CHEAP COALS.
WE understand that his Majesty's Ministers have come to the resolution of recommending the repeal of the tax on coals carried ,coastwise. There is no impost in existence that has less to jus- tify it. It is levied on a necessary of life—on the poor—in a limited district. It is vicious in principle, oppressive and partial in ope- ration. To crown its delinquencies, it is comparatively unproduc- tive. The tax which inflicts so much mischief on the owners of mines and of shipping, as well as on consumers, brings into the exchequer only 800,0001. per annum. With the tax, we under- stand, all the cumbrous machinery which has gone so heavily to aggravate its weight will be 'abolished. Whippers, meters, the whole race of chartered extortioners, are to he swept away. The public will then be free to purchase their coals on the same prin- ciples and in the same way as they purchase other marketable arti- cles, without the intervention of a dozen of legalized middlemen, every one adding his percentage of price to the goods whose value his labours do not affect.
We have recurred to the subject to notice one nuisance con- nected with the coal trade, about whose abatement we have heard nothing, but which equally demands attention with those which are to be put down. We allude to the abuses of the Coal Ex- change. We have heard that the committee there exercise a con- trol which is most injurious to the public. They determine the number of vessels which shall be brought into the market, and then fix the price at which the coals, so introduced, shall be sold. When there is a considerable quantity of any description of coal on hand, the fresh arrivals are not declared until it is disposed of; and thus the consumers are robbed of the reduction which would be the consequence of a full supply. When the coals are at length declared, the vessels that bring .them have been detained for an unnecessary period on the River ; they perform fewer voyages in consequence during the year; and thus the coal-owner and the ship-owner suffer equally with the coal-burner. It has been sug- gested, as a correction of this grievance, that there should be two coal marts, one in the City, another in the West end of the town ; at which the cargoes of coals might be sold by auction, to the highest I idder. The new Hungerford Market holds out an excellent opportunity for such an additional mart ; and nothing could be easier than its instant establishment. A still more effectual method of securing to the public the full benefit of the new arrangements, would be the formation of a Collier Dock. Such an undertaking was projected some years ago, when commercial projects were more in fashion. The terms of it could not be satisfactorily ar- ranged. Perhaps what was found impracticable then might he of easy execution now. Some fears, we understand, are entertained, that when the meters are abolished, the consumers may be cheated —that the carters and others will steal the coals on their passage from the wharf to the cellar. To all these fears, the reply is simple. How do families avoid being plundered by grocers, and butchers, and bakeeS ? They make their purchases at .the shops of respectable dealers. This is the true and only safe guard either under the metage system or any other.
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