THli PRICE OF COAL. (To THE EDITOR or THE "
SPECTATOR.") SIR,—The Government has abolished the subsidy on coal to tits general public, but the subsidy on the coal used by the collier in his-own house still continues. Probably ninety,-five per cent. of the British public are unaware. of the_ fact +hat a collier. gets his coal for nothing or a nominal 5s. or 6s. a ton. The collier occupies a privileged position, and if the amount of his wages increases the price of coal 'to the public it matters nothing to him. If some Member of Parliament were to bring- in .a Bill. making it a penal offence for any colliery to supply coal to its workmen at a cheaper rate than to the outside con- sumer it would be easily passed; and would be regarded as. a perfectly just Act. The collier would then learn, as other consumers do, that you cannot have cheap coal and dear wages. All subsidies- ought to go, including- the subsidy- on houses. If the Government would only say, " You- cannot have cheap houses- with dear wages; we are not- in the building trade; if you want a house buy one or build one;"-we should know where we were, and the housing difficulty would be solved quicker that way than by any other. There is constantly a call for higher education, but what we want is that people should be taught that 2 + 2 st. 4, and that simple economic laws canont
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