions be not obstructed, we shall in ten years more reduce it another third, producing an advantage to the country of up. wards of 1,000,000% per annum. Such a trade as this, it must be for the interest of the Government to promote. Now it appears, by a variety of calculations and estimates given in these pages, that, if, by opening a communication with the London market, the price of coal in the manufacturing countries be raised 2s. per 20 cwt. the pressure on the iron trade would be great; and that, if the advance exceeded 2s., the iron trade in the large way would be at a stand.

The effect on the copper trade is also detailed; and some facts are exhibited which ought to arouse our vigilance, and induce us to act with wisdom. It is stated that the copper manufactory at Birmingham has decreased one half;-that much pains have been taken in France, Germany, and Italy, to rival us ;—and that the very change of religion, by abolishing the extravagant number of holidays in Roman Catholic countries, has assisted the growth of foreign manufactures. Hence we have lost several of the foreign markets. "If all other circumstances were equal, (says the ingenious and celebrated Mr. Bolton,) we might defy rivalry on the continent: but labour cheaper, and the raw material cheaper, there is no doubt but that in time they might rival us."

To counteract this rivalry, is a matter of infinite importance; and Dr. Macnab's general ideas on the system to be pursued evince a liberal and philosophic mind. We must maintain our superiority in mining and manufactures; but how is this to be effected? By honesty and moderation, which form the best policy with nations as well as with individuals; -by bettering the condition of the poor, and thus preventing emigration;-by changing the system of taxation, and particularly by considering the tendency of taxes on the necessaries of life;-by abolishing the poor rates;-and by a general amelioration of the people.

The author does not omit the argument in favour of the North country coal trade, that it is the great nursery of the British Navy-a consideration which will ever have its weight with government.

Before he concludes,, the Doctor returns to the charge re specting the agreement between the coal owners of the North, He contends that coals, at and some time after peace, are sold

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