Increased profits of colliery proprietors.
It might be easily made to appear that the rise of wages was the principal cause of the advance in coal. But the case would be imperfectly presented for examination, if the profit derived from the working of the pits were not ascertained. The colliery, to which I have already referred, had, for years, been worked at a serious loss—there being no dividend for the proprietors in the years 1870 and 1871. Indeed, the prospects were so gloomy in the latter year, that some of the shareholders in the undertaking made over their interest to their co-proprietors at a considerable discount. At length, however, the tide suddenly turned, and in 1872 an ample dividend was earned; while there is every prospect that the results of the present year may be still more favourable.