In looking at the following list of prices of coals, it must be borne in mind that these are the market prices for coals ex ship; and it was reckoned that 12s. per ton was a fair price to allow for metage, carriage, and profit. Add this, and remember that a sovereign at the commencement of the century had the purchasing power of, and, consequently, worth, about 30s.; it will then be seen that coals were excessively dear—such as would now practically extinguish every manufacture.
Even in 1800, when coals were only about 48s. or 48s. 6d., the price was considered so excessive, that a Committee of the House of Commons sat upon the subject, and issued a report, imputing it to the following causes:
“1. The agreement among the Coal Owners in the North, called ‘The Limitation of Vends,’ by which each colliery on the Tyne is limited, so as not to exceed a certain quantity in each year. Those Coal Owners who are found to have shipped more than their stipulated quantities, being bound to make a certain allowance at the end of each year, to those who have shipped less, and to conform to certain other regulations adopted by the Coal Owners on the river Wear.
“2. The detention of the ships at Newcastle, waiting for the best coals, sometimes a month or six weeks.
“3. The want of a market in London which would admit of a competition, perfectly free, in the purchase of coals.
“4. The circumstance of the coal-buyer being, in many instances, owners both of ship and cargo; which (as appears by the evidence) leads to considerable abuse.
“5. The want of a sufficient number of Meters, and of craft, for unloading the ships on their arrival in the river, and the occasional delays in procuring ballast on their return voyage.
“6. The practice of mixing the best coals with those of an inferior quality, and selling the whole so mixed as of the best kind; and
“7. To frauds in the measurement, carriage, and delivery of coals.”