In May, 1844, the harbour-master of the port of London presented a return to the lord mayor, which shows the opera tion of the regulations established by the coal-owners in the port of London for keeping np the price of coal. On the 1st of May there were 260 vessels laden with coal, detained in sections waiting their " turn" of sale. Ou one day in the same month, ten colliers had been detained, with their captains and crews, for forty six days, and two had been detained above fifty days. Ou the 27th of May, 109 coal-laden ships were detained in sections, and the price of the best coal had ad vanced to 248. and 25s. per ton, or about 348. per ton to the consumer. "A saving of every shilling per ton on the average consumption of the metropolis is equiva lent to an annual saving to its inhabitants of 150,0001." (Railway Report of Board of Trade, 28th Feb., 1845 ) During the winter of 1844-5, the price of coal in Lon don has been as high as 40s. a ton. If the " limitation of the vend" and other restric tions on the coal trade were abolished, and there was no detention and waste of time either at the port of shipment or in London, it is believed that the best coal could be brought from Sunderland into the port of London at 15s. per ton, and that 7s. per ton at the pit would be as remunerating to concerns working to their full power as 11s. with their powers limit& by the vend regulations ; and that a freigiA of six shillings per ton would be asprofitable as the higher freight now paid, part of which is to cover the ex pense of detention.
The railways now in progress will no doubt in time have an important and most beneficial effect in reducing the price of coal in those parts of the country where it is at present so high as almost to place it beyond the reach of the poorest classes of the population. Soon after the Great North of England Railway, from Dar lington to York, was opened, the price of coal at York fell to the extent of from Is. to 10s. per ton. There will also most probably soon be a large increase in the supply of inland coal in London, as more than one of the great railway companies whose lines extend from London to the midland coal-fields have agreed to convey zeal "at rates not exceeding Id. per ton per mile, including toll and locomotive power." Thus the cost of conveying coal from the south of Staffordshire and Debby shire will not exceed 10s. and 12s. a ton ; and such coal may then be sold with a profit in London at 20s. per ton. Whether in time the opening of additional sources for the supply of coal will have an effect on the restrictions of the coal-owners of the north, cannot of course be as yet safely predicted.
The statistics of the coal-trade are given for the sake of distinctness under the following heads :-1. Coasting Trade.
2. Coal Trade of the Port of London.
3. Foreign Trade.
1. Of 7,447,084 tons of coal shipped at the several ports of the United Kingdom, to other parts of the United Kingdom, in 1843, the shipments from fifteen ports exceeded 70,000 each, viz.: Tons.
Newcastle . . 2,289,591 Stockton . . 1,446,069 Sunderland . . 877,451 Newport . . 495,419 Swansea . . 401,893 Whitehaven . . 300,498 Cardiff . 267.303 Tons.
Goole . . 175,735 Llanelly . . 170,608 Irvine, N. B.. . 169,542 Maryport . . 124,700 Borrowstoness . 91,174 Alloa . . 86,606 Gloucester . . 84,773 Ayr . . 71,015 2. The quantity of coal and the number of ships, including their repeated voyages, in which the same was brought into the port of London in each year, from 1832 to 1844, were as follows : Years. Ships. Tons.
1832 . 7,528 . 2,139,078 1833 . 7,077 . 2,020,409 1834 . 7,404 . 2,078,685 1835 . 7,958 . 2,298,812 1836 . 8,162 . 2,398,352 1837 . 8,720 . 2,626,997 1838 . 9,003 . 2,581,085 1839 9,340 . 2,625,323 1840 . 9,132 . 2,566,892 1841 . 10,311 . 2,909,144 1842 . 9,691 . 2,723,200 1843 . 9,593 . 2,628,520 1844 . 9,466 . 2,490,919 The monthly arrivals in the port of London in 1844 were as under ; but from April to August there was a strike for wages amongst the colliers, and this cir cumstance affected the regularity of the supply : Ships. Tons.
799 . Jan. . 224,633 741 . Feb. . 205,746 977 . March . 270,771 751 . April . 198,674 405 . May . 84,993 351 . June . 132,238 517 . July . 144,130 795 . Aug. . 192,231 1220 . Sept. . 319,295 1283 . Oct. . 337,518 1066 . Nov. . 296,381 291 . Dec. . 88,330 9466 2,490,919 The quantity which arrived by inland navigation, in 1843, was 34,684 tons.
The quantity of each particular sort of coal which arrived in the port of London is certified by the Fitters ; and, in 1844, was as follows : Ships. Tons.
Newcastle Wallsend . 1,428 424,548 Other Newcastle Coal . 1,757 577,073 Sunderland Wallsend . 2,149 611,662 Other Sunderland Coal . 109 28,064 Stockton Wallsend . 1,877 482,807 Other Stockton Coal . 109 22,016 Scotch Coal . . . 354 66,347 Blyth Coal . . . 313 76,361 Yorkshire Coal . . . 945 94,199 Welsh Coal . 318 83,039 Culm 7 1,568 Cinders . . . 54 13,150 From Sundry Places 5 424 3. In 1842 the declared value of 1,999,504 tons of coal exported to foreign countries and British possessions was 734,000/. ; in 1843 the declared value of coal thus exported was 690,4241., and in 1844 665,584/. In 1843 the exports of coal to foreign countries and the colonies were, 815,434 tons from Newcastle, 305,991 tons from Sunderland, and 224,593 from Stockton ; or 1,346,018 out of 1,866,211 tons exported in that year.
The exports of coal to foreign countries only have been as follows in the under mentioned years: Years. Tons. Duty.