THE COAL RING.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1713, 30 January 1874, Page 2

THE COAL RING.

An "Anti-Coal Ring Association " was formed at a conference of representative v working men, held at the Crown lon, Clerken well Green, last September. On Tuesday night a meeting of the society was held at the; same place. Mr James Roberts presided, and said that the ring they had to contend against was composed of the coa.l owners, the coal venders; and the railway companies. They r could not buy the coals at the pit's mouth- just 1 because the railway companies 1 would not bring them to London for private buyers. [ The' companies devoted 1 a large ; part of ■, their premises in London to the accommodation of the coal owners ; they were so much in the ring that they dared not offend their large cumfcomers among the owners. So it could easilyjbe seen what an enormous amount of, capital* was thus a rrayed agains t the poor man. The remedies he would -propose were^-first, the compelling u'nworked collieries to T be utilised;, secondly, the 'discovery of coal mines in Government lands ; thirdlyj limiting the price on- coals ; and \ fourthly, the placing upon coal , an export ' duty of 10a a ton. In regard to 'the last proposal, he said, with coals at 43s per ton, with Paris lamps-lighted with English coal, with England, in;fact, exporting : sixteen millions of tons of coal yearly, and ■* with the ' French about to place export duties on some of their own productions, it was surely time for England to look out * for itself. Mr O'Leary, lately from the / soii th i and south-west > of: Ireland, where I he saw bogs?of peat 20ft deep, thought that peat might be largely; utilised as fuel. It was sold there at 63 per load, consisting of. about a ton, and a quarter. It could be ; brought to London and sold at a far less cost than th*j : coal of the monopolists. A vote, of confidence in the association was moved by Mr Jeremiah, seconded by Mr * Price of America, who; siidtnatjboals in New York were Tieing sold at 24$ fa ton, which would ibe their ; normal price here but for the conspiracy of coal owners and others. After some other speeches, the thoti6 i n waV Carried unanimously. "'

Eight hundred niiUipa oys^ers.^re an,nually eaten in, L^nclbValone. '