To Scotland, a considerable quantity of English coal (about 40,000 chaldrons) is shipped annually. In Wales, the colds carried coastways are chiefly from Swansea to Beaumaris, and vary from 20,000 to 30,000 chaldrons : the culm carried coastways in Wales goes chiefly to Pembroke, Cardigan; and Ban marls, and is computed about 18,000 chaldrons.
Of inland coal, consumption in London is very inconsiderable, the duty not exceeding L.1600 a-year. Recent discoveries in regard to the appli cation of steam, both for cooking and for warming apartments, appear to promise a considerable reduc tion in the consumption of coal. Much apprehen sion was excited in the coal counties, by a proposi tion brought forward in the present year (1819), for an equilization of the duty on coal, on the plan of relieving London and the maritime counties, by find ing an equivalent to government in a reduced tax imposed on all coal, or, to use the technical phrase, on "coal at the pit's mouth." This equivalent might have been found by a very reduced rate of tax, since the whole of the coal that at present pays duty ap pears to be below a fourth, perhaps below a fifth, of the total consumption. But this apparently small tax was represented as replete with ruin to many of our manufactures, whose situation had been deter mined by the cheapness of coal, and whose preserva tion depended on a continuance of this advantage. The petitions soon became so numerous and urgent, that Ministers hastened to announce that the idea was wholly relinquished on their part, and the ques tion, when brought forward by an individual mem ber was lost by a great majority.
In quarries, whether of stone or slate, England is not rich, particularly the eastern half of the king dom : hence the almost universal use of brick in or dinary buildings. It is not till the traveller reaches Durham, that he finds stone commonly used. In the northern counties, quarries occur frequently; in the south those of Portland and Bath are the most con siderable. Still the annual profits of the whole are inconsiderable, when contrasted with the product of our mines, as appears from the following return : No branch of our industry increased more pidly in the present age our iron-works. A century ago, it was computed that we required an annual import of 20,000 tons of foreign iron ; an im port that for many years seems to have been on the increase, so as to carry the quantity require& after the middle of last century, to 30,000, 40,000, and even to 50,000 tons. This supply was brought to us from Sweden and Russia, and though burdened with duty, it was, in quantity, more than double our na tive produce. Fortunately, after the year 1780, dis coveries were made Which increased greatly our sup ply at home. Bar iron had been manufactured in England, as on the Continent, with charcoal fuel only, coal being deemed inapplicable to that pur pose. Under that impression, the rapid consump tion of the wood in the neighbourhood of our dif ferent iron-works, had necessitated a removal, at a great expence, of materials from one spot to another, and was on the point of causing an alarming decay in the business, when our iron-masters, after long perseverance, succeeded in applying coal to their manufacture. They had to contend with various
prejudices, particularly the supposed inferiority of iron so made • but, in the course of years, the manu facture acquired such an extent that there were, in 1805, 220 established blast-furnaces, making 250,000 tons of pig-iron. No sooner bad the trade acquired this extension, than government fixed on it as a fit object of taxation, and proposed a duty on iron of 2s. per ton; a proposition which experienced the most decided resistance from the body of iron-masters. They urged that, to put iron-works under the regu lation of the excise, would interfere materially with the manufacture; that there would be great diffi culty in apportioning the drawback on the hardware articles exported ; and that the expected produce of the tax would be most decidedly lessened by the ad ditional cost of the cannon, muskets, nails, and iron work of various kinds furnished to government. Besides, a tax on iron must be charged on articles of the greatest utility ; on the implements of agricul ture, manufactures, and mines ; on the iron ma terials used in our buildings and machinery as a substitute for timber; on our rail-roads and other undertakings of great national importance. These arguments prevailed; the Ministry of 1806 desisted, and no subsequent attempt has been made to impose a duty on iron. (Papers printed by the Iron-masters, in 1806.) The principal iron mines are in Derbyshire and Glamorganslure ; but there are extensive mines in other counties specified in the prefixed table The return of peace, by suspending entirely the demand of government, caused a long and general inactivity in this important manufacture: many of our iron works were suspended, and the workmen with their families redumd in 1816 and 1817 to great distress. Temporary relief was afforded them by private sub scriptions, and by the application of the poor's rate; but it was not until the revival of business in the latter part of 1818, that the workmen were restored to employment, or enabled to earn even a scanty livelihood. Now that the works throughout the kingdom are in activity, the computation is, that 300,000 tons of pig-iron are produced in the fur races of England, two-thirds of which are made into malleable iron, the other third into castings. The capital invested in these works is reckoned at L.5,000,000 Sterling; the population employed by them at 200,000; the whole, exclusive of the capital and population employed in the manufacture of hardware, of which we shall treat in the section on MANUFACTURES.