The annual consumption of coal in Great Britain is reckoned to be not
less than 80,000,000 tons. The amount raised in 1873 amounted to
127,000,000 tons, and of this was imported into London alone 7,883,138
tons--4,000,000 tons, or 15 per cent. of the total out-put of the
country, being sent from Durham alone. The cost of the Wallsend coal on
board the ship may be stated at 10s. 6d. per ton; to this must be added
the charge at coal-market of 2s. 8d., freight say 5s. 9d., profit 7s.
6d., so that a ton of coal of this kind will cost in your cellar in
London the sum of £1, 6s. 5d.

I think it is now time to conclude this most interesting subject, for
though I have by no means exhausted it, yet I fear I have said as much
as a lecture will warrant. The subject shows us how mindful a kind
Providence has been of man, and to this nation in particular, for to our
coal we in a measure owe much of our greatness. So while we admire the
geology of our globe, let us not forget who made it and all that it
contains, and who, when He had finished the work, pronounced it all very
good. Let us so strive to live, that though we may be called away
suddenly, as 199 of our fellow-creatures were called by what is termed a
mining accident, we may be ready to meet Him who not only made us, but
made the coal, and who, when man, at first made perfect, fell away, was
pleased to send a Saviour to redeem us and bring us to that light which
fadeth not away.




_SCIENCE APPLIED TO ART_.