t the Southern and Western Counties, and in the
Metropolis.

The charge of conveyance of coals by Railway from South Staffordshire or
Derbyshire to London will not exceed 11_s._ or 12_s._ per ton, and it has
been stated to us, that, after payment of all charges, good house coals
could be sold here, with a profit, at prices not exceeding 20_s._ per
ton.

During the recent frost and easterly winds the price of coals in London
has been as high as 40_s._ per ton; and during the winter the price
frequently exceeds 30_s._ for coals of ordinary quality. When we
consider how materially the comfort of all classes, more especially of
those in humble circumstances, depends on a regular supply of cheap coal,
and also how much the employment of industry is affected by the same
circumstances, and when we bear in mind that a saving of every shilling
per ton on the average consumption of the Metropolis is equivalent to an
annual saving to its inhabitants of 150,000_l._, it is impossible not to
appreciate the importance of insuring low rates of charge upon the
principal Railways which are in connexion with the great inland coal
fields.

In other respects also we think that the introduction of a system of
moderate charges upon the London and Birmingham and its tributary
Railways, will be calculated to afford great advantage to important
commercial interests, and to the community at large, while we see every
reason to hope that it will not be unproductive of benefit to the Company
itself. We must remember, however, that this latter point is, to a
certain extent, experimental, and that it is highly important to obtain
voluntarily from the Company guarantees of a permanent character.

It must not be forgotten that, without some arrangement of this sort, the
Company, if so disposed, has a perfect legal right to resort to charges
so high as greatly to inconvenience the Public, and that, under an
altered state of things, with a depressed money-market, and all fear of
immediate competition removed, it is by no means certain that it might
not find it for its interest to do so.

We have also the authority of the Select Committee of last Session for
attaching great importance to the prospective guarantee, for the future,
in the shape of options of revision or purchase, which are now
voluntarily offered by one of the first Railway Companies in the kingdom,
whose line could not be, otherwise than by their own consent, subjected
to the operat