(_For the Mirror_.)
The bailiffs of Bridgnorth are chosen out of the twenty-four aldermen
upon St. Matthew's Day in the following manner:--The court having met,
the names of twelve aldermen being separately written on small pieces of
paper, are closely rolled up by the town clerk, and thrown into a purse,
which is shaken by the two chamberlains standing upon the chequer, (a
large table in the middle of the court,) and held open to the bailiffs,
when each, according to seniority, takes out a roll. By this means the
callers are decided, who, mounting the chequer, alternately call the
jury of fourteen out of the burgesses present. They are then sworn
neither to eat nor drink till they, or twelve of them, have chosen two
fit persons, who have not been bailiffs for three years before, to serve
that office for the ensuing year; they are locked up till they have
agreed, which sometimes occasions long fastings. In 1739, the jury
fasted seventy hours. The persons chosen are sworn into office on
Michaelmas Day.--W. H.
* * * * *
ON COALS, AND THE PERIOD WHEN THE COAL MINES IN ENGLAND WILL BE
EXHAUSTED.
(_From Bakewell's Introduction to Geology, 3rd Edition, 1828_.)
Coal was known, and partially used, at a very early period of our
history. I was informed by the late Marquis of Hastings, that stone
hammers and stone tools were found in some of the old workings in his
mines at Ashby Wolds; and his lordship informed me also, that similar
stone tools had been discovered in the old workings in the coal-mines in
the north of Ireland. Hence we may infer, that these coal-mines were
worked at a very remote period, when the use of metallic tools was not
general. The burning of coal was prohibited in London in the year 1308,
by the royal proclamation of Edward I. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth,
the burning of coal was again prohibited in London during the sitting of
parliament, lest the health of the knights of the shire should suffer
injury during their abode in the metropolis. In the year 1643, the use
of coal had become so general, and the price being then very high, many
of the poor are said to have perished for want of fuel. At the present
day, when the consumption of coal, in our iron-furnaces and
manufactories and for domestic use, is immense, we cannot but regard the
exhaustion of our coal-beds as involving the destruction of a great
portion of our private comfort and national prosperity. Nor is the
period very remote when the coal districts, which at present supply the
metropolis with fuel, will cease to yield any more. The annual quantity
of coal shipped in the rivers Tyne and Wear, according to Mr. Bailey,
exceeded three million tons. A cubic yard of coals weighs nearly one
ton; and the number of tons contained in a bed of coal one square mile
in extent, and one yard in thickness, is about four millions. The number
and extent of all the principal coal-beds in Northumberland and Durham
is known; and from these data it has been calculated that the coal in
these counties will last 360 years. Mr. Bailey, in his Survey of Durham,
states, that one-third of the coal being already got, the coal districts
will be exhausted in 200 years. It is probable that many beds of
inferior coal, which are now neglected, may in future be worked; but the
consumption of coal being greatly increased since Mr. Bailey published
his Survey of Durham, we may admit his calculation to be an
approximation to the truth, and that the coal of Northumberland and
Durham will be exhausted in a period not greatly exceeding 200 years.
Dr. Thomson, in the Annals of Philosophy, has calculated that the coal
of these districts, at the present rate of consumption, will last 1,000
years! but his calculations are founded on data manifestly erroneous,
and at variance with his own statements; for he assumes the annual
consumption of coal to be only two million eight hundred thousand tons,
and the waste to be one-third more,--making three million seven hundred
thousand tons, equal to as many square yards; whereas he has just before
informed us, that two million chaldrons of coal, of two tons and a
quarter each chaldron, are exported, making four million five hundred
thousand tons, beside inland consumption, and waste in the working[1].
According to Mr. Winch, three million five hundred thousand tons of coal
are consumed annually from these districts; to which if we add the waste
of small coal at the pit's mouth, and the waste in the mines, it will
make the total yearly destruction of coal nearly double the quantity
assigned by Dr. Thomson. Dr. Thomson has also greatly overrated the
quantity of the coal in these districts, as he has calculated the extent
of the principal beds from that of the lowest, which is erroneous; for
many of the principal beds crop out, before they reach the western
termination of the coal-fields. With due allowance for these errors, and
for the quantity of coal already worked out, (which, according to Mr.
Bailey, is about one-third,) the 1,000 years of Dr. Thomson will not
greatly exceed the period assigned by Mr. Bailey for the complete
exhaustion of coal in these counties, and may be stated at three hundred
and fifty years.
[1] The waste of coal at the pit's mouth may be stated at one-sixth
of the quantity sold, and that left in the mines at one-third.
Mr. Holmes, in his Treatise on Coal Mines, states the waste of
small coal at the pit's mouth to be one-fourth of the whole.
It cannot be deemed uninteresting to inquire what are the repositories
of coal that can supply the metropolis and the southern counties, when
no more can be obtained from the Tyne and the Wear. The only coal-fields
of any extent on the eastern side of England, between London and Durham,
are those of Derbyshire and those in the west riding of Yorkshire. The
Derbyshire coal-field is not of sufficient magnitude to supply, for any
long period, more than is required for home consumption, and that of the
adjacent counties. There are many valuable beds of coal in the western
part of the west riding of Yorkshire which are yet unwrought; but the
time is not very distant when they must be put in requisition, to supply
the vast demand of that populous manufacturing county, which at present
consumes nearly all the produce of its own coal mines. In the midland
counties, Staffordshire possesses the nearest coal districts to the
metropolis, of any great extent; but such is the immense daily
consumption of coal in the iron-furnaces and founderies, that it is
generally believed this will be the first of our own coal-fields that
will be exhausted. The thirty-feet bed of coal in the Dudley coal-field
is of limited extent; and in the present mode of working it, more than
two-thirds of the coal is wasted and left in the mine.
If we look to Whitehaven or Lancashire, or to any of the minor
coal-fields in the west of England, we can derive little hope of their
being able to supply London and the southern counties with coal, after
the import of coal fails from Northumberland and Durham. We may thus
anticipate a period not very remote, when all the English mines of coal
and ironstone will be exhausted; and were we disposed to indulge in
gloomy forebodings, like the ingenious authoress of the "Last Man," we
might draw a melancholy picture of our starving and declining
population, and describe some manufacturing patriarch, like the late
venerable Richard Reynolds, travelling to see the last expiring English
furnace, before he emigrated to distant regions.[1]
[1] The late Richard Reynolds, Esq., of Bristol, so distinguished
for his unbounded benevolence, was the original proprietor of
the great iron-works in Colebrook Dale, Shropshire. Owing, I
believe, partly to the exhaustion of the best workable beds of
coal and ironstone, and partly to the superior advantages
possessed by the iron-founders in South Wales, the works at
Colebrook Dale were finally relinquished, a short time before
the death of Mr. Reynolds. With a natural attachment to the
scenes where he had passed his early years, and to the pursuits
by which he had honourably acquired his great wealth, he
travelled from Bristol into Shropshire, to be present when the
last of his furnaces was extinguished, in a valley where they
had been continually burning for more than half a century.
Fortunately, however, we have in South Wales, adjoining the Bristol
Channel, an almost exhaustless supply of coal and ironstone, which are
yet nearly unwrought. It has been stated, that this coal-field extends
over about twelve hundred square miles, and that there are twenty-three
beds of workable coal, the total average thickness of which is
ninety-five feet, and the quantity contained in each acre is 100,000
tons, or 65,000,000 tons per square mile. If from this we deduct one
half for waste and for the minor extent of the upper beds, we shall have
a clear supply of coal, equal to 32,000,000 tons per square mile. Now if
we admit that the five million tons of coal from the Northumberland and
Durham mines is equal to nearly one-third of the total consumption of
coals in England, each square mile of the Welsh coal-field would yield
coal for two years' consumption; and as there are from one thousand to
twelve hundred square miles in this coal-field, it would supply England
with fuel for two thousand years, after all our English coal-mines are
worked out.
It is true, that a considerable part of the coal in South Wales is of an
inferior quality, and is not at present burned for domestic use; but in
proportion as coal becomes scarce, improved methods of burning it will
assuredly be discovered, to prevent any sulphureous fumes from entering
apartments, and also to economize the consumption of fuel in all our
manufacturing processes.
* * * * *