THE LACK OF COAL.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.'1
Sia,—The announcements of the Coal Mines Department of the Board of Trade conform to the as-it-was-told-in-the-nursery style deemed fitting by our bureaucracies for their intimations to the public. That enclosed makes the bold claim that the taking of seventy-five thousand coal miners for the Army was largely the cause of our present splendid victories in France, and that these miners saved the situation. Think of it! Seventy-five thousand recruits made all the difference, and yet, according to Mr. De Valera, there are at least half-a-million able-bodied shirkers in Ireland. Though we must send our miners away, and in conse- quence stint ourselves of coal as never before, we must still supply it to the Irish. In view of this, a recent advertisement of a furnished house in Mayo to let for the winter, with " unlimited firing free," makes rather exasperating reading. Although the fuel offered might turn out to be peat or wood, yet the advertise- ment calls attenion to the comfort to be enjoyed in a pampered country which has been persistently disgracing itself and shocking all decent humanity.—I am, Sir, &c., X.
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