THE COAL TRADE OF NEW SOUTH.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 45, 13 September 1864, Page 3

THE COAL TRADE OF NEW SOUTH.

:7, t WALES. 7. ;."/,, -ff- ,'r. ' '"' (From the Melbourne Argus.)'- - The memorial of the shipowners of Melbourne to the New South Wales Government, which we published a few days ago, undoubtedly embodies the feeling of all who •ap interested, in the coal trade, whether as the J bwner_f Of' 'vessels directly engaged in the transport of coal from Newcastle to Melbourne, or of "steamships dependant upon the colliers for their supplies of fuel. Itß purport was of :'the simplest possible Ch)_^racter.77; It; merely prayed that the Government of the neighbouring colony, as the owner ofthe land on tho banks of the Hunter, would provide those additional facilities for the shipment of coal which the rapid-, ly growing trade' 'of the';p'ort« requires.f That the memorial should have been well received— as the telegraph informs, us it has been — was no more than was expected ; and scarce as money is in the Treasury. at.Sydney, we may hope to hear ere long that the 'Minister of Works has taken steps to remedy the complaint of the shipowners j whose vessels trade to Newcastle. There is something more, in this complaint, however, than appears on the surface. It is but a few years since the f coal trade ; of New South Wales became of importance. It was long doubted whether the Newcastle field contained coal of a quality fit for marine and other purposes, and it is only lately .that this fuel has entirely superseded Welsh and Northumbrian coal in the oversea packet-service. So excellent has the fuel been found, in fact, that no English coal now , comes to this market, excepting an occasional cargo for the service of the steamships in the Liverpool trade, and a few tons of the superior gas coal of Lanarksliire, imported for special purposes. As the steam trade ofthe colonies has been developed, the mines of Newcastle have been more and moro run upon ; and as an enormous amount of capital has been un ested recently in steamships, while gasworks have rapidly increased in number, and manufactories using 6team power have become numerous, a trade haß sprung up, tho magnitude of which is one of the most striking proofs at once of tho progress and o&the activity of the colonies. The memorial informs us that, while in 18(33, tho quantity of coals Melbourne received from Newcastle was .About 93,000 tons, the importation for the first six- months' of the present year has been at the rate of 160,000 tons 'pcr'annum, or very nearly double. 350 ships, valued at £100,000, are employed in the trade, and tho recent engagement of full -powered and auxiliary screw ships in this service has assisted materially to swell the importation, and keep pace with the demands of trade and commerce. To these figures we have to add tho number of Bhips which take Ncwcastlo on their way to other ports, to load cargoes of coal, and the demand for New Zealand and Queensland, which has followed tho influx of population and the formation of new settlements in these colonies. The coal trade of Newcastle, in short, has grown enormously, and tho mines, have kept pace with the demand. It is now proved beyond all cavil, that New South Wales possesses in the greatest abundance this indispensable article — 'this invaluable agent in the service of industry — to her great fields of which the mother country owes so much of her prosperity. But, while the mines have become moro and more productive, and the price of coal has not risen with the increased demand, the accidents of trade have positively lessened the shipping facilities of the port. Vessels have been compelled to lie for four five, and six weeks in the rivor, unable to obtain cargoes. The expenses these detentions have occasioned, have converted the profit expected from the voyage into a loss. A single instance vail suffice. The stemship Alford was chartered for two trips, from Newcastle to Melbourne and back, on a charier which, under ordinary circumstances, would have left a sufficient margin for profit. In earning her freight, however, so great wero the delays that the steamship lost £-00, and, of course, wis "instantly withdrawn from the trade and sent back to England for more profitable use there. These delays have not been unsatisfactory to tho easy-going but short-sighted people of Newcastle. Ships lying in the river for weeks must have supplies, and the traders of Newcastle have beeu content to reap a present profit by furnishing those supplies, without reckoning the injury the reputation of the port was receiving. Tho loss by these detentions to the owners and charterers of ships is reckoned at £70,000 a year, although, as memorialists inform us, " the charges of the port of Newcastle for purposes of revenue are higher than at any other coal port in the world. " The growth of the Newcastle trade is not altogether satisfactory from a Victorian point of view. The price of 160,900 tons of coal at the pit's moutn may be roughly set clown at nearly £80,000. We pay a second sum of £80,000 for carriage, which "would be saved if the field were nearer Melbourne, say within Victoria, and near the seaboard. If wo "had the value of the cargoos taken abroad by ships which sailed from Melbourne to load at Newcastle, we find that we loose at least £200,000 per annum by being dependant on tho Newcastles mines for the coal required by the trade of Melbourne. For this reason we may hope that, though the New South Wales Government may remove greivances of which the shipowners complain, the matter will not be allowed t. rest there. The facts taken together, supply very strong reasons why we should persevere in our efforts to discover new fields of coal in this colony, and to develop'e those that have been found. We cannot contemplate with any satisfaction the possibility of paying the minimum sum of £200,000 annually to New South Wales and the coal carriers for our supplies of fuel. As the colony progresses, more and more coal will be used, aud the burden will become still more serious than it is now. Much less than the sum annually lost by the detention of ships at Newcastle would go far, not merely to make the known coal-field at Capo Paterson accessible, by means of a short railway and a shipping-place, but to extend tho search "elsewhere by means of bores. A little of tho superfluous energy aud capital of the merchants and traders of Melbourne, turned into this direction, might be productive of a most important service to the colony, as well as a not despicable " consideration " for the counsel and peouniary assistance reudered ; and to this labour wo earnestly invite the capatilists of the colony.