for mastery. If they had succeeded, the property in the pits would virtually have been theirs. I am convinced that it was as much for their interests as the owners' to destroy and root out an association avowing such objects. It could have led to nothing but continual disputes and strikes. Wages with us have been quite as high as with you. Several of the Whitwick hewers have earned, for weeks together, 25s., besides house and firing. Of course they were the best men: the lowest would earn from 15s. to 18s., besides house and firing."-Another Leicester correspondent writes:-"Our miners, with their wives and children, have suffered severe privations; and, in the end, the women became much incensed against the fomenters of the strike. At one of the pit-offices, a collier, on resuming his work, exclaimed, 'I have lost £25 by this strike-and for nothing! Another, an Irishman, shouldered his pick, and added:-' And I £15.'" BOROUGH OF NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE. ORDER OF COUNCIL, FIXING THE DAYS FOR HOLDING THE FAIR FOR THE SALE OF WOOL, IN THE SAID BOROUGH. WHEREAS, by an Act of Parliament made and passed in the first year of the reign of her present Majesty Queen Victoria, intituled "An Act for regulating and improving the Borough of Newcastle-upon-Tyne," it is enacted, that it shall be lawful for the Council of the borough of New. castle-upon-Tyne for the time being, from time to time, to find, provide, and appropriate proper and convenient places within the said borough, for holding and keeping public Fairs and Markets for the Sale of Horses, Sheep, Swine, and other live Cattle, Corn and other Grain, Fish, Butcher's Meat, Poultry, Milk, Butter, Eggs, Vegetables, and other Viands and Provisions, Goods, Wares, and Merchandizes, and for holding public Hirings; and when in Council assembled, by Acts or Orders of Council, to order and direct such place or places, so from time to time found, provided, and appropriated as aforesaid, to be used as public Fairs and Market Places accordingly; and also when in Council assembled, by Acts or Orders of Council, to ascertain, set out, and appoint such particular part or parts of the streets, market-places, and other ways and places within the said borough, as they shall from time to time judge proper and convenient, as well for holding and keeping such Fairs and Markets as aforesaid, as also for holding public Hirings, and also to ascertain, set out, and appoint such particular place or places in the said Fairs and Markets, or any of them, for the erecting any Stalls or Standings for vending or exposing to sale Goods, Wares, and Merchandizes, and also to make and ordain such Orders, Rules, and Regulations as to them shall seem requisite and necessary for the ordering, directing, and regulating the said Fairs, Markets, and Hirings, and for fixing and ascertaining the days and hours when the same respectively shall be held, and also when the said respective Commodities shall respectively be begun to be offered and exposed to sale, and how long the same may continue exposed to sale, and also the mode and manner of carrying and conveying the said several Commodities to and from such Fairs and Markets. And whereas the Council of the said borough of Newcastleupon-Tyne, on the first day of May, 1844, in Council assembled, did order and direct as follows, that is to say:-"That the Market House lately erected in the said borough of Newcastleupon-Tyne, between the street called the Cloth-market on the East, and the street called the Groat-market on the West, and now used for holding and keeping the Market for the Sale of Corn and other Grain, and commonly called the Corn Market, shall be, and the same is hereby, on and after WEDNESDAY, the THIRD DAY of JULY, 1844, appropriated for holding and keeping a FAIR for the SALE of WOOL; and it is hereby further ordered and directed, that the said Fair shall be held on the FIRST WEDNESDAY in the month of JULY in every year; and that all persons attending the said Fair, and selling or offering Wool for sale, shall stand only in and occupy such part or parts of the said Market House as shall be appointed by the Market Keeper for the time being. And it is further ordered, that this Act or Order of Council shall be printed in legible characters, and affixed in some conspicuous place or places within the said borough, and also advertised two successive times in all the weekly newspapers published in the said borough." JOHN FIFE, Maycr. DESTRUCTIVE FIRE AT NAWORTH CASTLE. Ir falls to our lot to record an account of one of the most woeful and destructive fires that, perhaps, ever occurred in the county of Cumberland. About two o'clock on Saturday afternoon, May 18th, a violent fire broke out at Naworth, one of the seats of the Earl of Carlisle, when an express was immediately sent off to Carlisle for the fire engines and other assistance. The engines were instantly dispatched by the railway, and arrived at the scene of destruction about six o'clock. The pro gress and devastation of the fire in the mean time had proved so rapid and violent, that on the arrival of the engines the roofs of the principal building had fallen in, with the exception of the large tower, which the uncontrollable elements had not reached. The exertions of the firemen were directed to the preservation of this tower, which, after the most venturesome and arduous exertions, was at last with great difficulty saved. There are various rumours afloat as to the origin of the fire. Some say that it was from one of the chimney flues: others that it broke out in a room where there had been no fire for years. We understand that the valuable collection of old paintings, by the best masters, and also the ancient and valuable furniture, were nearly all destroyed. The smoking ruins of Naworth Castle are all now that remain of the baronial mansion of the great barony of Gilsland, situate in a verdant park, embosomed among lofty trees on the south margin of the river Irving. This specimen of a feudal residence consisted of two lofty towers, connected by other masses of masonry, inclosing a quadrangular court. Up to the time of its destruction by fire, on Saturday last, it was kept up in the style in which it appeared when occupied by Lord William Howard, the "Belted Will" of "The Lay of the Last Minstrel." Fortunate, however it is for the sake of antiquity, that the tower which is saved is that which contains the private apartments and furniture, his, library, oratory, and armoury, which "convey a strong impres sion of the solitary grandeur and inconvenient magnificence of the border feudal lord." The private apartments communicate by secret passages with the dungeons. Thus, whilst reading in his library, or engaged in his confessional, his eyes might still be directed towards his prisoners and their guards; so that it may be truly said of Naworth Castle," that suspicion was its architect and fear its founder." Large concourses of people from Carlisle, Brampton, and the surrounding districts hastened to the spot to lend every assistance in endeavouring to extinguish the fire, but without effect, except the preservation of "Belted Will's" tower. Much credit is due to the firemen, and more especially to Mr. Richardson, ironmonger, of Carlisle, and other tradesmen, whose exertions were of the most arduous and daring character. The fire was distinctly seen on the Botcherby-road at Carlisle, a distance of about ten miles; and being Saturday evening, thousands of people congregated there, to view the distant mighty flames, which illumined the whole canopy of the sky for miles around with a brightness and effect most wonderfully astonishing and sublime. THE EFFECTS OF THE COAL-DUTY. MR. HODGSON HINDE, on the 22d of February, and Mr. John Henry Vivian, on the 8th of March, obtained orders from the House of Commons for the production of certain Returns of the quantities of coal exported. This, as our readers know, was long before the announcement of the Budget. The Budget, however, appeared in due seasonbut the Coal- Returns did not. The truths to be revealed by the latter would have deranged the machinery of Mr. Chancellor Goulburn, and, therefore, their publication was, for a time, suppressed. On Monday last, however, being as nearly as possible three months after they had been required, they were placed in the hands of our legislators-by the kindness of one of whom we have been favoured with a copy. We can well afford to leave the trickery of Ministers in this matter to the contempt it deserves, but the facts which the Coal-Returns disclose are too serious to be passed slightly The official statement which has just appeared, added to information previously acquired from similar sources, has enabled us to prepare, and now to lay before our readers, a series of important tables. over. Our main object, at present, is to deal with the export duty, but the Returns enabling us to complete a table of the 77,989 20,608 6,526 105,123 672,596 387,907 162,819 1,223,322 750,585 408,515 169,345 1,328,445 102,134 18,571 7,239 125,944 764,147 348,315 173,569 1,286,031 866,281 364,886 180,808 1,411,975 77,029 23,271 9,374 109,674 738,405 282,720 215,219 1,236,344 815,434 305,991 224,593 1,346,018 The amount of revenue derived last year from the coalduty, is shown by the following table: "Combination," it will thus be seen, has done for Newcastle and Sunderland what the export-duty has done for the whole kingdom-it has reduced shipments, by encouraging the opening-out of collieries elsewhere. The shipments of Newcastle and Sunderland were considerably less in 1843 than in 1833; whilst, during the same period, the trade of Stockton-the theatre of those speculations of which "combination" was at once the parent and the patron-was nearly trebled. But we will say no more on this sore subject at present. Let us return to the delicious fruits which the export duty has produced. Tons. 4,008 1839 .............. 3,654 1840 3,964 1841 Tons. 1837 1838 1836.............. 5,191 1842 .......... 23,434 6,447 1843 ............ 42,698+ 9,693 The total exports of coal only, would therefore be : Tons. Tons. 630,440 1839.......... 1,432,254 611,601 1840 1,592,530 732,096 1841 1,831,780 1836.......** 911,677 1842.......... 1,976,070 A perusal of the above figures, we think, will convince the QUANTITIES of COAL EXPORTED, with the principal PORTS of SHIPMENT. the export-trade in coal. most sceptical of the injurious effect the duty has had upon to such foreign countries as are our best customers for coal. places of the United Kingdom, and the quantities exported the quantities of coal exported from the principal exporting These tables show, first, our exports of coal, and whence The remaining tables we have to give, are statements of exported: 1839. 1840. 1841. 1842. 1843. TONS. TONS. TONS. TONS. TONS. 13,035 7,115 12,842 51,936 56,994 25,684 33,089 28,926 38,754 31,085 24,890 19,278 15,079 9,842 10,406 103,582 109,546 119,949 116,761 81,636 22,616 24,318 23,478 19,106 17,664 543,846 583,041 737,456 846,849 786,542 369,882 442,095 408,191 364,455 305,626 131,217 168,731 180,265 222,881 28,423 29,344 37,849 47,594 42,626 33,029 39,339 61,123 64,693 69,533 7,138 10,870 15,749 18,195 17,227 15,955 27,312 29,517 23,168 17,647 3,175 10,767 20,723 25,072 28,773 10,505 14,551 19,224 19,126 34,507 1,107,163 1,304,016 1,432,254 1,592,530 1,831,780 33,114 26,130 tical labours, we beg to express a hope that our contempora Having now laid before the public the result of our statis ries will not hesitate to make use of it. It is perfectly at their service. If we can benefit the trade of the Tyne, the Wear, and the Tees, by contributing, not only information to our readers, but materials to such of our contemporaries as appear to have even less leisure than ourselves, we shall be amply rewarded in the belief that we have done our duty. That the coal-tax can be maintained for another year, after the serious evidence of decay in the exports which these Returns afford, we cannot for a moment believe. *The exports to British settlements are not included in this table. In the subsequent tables they are. It is worthy of remark, that of the 42,698 tons of cinders exported in 1843, 28,892 tons were sent from Newcastle, 1,712 tons from Stockton and 365 tons from Sunderland. THE COLLIERS' STRIKE. (From the Gateshead Observer, June 1, 1844.) THERE is a growing disposition among the pitmen to resume work. The following collieries (says the Courant) have been set to work with off-hand men, in addition to those noticed last week:-Wingate, St. Hilda's, Netherton, Cramlington, Radcliffe, Seghill, Russell's Wallsend, Springwell, Felling, Seaton Delaval, and East Holywell. Owing to a want of employment, caused by the strike, a number of sailors have, during the last week, applied to the relieving officer of Tynemouth for reliefmany of them in a most destitute state. Several were given employment in breaking stones, but did not continue long at the work. On Wednesday, a number of keelmen also applied, who, on being offered work in the collieries, declined. The new men who are employed at Thornley colliery (ob. serves the Durham Chronicle) continue to give satisfaction to their employers, and are earning very large wages. One man, last week, hewed, in one day, two scores of coals, and received upwards of 8s. for his day's work. Most of the others are earning about 5s. per day; while the old men are starving around them. At Sunderland a great stir was created on Tuesday and Wednesday, by the arrival of two lots of Irishmen (numbering together 137) from Newcastle, per Brandling Railway, on their way to Wingate, Thornley, and Haswell collieries. Four unionists were brought before the Sunderland magistrates on Tuesday, and remanded, on charges of assaulting "blacklegs" at Monkwearmouth colliery, and cutting and wounding with intent to do some grievous bodily harm. Mr. Martin Jude, of Newcastle, appeals to us for the insertion of a letter in reply to the statements of a contemporary: SIR,-A statement appears in the last publication of the Tyne Mercury, copied from the Durham Chronicle, purporting to call in question the inference or conclusion of the workmen of Pelton colliery, relative to the profits of the owners of the said colliery. In that article, the money paid to 170 men and boys, employed in bringing the coal to bank, amounted to £284 8s. 11d. for producing 3,234 tons of coal; the cost of which to the owners is 1s. 6d. per ton; leaving, according to the workmen's statements, a large surplus to pay other things with; which other things they do not specify, but the omission is kindly supplied by the above press-whose statements I intend to call in question. The statements of your contemporaries made it appear that 1s. per ton is necessary to pay the rent of the colliery, and 1s. per ton the wages and salaries of the viewers, overmen, and fitters. Now, Sir, looking at the statements as given above, and taking them to be correct, the statement will stand thus :-170 men and boys, to bring to the pit's mouth 3,234 tons of coal at 1s. 6d. per ton, the sum of £284 8s. 11d. per fortnight, at 2s. 10d. per day. The sum that the owner of the royalty receives for rent, is £161 14s. per fortnight, or £4,204 per annum. The viewer, overman, and fitter get a like sum. There are two of the terms which are called "other things;" and we heartily thank your contemporaries for the information. We bad an idea that about £300 a-year was what the viewer got, but here he is made the recipient of £1,050 per annum, or £40 per fortnight! No wonder the collieries don't pay. But, Sir, the other items are worse, but we have not time to combat them at present, but shall return to them at another time, should any necessity appear. To conclude. The case stands thus: 170 men and boys are paid... 4 men, viewer, overman, and fitters...... £284 8 11 161 14 0 161 14 0 Thus the men, or workmen, are in receipt of £111s. 6d. per fortnight, or 2s. 10d. per day; while the viewer can, according to the Chronicle, command as wages £40 per fortnight, or nearly £3 per day. Not bad wages! especially when the Chronicle makes it appear that Pelton The Marquis of Londonderry, in a communication to the Magistrates of this district, has expressed his expectation that, within a few days, one or two of his collieries will be at work. We trust the pitmen will not be so foolish as to allow their places to be supplied by strangers. It is easy to lose employment, but by no means so easy to obtain it. We received the following letter on Saturday last-too late for publication in the paper of that day : SIR,-You will much oblige the colliers of Wylam colliery, by inserting the following in your valuable paper. It is currently reported that there is a great number of men working at the above colliery; and in order to set all right in reference to the number working, we state that there are no more than seven (viz.), the two overmen (William More, sen., and William More, jun.), Hugh More, John Harle, Thomas Harle, William Turnbull, and James Turnbull. The latter struck six weeks, and commenced on the seventh. Signed on behalf of the Colliers of Wylam Colliery, Wylam, May 24, 1844. THOMAS PRINGLE. In reply to a statement copied into our last number, we have received the following letter: SIR,-You will greatly oblige the men of Waldridge colliery by inserting the following in your valuable paper, in reply to the statement of wages made in your last week's paper. It says that we made 16s 6d. per week. Now, according to a statement made by our masters to us, we earned 16s. 10d. per week for 48 weeks. Now that, multiplied and divided by 52 weeks, leaves us 15s. 6d. per week. Now of this, for powder, candles, firing, and keeping our work tools in repairs, 2s. per week; leaving us 13s. 6d. per week; somewhat less than 16s. 64d. per week. Now, in answer to the 3s. 2d. per day, there was good workmen. could not make more than 2s. per day in some places, since the last restriction. THE MEN OF WALDRIDGE COLLIERY. Waldridge Colliery, May 27, 1844. From the Team colliery, also, we have received a communication. It is in the following terms: DEAR SIR-In your last appeared an erroneous statement of the average earnings of the miners of Team colliery. Now, in order to do justice to the said miners, we hope you will insert the following. We are sorry to say we are not in possession of our earnings throughout the whole year, but we are in possession of them since the 18th of November: (and be it known that this colliery has not been restricted, but with the exception of one fortnight). We have taken the average earnings of two of the ablest men upon the colliery, and we find them to be, since that time, 13s. 83d. per week. Out of this we have bad to find powder, candles, picks, and other tools, amounting to upwards of 1s. 6d. per week, leaving not more than 12s. 23d. per week; all which we are ready to prove at any time. Signed on behalf of the Men at Team Colliery, R. WOODHOUSE, President. Gateshead Low Fell, May 28. WILLIAM WINDER, Secretary. William Henderson, alias Errington, Ralph Hedley, Thomas Ward, Robert Punshon, Thomas Gilchrist, and Cuthbert Richardson, pitmen, were on Saturday brought before the Mayor and other Magistrates of the borough of Gateshead, and committed for trial for riotously obstructing (and Henderson for throwing stones), whilst the men now at work at the King Pit, at Wrekenton, in this borough, were returning to their homes on Wednesday week. The Bench afterwards accepted bail for their appearance at the sessions.-Edward Dawson, Samuel Russell, and Andrew Mather, were bound over to keep the peace for two months, and to appear when called upon, to answer a charge of joining in a riot at Sheriff Hill colliery, on Wednesday week, during which Michael Menham, a pitman at present at work there, was violently assaulted. The Marquis of Londonderry's intention to visit his collieries having become generally known, a very large number of his late pitmen, belonging to Pittington, Rainton, and Pensher, were assembled to meet him, on Tuesday last, upon his arrival at the colliery-office at Pensher, for the purpose of stating their alleged grievances. His lordship gave ample opportunity for every one to express his sentiments, and listened with great attention to all that was advanced. The great objection on the part of the men appeared to be to the proposed mode of hiring; but upon their asserting that many individuals had been capriciously discharged, they were asked to name cases; and even among the men who had been unbound, of whom the proportion is considerable, they failed to produce any. His lordship addressed them at considerable length, and said that neither from the nature of their claims, nor the state of the trade, could any concessions whatever be made by him; and that, however painful to his feelings it might be, to sever a connection of such long standing, a perseverance in their present conduct would of necessity, in a very brief period, lead to that result; and that if they did not resume the workings of the collieries, they must give place to those who would; any opposition to which, on their part, would be hopeless, as the supremacy of the law would be asserted and maintained. The men deported themselves towards his lordship with great respect and propriety.-Correspondent. The Tyne Mercury of Tuesday states:-" Upwards of forty men have left the Pitmen's Union at South Hetton and Murton collieries, and twenty-one men have done the same at Oakwellgate colliery. At the latter colliery, during the last fortnight, no less a sum than £3 18s. 5d. has been earned by individual workmen, at the prices which the pitmen represent as being not sufficiently remunerative for their labour!" "The pitmen," observes the Newcastle Advertiser, "have not yet returned to their work; and the colliery-owners are gradually obtaining fresh men to supply their places. We are informed that certain disclosures, implicating the conduct of the Executive, are about to be made, the effect of which will probably be to break up the union, or, at all events, to give those a good excuse for withdrawing from its ranks (and we believe the number is not small) who are heartily sick and tired of the strike." THE COLLIERS:-GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE. THE receipt of some communications on the grievances of the coal-pitmen of the North of England, to which we formerly directed attention, and of a pamphlet (published by Williams, Bishopwearmouth,) entitled The Question Answered, What do the Pitmen want? induces us to recur, shortly, to the subject, and to make some general statements suggested by the turn of events. We are informed that the pitmen complain of the dangers to life, and the inevitable injury to health, entailed on them by their employment. In that respect we know that they do not complain without reason. No doubt a summary application to parliament, if it should listen to the proposal, to have increased means of comfort given by force of law, would be the readiest way of silencing this grievance; but in the long run it would not prove the best, and therefore we are sorry to see the pitmen looking hopefully to it. "We look to legislation," says the author of What do the Pitmen want? "to enforce, if necessary, the application of means to ensure the safety of our lives, and remove some of the sources of disease to which we are exposed." And, accordingly, we find a petition to parliament has been got up we believe in South Shields-having this very object in view. The matter of the petition is so good, that we have pleasure in subjoining it. The prayer of it, it is not consistent with sound principle, we think, to grant; and this we shall endeavour to show. Governments, however powerful for mischief, (and that they are so, experience shows us,) are not by any means so able to do good; and if these pitmen fail in their present contest with their employers, having a just cause, (which we are not in a condition to affirm absolutely as to all the particulars, and are still less in a condition to deny,) such a failure ought to make them aware that the economical government of the country is on erroneous principles, but it should by no means set them to applying to parliament to aid them in forcibly developing their views. It is sufficiently annoying, we admit, for those who are at the bottom of the social scale, to find almost every class above them favoured by a protection to them denied. We have endeavoured to show that that protection, in the various ways in which it exhibits itself, is a delusive protection to those over whom it is thrown; though to those over whom it is not thrown, there can be no doubt of its great injuriousness. But protection cannot well be made to reach all classes equally; and if it could, the result would be precisely the same as if it were afforded to none, except that an additional stimulus to private industry and exertion would be withdrawn. It savours of the spirit of despotism to call in the aid of the civil power at every turn; and in point of fact it may be admitted, that under The petition has already appeared in our columns. It asserts the insufficiency of coal-mine ventilation, and especially deprecates the working of mines" with only a single brattice pit."-ED. G. O. despotic governments the poorer classes are often protected from the tyranny of those immediately above them, in a way that the same class is not in this (only partially) free country of ours. But that is a reason why we should have more freedom: not any, why we should have more laws. The centralization of power is a deadly foe to liberty; and therefore we look with extreme jealousy on all these attempts to regulate labour, whether in mines, factories, or elswhere. No doubt there are evils to be corrected; but by their displacement in this way greater evils issue. The right of men to do with their own, in the legitimate meaning of that term, should never be destroyed. The pitmen, therefore, do not act wisely in calling for the interference of government to help them through their difficulties. They had an undoubted right to strike work, in the hope of obtaining more wages and more comfort; and the event, if they should obtain those advantages, show that they have acted wisely in doing as they have done. If, however, the event should turn out the other way-if they should fail to procure any or many of the advantages which they now seek and anticipate -that event will show that they have not rightly calculated their own strength-that they have misjudged the value of their labour in the circumstances in which they are placed-and they must return to work without procuring the advantages which they thought they would. To remain long from work will be foolish. If they cannot obtain what they want soon, they will not be able to obtain it for long. But supposing the latter event to take place, do we advise them to remain in quiet contentedness with their lot for ever after? We do no such thing. We counsel them, certainly, not to look to any despotic exercise of power for their relief. Let them rather look to themselves. Let them claim the rights of labour, since they perform the duties of the laborious. Free trade, cheap government, equal laws, and no protection to other or any classes-these are the great resources to which they must look for being permanently bettered.-Economist. NEWCASTLE AND DARLINGTON RAILWAY.-Yesterday (Friday), the Directors, with T. E. Harrison, Esq., the engineer of the line, and other gentlemen, made an experimental trip from York to Newcastle, passing along that portion of the line not yet opened to the public, (viz., from Darlington to the Belmont station). The travellers arrived at Gateshead in the afternoon, in a train drawn by the Cleveland engine. The carriages were much admired, being far superior to any that had previously visited our ancient borough. There can now, of course, be no doubt of the more formal "opening" of the railway on the 18th of June-the anniversary of Wellington's victory at Waterloo. That the Directors have in some degree "stolen a march" upon "The Duke," by making an anticipatory trip on the 24th of May, will be readily pardoned by His Grace; for the Great Captain is too loyal to take offence at the preference given to the birthday of his Royal Mistress, Queen Victoria! The railway-historian may now make a note of the "great fact," that the first train which reached the Tyne by an uninterrupted railway-communication from the Thames, arrived on the auspicious day on which Her Majesty entered upon the twenty-sixth year of her age.-We have only to add, in reference to our paragraph of last week, that arrangements are now in progress to secure the more northern shareholders a trip to Darlington and back,on the "opening day." NEWCASTLE AND DARLINGTON RAILWAY. This line of railway, as we have before stated, will be opened throughout on the 18th of June; after which day, there will be an uninterrupted railway-communication from London to New. castle and Carlisle. The trip from the Metropolis of the South to the Metropolis of the North will then be performed in twelve hours and a half and to Carlisle, in fifteen hours! The time occupied in travelling from London to Edinburgh will be twenty-three hours. Trains will then Leave London at 6 A.M. and arrive in Newcastle at 8 P.M. 9 P.M. 11 P.M. about 11 A.M. The last two trains will each bring a mail.-Trains for London will leave Newcastle at 6 and 9 o'clock in the morning, and at 2 in the afternoon; and respectively reach the metropolis at 8 and at three-quarters past 9 in the evening, and at half-past 5 in the morning. In addition to these up and down trains between |