RETAIL PRICE OF COAL

Evening Post, Volume LXVIII, Issue 47, 24 August 1904, Page 2

RETAIL PRICE OF COAL

TO THE EDITOR. Sir — Glasgow ia not Wellington and Weltingiuii is not G.u.sgou, \\a know; but icius and giound K-nts m Uid.^ow me much highei iliun in Wellington, i>o is horKeiienh, and so is hortse-le-ed und btublnig accommodation. buuluh coal is raised from deeper pits, in whicli the beam.s aie smaller, necessitating greater uoiking expense Uiuu w requited in New Zuiluud pits. A royalty is paid to the owner of the t,uiluce on every tou rui&ed, a cuarge not paid on coal in New Zealand. At the pitheud bcotch coil baa to be screened and trucked on the railway, then uuled (not the cheaper sea carnage of our coal) into, wiy, Glasgow. It 18 again handed there by the dealers, bmng cuited by them to their yard*. It rams more in Gla&gow than heie, and being conveyed in open railway trucks and not in shut steamer hatches, it get* oftener Wet. In the dealers yards it la again *cieeiitid and put up in low I biigs and hawked round iho distant suburbs (not bent to order in one ton lots), being sold and delivered trom the carts and put right into the consumers' bunkers in their kitchen.?, up lour ii.ghls of stairs if need be, one bag at a time (you do not need lo lake more), for 6d per cwt. or 7d ior the beht household coal — i.e., 11s 8J per ton. Will borne WeLington coal dealer teli us how this is managed and adopt the Eastern here? If he does not know let him lind out. I find in Scotland the coal-owner grows enonnousiy rich out of his royalties, the coal-musters make big fortunes out of working the pits, Ihe.collieis Huein to have plenty of money to drink on Saturday lights and for sporting with on Sunday, the railway companies pay good dividends out of the freight charges, and, last of a.l, Iho coal-dealer .ives in comfort and makes a- competency besides. The Glasgow dealeis, too, deal in coal alone. They have no produce business to help to bear the cost of "charity donations" nnd other business charges. ' There is no question of short-weight in Glasgow, for every dealer is required by law to carry a set of scales visibly attached to every cart, and du'.y tested nnd stamped weights, aud to weigh each bag at thu door of and in sight of the buyer. We have no euch precaution to ensure our getting £»1L weight in this

eu\. Thu coal ih b.iggt'd we know not where, and it is quite possible for bugs to lupe weight on their way to the con« fa inner The Glasgow dwier gives "charity doiint.ont.," too, but he does so out of hia l>iolit;>, and does, not make his charity * Ijiir^-un on his cusfutuerb by adding the cost of Uie.se gifts to the price of the coal, ab a]jpe>ir& to be done here, judging by w but 1 lead in your columns fast night. 1 prefer to give my "charity donations" peisonally, and not through my coal merchant. Presuming that the handling and other dealers' co*ts (amounting to Konie 10a 6d per ton) us enumerated in your yest-er-duy's .ssue are correct, the only inference 1 can see is that the Glasgow dan.ers must get their coal for nothing, ho, but home one in New Zealand (and more, particularly in Wellington) is getting too much out of this necessary of life. The question is, if it is not the dealers, who is it?— l am, etc., OVE WHO SUFFJKKS. Wellington,. 23rd August.