In the year 1866. the question came into the arena of the British parliament. On April 17, during a discussion in the house of commons on the malt-tax, Mr. J. Stuart Mill dwelt on the fact that coal is one of our greatest sources of national wealth; and he accepted as trustworthy the calculations of Mr. Jevons—that in three or four genera- aims we shall haw scarcely' any usahle Nal- at a less. dcnth than 4,00.0 ft,, a depth which will either be unworkable, or workable only at a greatly increased cost. This speech made a great impression on the house; and the government, a few days afterwards, undertook to ascertain what facts the officers of the geological survey possessed on the subject. On May 3, the chancellor of the exchequer, Mr. Gladstone, made his financial statement for the year, in which he accepted Mr. Mill's views, based as they were on the opinions of sir Roderick Murchison, sir John Herschel, sir W. G. Armstrong, Dr. Percy, Mr. Hull, Mr. Jevons, and other authorities. He assented to the probability that by the year 1970, if matters go on at their present rate, we shall have no coal left. "I disbelieve and disapprove," he added, "of all attempts to limit by law the consump tion of coal. In vain would it be to think of stopping the consumption of coal in this country; in vain would it be to think of diminishing that consumption by the imposi tion of a tax; and it would be more vain still to think of prohibiting its exportation." In other words, the remedy, if any, can not be by legislation. The question was brought to a decisive point on June 12, when Mr. Hussey Vivian moved an address to the crown, praying for the appointment of a royal commission to investigate the whole matter. In an elaborate speech, he stated his reasons for believing that the forebodings of Mr. Hull and Mr. Jevons are too gloomy—that advancing science will enable miners to contend against the temperature and pressure of deeper mines than have hitherto been thought practicable; that we shall be better able than ever to ventilate and drain the deep work ings; that the area of coal workable even with our present means is larger than has been estimated; that the magnesian limestone and new red sandstone beds are likely to afford an opening for new stores of coal quite incalculable in amount; that the theory of an increase of consumption in a geometrical ratio is not tenable; and that we shall ably economize consumption in future years by the adoption of new processes, new furnaces, new stove-grates, smoke-consuming apparatus, and the utilization of waste heat and gases. Although entertaining these favorable views, he nevertheless suggested official inquiry. The government assented; and a royal commission, comprising the duke of Argyle, sir Roderick Murchison. sir W. G. Armstrong, Mr. Vivian, Mr. Prest wich, Dr. Percy, Mr. Jukes, Mr. Robert Hunt, and several other experienced men, was appointed in July, 1866.
The coal commissioners gradually collected a large body of information concerning the quantity of coal raised annually in the United Kingdom; the probable future rate of increase; the quantity still remaining at available depths underground; and the best means of economizing coal in future. They obtained a great mass of evidence, which was published in 1871, with maps, plans, and diagrams. They reported that the deepest of our minea are about 2,000 ft., but that 4,000 ft. might possibly be worked with improved lifting and ventilating appliances. They estimated the coal of the United Kingdom, at all depths down to 4,000 ft., at 90,207 million tons—viz., 46,000 millions in England; 34,000 millions in Wales; 10,000 millions in Scotland, and a mere trifle in Ireland. The largest single coal-field they found to be that of South Wales, 32,000 mil
lion tons. Many geologists believe that coal underlies the new red sandstone and Per mian formations, and that an additional quantity of 56,000 million tons might possibly be obtainable from this source. Supposing the available total to be 146,000 million tons; the commissioners endeavored to estimate how long it would last. The quantity raised in 1S69 was 107,000,000 tons, of which 97,000,000 were retained for home consumption. Taking into account all the circumstances which bad to be considered, the commission ers expressed an opinion that our coal-supply will be exhausted in 300 years.
Since 1871, the subject has been much discussed. The balance of opinion tends towards a greater duration than 300 years; but all is vague guessing on this point. The coal-harvest of Great Britain in 1872 was in 1873, 127,000,000 tons; and in 1876, 133,000,000 tons.
Consequent on the revelations concerning our (future) coal-famine, other nations have made renewed investigations respecting their own reserve deposits.
See GAs-TAP.
the name given to a mode of unloading coal from vessels at anchor in the Thames. About 2,000,000 tons of coal are annually transferred from vessels in the river to barges, which convey them to the wharves. The operation is called coal whipping, and the men, the origin of which does not seem to be known. The men work in gangs of nine—a and eight others. Some of them shovel the coal from the hold of the ship into baskets or boxes; some haul up the boxes by ropes and pulleys; and some empty the contents into the barges.
This is all the operation—a mere example of muscular labor of the coarsest kind. It would not have called for notice in this work, had not legislative interference given a factitious importance to it. Some years ap.o, when the number of these men was about 2,000, public-house keepers got into the habit of acting as middlemen, a position which gave them the power of compelling the men to spend nearly all their earnings in drink. The trade fell into such a state, that the men were virtually slaves to the publicans.. They asked for the interference of the legislature; and this was granted in 1843. An act was passed expressly for these 2,000 coal-whippers. A coal-whippers' board was formed, comprising members named by the board of trade, others named by the corpo ration of London, and one, by the shipowners' sbeiety. This board assumed the functions of a middleman or master coal-whipper; contracted for the whipping of ships of coal, and employed the men. No one but men registered on the books of the board was allowed to work on the Thames as a coal-whipper, with the exception of the crews of the ships and the servants of the coal-owners. This exceptionally-protected trade was maintained on the same basis by other acts passed in 1846 and 1851. In 1856, however, a further renewal was refused; and a committee of the house of lords, in 1857, while sympathizing with the men, declined to recommend any further special legislation for them. The coal-owners agreed with the board of trade to maintain a whipping office, to give the men a refuge from the publicans, but without interfering with the liberty of coal-ship pers to employ whom they pleased; and this plan has since been acted on. The office, is at the coal exchange, with a men's rendezvous near Rateliff. The necessity for coal whippers has been much lessened of late years by the use of a derrick in the Thames, by which the contents of a coal-ship can be transferred to the floating in a few hours by steam-power.