The coal-miners of the North, having obtained an increase from
the masters of ten per cent. on their wages, have decided, it is stated, to decrease out-put. Their Unions intend to restrict work to five days a week, and the working-day to eight hours, or forty hours in all. The object is to raise the price of coal by, say, ten per cent., and then obtain another rise for themselves. We -doubt if they will succeed, as the contracts interfere, and as the cost of the coal itself is only one element in its price. But suppose they succeed completely P They will reduce waste, not raise price. It is perfectly well known that if it were only worth while to rebuild furnaces and fire-places, the consumption of coal could be reduced at least one-third. During the coal &mine of a few years since, Sir John Hawkshaw is reported to have said that "coal would never be cheap in England till it was £4 a ton ;" and whether he said it or not, the epigram is true. It is not only possible to build a German stove which will warm a large hall on a consumption of six pounds of coal a day, but it has been done. The men may be quite right in seeking higher wages, for theirs is a terrible form of labour ; but -they will not find it pay to shut up open fire-places. We cannot do without coal, but we can use hundredweights, for tons.
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