The Daily Telegraph has had a series of reports, prepared
by its correspondents in the principal coal-producing districts of the United Kingdom, on the present weekly out-put of coal, the present and probable coming rate of wages, cost at pit mouth, rate of freight, state of iron trade in the district, and demand for coal arising therefrom. Our contemporary prints no less than twenty-six returns which it has received ; and comes, from the analysis, —somewhat hastily, we think,—to the conclusion that " before the end of our first week of severe frost household coal may touch a figure for which parallels must be sought during the most trying years of the Peninsular war." We do not think the Telegraph correspondents altogether warrant this conclusion. In the Northumberland, Durham, Staffordshire, and Welsh districts, for example, the drift of the reports is that the trade is brisk, and that wages are high, but that while there is no imme- diate prospect of a reduction in price, there are no particular indications of any serious advance. It is as well, however, that London householders, being forewarned, should seriously consider the best means of economising their coal store. It is not likely that prices will be lower than they are at present, and present prices are, at least, a reason for using a more economical fire- place,—gas mirrors or china stoves.
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