Papurau Newydd Cymru

Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru

Cuddio Rhestr Erthyglau

19 erthygl ar y dudalen hon

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PEACE AND THE CONTINENT.

NARROW ESCAPE OF THE SCOTCHI…

SIR SAMUEL AND LADY BAKER.

SIR H. RAWLINSON ON GEOGRAPHY.

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FIFTY PEOPLE IN THE WATER.

MR. DISRAELI AND THE MINISTRY.-

STARTING OF THE ATLANTIC BALLOON".

INTERESTING DISCOVERY IN THE…

OUR COAL SUPPLY..

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Rhannu

OUR COAL SUPPLY.. Professor Leone Levi lectured pn Monday at Kinr'a College on The Influence of the High Price of Coal on the Productive Industry of the United Kingdom." He said he woulcffirst consider what had caused the high price of coals. Was the great rise tempo- rary or permanent ? The value of anything „waa determined by two elements—its utility and its diffi- culty of attainment—the latter being absolute or rela- tive. The difficulty here was not absolute, like getting another Raphael painting or Michael Angelo sculpture. The Royal Commissioners had assured U8 that our stock of coal was not less than ninety thousand millions of tons, and that if we could work under a certain stratum we should find fifty thousand millions of tons more. Making allowance for in- creased consumption, that would be enough to last U8 360 years mere: and if-the consumption did not in- crease, it would last us four times as long. Even last year the* quantity brought up was larger than in any previous year, so* much so that it was somewhat diffi- cult to account for the great nse in price. But the cost of an article depended not only on the quantity produced, but on the motives of the seller ana buyer —what one would take and the other would give for it. In the case of Coal, the demand for it was, ia mapy cases, so urgent that the briyer would pay for it a very large price rather than be baulked of hit supply. The House of Commons Committee re- ported that they found no reason to believe that the coalowners restricted the7 output to an artificial scarcity, and only blamed the miners; but he (the lecturer) doubted the accuracy of the coacfawMtf He thought both coalowners and miners were at fault in the matter. The average wages of a miner in 1811 vere 4s. lid a day, in 1873 8s. a day—an increase of 62 per cent. But while the profits of the coalownett averaged but 7d. a tonkin 1871, they reached 3s. 6d. m ton in 1873—that is, an increase of nearly 500 per cent. In 1871, in Cumberland, the cost of producing coal was 4s. 7d. a ton, and the selling price 5s. 2d., leaving a very small margin; in 1873 the cost WM 9s,, and the selling price 12s. 6d. per ton. So the coal- owners had benefited by the high prices much m?1'8 than the miners. Still, the time was past for passing laws against trade combinations of any kind. < The true 'policy of this country was to leave trade quite free. We raised 120,000,000 tons of a coal yearly; and -in raising that we used 7,000,000 tons. An enormous amount of coal wai required in the iron manufacture; to make 1 ton of pig iron required 3 tons of ooal; to turn 1 ton of pig iron into bar wanted 3 tons 7 cwt. oJE coal. In 1869 32,000,000 tons of opal were consumed in the iron manufacture ■since* then the amount had considerably increased. Altogether about 75 percent, of our coal was consumed in manufactures, 15 per cent. went for domestic purposes, and the re- maining J..O per cent, was exported. Some had coun- selled a heavy export duty on coals—or a prohibition of their export—but he was averse to either. As si rise of 100 per cent. had not checked their exporta- tion, he could not see how an export duty would havd any effect; while to prohibit their export would inexpedient and ineffectual. The coal of Ens- tssd belonged not to 'her alone, but to all country as did the tea of China and the cotton of America. The high price of coals had already affected the export of iron, adding, as it did, £2 or £3 a ton to its cost, and it would affect sailway works. But though it greatly affected the cost of iron also of lime, in which the fuel cost Is. and the other material but 3d. a ton—it was quite different in soma manufactures. For instance, in the worsted manufac- ture coal cost but one-fifth what wages did: if coal rose 100 per cent., it made only" per: cent. rise in the cost of worsted. Professor Levi concluded hia interesting address by shewing that we had no reason to fear the rivalry of America, in the production of coal, and by urging the utilisation of the watercourses and waterfalls of the country as a motive power, which Would act in many cases as a substitute for coal.

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MERTHYR POLICE COURT.