yet elapsed before the number of hands became inadequate to meet the required demand, had not the miners precipitated the event by restricting the hours of work. Hitherto the men in this district have worked eleven days a fortnight, but it seems doubtful whether more than ten can now be worked consistently with the limitations of the recent Coal Mines Act in regard to the labour of the boys. The full hours per fortnight will, therefore, at the most be sixty-six, or thirtythree hours per week of labour at the face of the coal; but as it is only the steadiest men that work full time, the average time will of course be considerably below the limit. I do not suppose that the average output per man has fallen off proportionately to the reduction of hours. The men work hard, even harder than formerly, while at their post; but it is impossible that so great a reduction of working time can have taken place without so lessening the output per head as to neutralize in a great degree the increase of production due to the numerical growth of the mining population. Under these two conditions of increasing consumption and restricted labour we have reached a point at which the demand has overtaken the supply. The situation is a grave one, and the public has not yet fully realized how grave it is. Taking the present consumption at 110 millions of tons (exclusive of exportation), and estimating the extra price to consumers at 8s. a ton over all, the annual loss to the community from the additional cost of fuel amounts to forty-four millions sterling. Had a Government-tax of forty-four millions been levied upon coal, in addition to existing taxation, the effect would have been regarded as utterly ruinous, not only in regard to its prodigious amount, but on account of its repressive effect upon every kind of production. Yet it is a fact that we are now paying the equivalent of such a tax, with this unfavourable difference, that the money does not go into the coffers of the nation. Whether it chiefly goes to coal-owners or coal-miners is a question which I need not discuss; but I may observe that the restrictive action of the men has benefited their employers as well as themselves, and that the public are the only sufferers. Coal-owners have long been aware that limitation of quantity was the only effectual mode of raising prices, but they have never been able by their own action to maintain a restricted production. At last their workmen have done it for them, and we see the result. It is vain to appeal for relief either to coal-owners or coal-workers. Self-interest is the ruling principle of trade. Speaking, then, as one of the public, and not as a coal-owner, I say we must strive to economize the use of coal; speaking as president of an institution of mining and mechanical engineers, I say we must endeavour to make up for the deficiency of human labour by a more extended use of machine labour. The consumption of coal takes place under three great divisions, each absorbing about one-third of the whole produce :First, domestic consumption; second, steam-engine consumption; and third, iron-making and other manufacturing processes. In the first two divisions the waste is simply shameful; in the third it is

not so great, but still considerable, though in some processes, and especially in the smelting of iron, economy of fuel has been so diligently pursued that there remains but little apparent scope for further saving. It is impossible to conceive any system of heating a dwelling more wasteful than that of sinking the fire-place into a wall directly beneath the chimney, which carries off the products of combustion. Nothing can be clearer than the advantage to be gained by merely advancing the fire-place a little into the room, and constructing it with proper heating surfaces, as in the 'Gillstove,' and in many other stoves acting on the same principle. There is no occasion to shut out the fire from view. Neither is there any difficulty about ventilation, since fresh air can be easily introduced from the exterior by a pipe delivering its supply against the heated plates, so as to temper the air before it enters the room. By this simple and unobjectionable departure from the conventional fire-place, the quantity of coal required to produce a given heating effect might easily be reduced to one-half, and still greater economy would be effected by the use of hot water apparatus, which, however, has the objection of being too costly in first outlay to admit of very general application. For cooking purposes, also, the consumption of coal is in most houses equally extravagant, and, I may add, equally inexcusable, since the means of prevention are attainable by the adoption of known methods and appliances for concentrating the heat upon the work to be done. It is not alone in coal-mines that the extension of machinery is called for. The dearth of labour is being felt in every department of industry, and we have to fear on the one hand a ruinous collapse of trade, or on the other a continued rise in the price of all productions, threatening to neutralize the advantage of high wages, and impoverish persons dependent on fixed incomes. The only hope that I see of escaping one or other of these alternatives is by increasing the use of machinery and diminishing the direct employment of men."

Though prices remained, however, almost at a famine-standard, things became quiet as the year advanced; and after this beginning there was a notable absence of remarkable strikes in comparison with the previous agitated years.

In other respects the year 1873 throughout has been singularly uneventful as far as England is concerned. Allowing for a ministerial crisis at home, and a war abroad with some savages of the Gold Coast, the first public event of the year which excited attention in England was the death of the Emperor Napoleon at Chiselhurst, the circumstances of which we elsewhere record. The general impression created throughout the country was reflected in the long articles and reports which for some days appeared in all our newspapers, in singular contrast to the silence of France, where the news had no perceptible effect whatever. And indeed, allowing for the momentary impression produced upon us among whom the exile died, and the spontaneous exhibition of feeling at his funeral, very slight at all events was the sensation created really anywhere by the

passing away of the most prominent figure in the European history of the last twenty years. But there was genuine feeling displayed, both by English and French, at the lying-in-state of the Emperor, and at the funeral service. Apart from individual inclination, there was nothing whatever to make scenes great State ceremonials. Yet such they became by the gathering of representatives of all classes -French and English. The Prince of Wales, the Duke of Edinburgh, and Prince Christian, joined the Princes of the House of Bonaparte in paying, by their presence at Chiselhurst, respect to the memory of the Emperor and sympathy with the Empress and Prince Imperial; though this had of course no political significance, any more than the fervent expressions of sympathy sent to the royal mourners by the Queen and from the various Courts of Europe. Politically, it seemed as if the French Empire had, even for Imperialists, died with the Emperor.

Placid and undemonstrative discontent with the Government appeared to continue to be the ruling political feeling, although displaying itself in a succession of Conservative victories at the elections, which this year were unusually frequent. That the hostility of the publicans had much to do with this can scarcely be doubted; but neither, on the other hand, can it be doubted that the Government had really succeeded, in spite of their large majority in the House, in securing a rare amount of unpopularity. The return of a Conservative at Liverpool (where Mr. Torr was elected by a majority of 1912 votes over his Liberal opponent, Mr. Caine), almost on the day of the opening of Parliament, was ominous of the difficulties that were soon to arise out of Mr. Gladston's third Irish measure-the reform of Irish education.

The fifth session of the existing Parliament was opened by Royal Commission on Thursday, the 6th of February. The Queen's Speech ran as follows:

"My Lords and Gentlemen,—

"I greet you cordially on your reassembling for the discharge of your momentous duties.

"I have the satisfaction of maintaining relations of friendship with Foreign Powers throughout the world.

"You were informed, when I last addressed you, that steps had been taken to prepare the way for dealing more effectually with the Slave-Trade on the East Coast of Africa. I have now despatched an Envoy to Zanzibar, furnished with such instructions as appear to me best adapted for the attainment of the object in view. He has recently reached the place of his destination, and has entered into communication with the Sultan.

"My ally the German Emperor, who had undertaken to pronounce judgment as Arbiter on the line of Water-boundary so long in dispute under the terms of the Treaty of 1846, has decided, in conformity with the contention of the Government of the United States, that the Haro Channel presents the line most in accordance with the true interpretation of that Treaty.

"I have thought it the course most befitting the spirit of international friendship and the dignity of the country to give immediate execution to the award by withdrawing promptly from my partial occupation of the island of San Juan.

"The proceedings before the Tribunal of Arbitration at Geneva, which I was enabled to prosecute in consequence of the exclusion of the Indirect Claims preferred on behalf of the Government of the United States, terminated in an award which in part established and in part repelled the claims allowed to be relevant. You will in due course be asked to provide for the payment of the sum coming due to the United States under this award.

"My acknowledgments are due to the German Emperor, and likewise to the Tribunal at Geneva, for the pains and care bestowed by them on the peaceful adjustment of controversies such as could not but impede the full prevalence of national good-will in a case where it was especially to be cherished.

"In further prosecution of a well-understood and established policy, I have concluded a Treaty for the Extradition of Criminals with my ally the King of the Belgians.

"The Government of France has, during the recess, renewed its communications with my Government for the purpose of concluding a Commercial Treaty to replace that of 1860, which is about to expire. In prosecuting these communications, I have kept in view the double object of an equitable regard to existing circumstances, and of securing a general provision more permanent in its character, and resting on a reciprocal and equal basis, for the commercial and maritime transactions of the two countries. I hope to be enabled, within a short period, to announce to you the final result.

"It has been for some years felt by the Governments of Russia and the United Kingdom respectively, that it would be conducive to the tranquillity of Central Asia if the two Governments should arrive at an identity of view regarding the line which describes the northern frontier of the dominions of Afghanistan. Accordingly a correspondence has passed, of which this is the main subject. Its tenour, no less than its object, will, I trust, be approved by the public opinion of both nations.

"Papers will be laid before you with relation to the awards delivered under the Treaty of Washington, to the commercial negotiations with France, and to the northern frontier of the dominions of Afghanistan.

"Gentlemen of the House of Commons,

"The estimates of the coming financial year will be presented to you. They have been framed with a view to the efficiency and moderation of our establishments, under circumstances of inconvenience entailed by variations of an exceptional nature in the prices of some important commodities.

"My Lords and Gentlemen,

"Although the harvest has been to some extent deficient, the condition of the three Kingdoms with reference to Trade and

Commerce, to the sufficiency of the Revenue for meeting the public charge, to the decrease of pauperism, and to the relative amount of ordinary crime, may be pronounced generally satisfactory.

"A measure will be submitted to you on an early day for settling the question of University Education in Ireland. It will have for its object the advancement of learning in that portion of my dominions, and will be framed with a careful regard to the rights of conscience.

"You will find ample occupation in dealing with other legislative subjects of importance, which, for the most part, have already been under your notice in various forms and at different periods. Among these your attention will speedily be asked to the formation of a Supreme Court of Judicature, including provisions for the trial of Appeals.

"Among the measures which will be brought before you, there will also be proposals for facilitating the Transfer of Land, and for the amendment of our system of Local Taxation, of certain provisions of the Education Act of 1870, and of the General Acts regulating Railways and Canals; together with various other Bills for the improvement of the Law."

The address was moved and seconded in the House of Lords by Lord Clarendon and Lord Monteagle; and in the House of Commons by Mr. Charles Lyttleton (East Worcestershire), and Mr. Stone (Portsmouth).

This opening ushered in a singularly dull and barren session. At the outset the Prime Minister miscalculated his strength. He employed it in a hopeless attempt to please all parties in Ireland; and the defeated Government, after a waste of time spent in resigning and resuming office, neither recovered its former authority nor succeeded in re-establishing party discipline. Former Parliamentary triumphs had inspired Mr. Gladstone with a just confidence both in his own legislative ability and in his Parliamentary influence. The Irish Church Bill, the Irish Land Bill, the Education Bill, the Abolition of Purchase in the Army, and the final establishment of Secret Voting were achievements of which the magnitude could not be disputed, even by those who denied the expediency of some of the measures. Mr. Gladstone felt himself as full of resource as in former years, and he trusted in his unabated power of exposition and debate to rally his supporters for a new enterprise and to overbear opposition. While he was still a candidate for office he had, perhaps under the influence of rhetorical temptation, described as three-fold the complex Irish grievance which he pledged himself to redress. In the earlier years of his administration he had, with unparalleled vigour, destroyed the Irish Establishment and remodelled the tenure of Irish landed property, and it only remained to fulfil his promise of reconstituting Irish Education. The indefatigable Minister was in vain warned that all the conditions of former success were wanting to his new undertaking. In 1869 and 1870 the objects which he proposed to himself were definite though