NOTES ON A TRIPTO VICTORIA.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, 17 January 1881, Page 2

NOTES ON A TRIPTO VICTORIA.

c— No. in. Nrwcas'le has a population of some 25,000 or 30,000, returns four members of . Parliament, and is therefore a place of i some considerable importance in the po« ; Ikical system, of New South Wales, of , which it i«s a seemingly very docile yet » highly profitable appendage. Originally the place was a conyiet settlement, nnd did not therefore start out in life with a very good character : bu% the convict 1 establishment as well probably as the ' convicts them3olve3 have been long de- ' funct, and a substantial breakwater and one or two minor public works which were constructed entirely by prison labor are the only vestiges that remain of " old bam] " colonisation. The history of the place as it is now known hardly runs back more than twenty years, when lanr) ..was to b? purchased on all sides at £6 an acre; now, £6.000 an acre is rrq'iired as a sort of Sheriff sole price for the same Innd, and it is hardly to be got at that figure. The district owes its real se'tleraent to the enterprise or cupidity, it i s hard to say which of a number of enter* prising companies, foremost amongst the number being what is novr known a<t the Hay and Corn Company. This corpora-

ion about tbe period stated, obtained a rrant of some 1.600,000 acres of land Tora the Government upon consideration if their opening up the coal deposits then known to csist- They were|bampered nrith no restrictions as to the selection of she land, but allowed to take it up where* ever they- thought fit. and as may be im« api'iie-d, they did it with no disadvantage to their own interests. In this manner they became possessed of some seven or eight stations in the interior, besides afl the choicest frontages to the bay and a large slice of the city area and the coal fields. Of course, the whole arrangement was riien, and is still denounced as a swindle, but the Company certainly ob» tamed the land and did start the coal industry, and it was like rolling a snow-ball down a hill, for it has been rolling until it has obtained prodigious bulk, and the wealth of the Company is now considered to be inestimable. Several other Companies followed in the wake of the one just spoken of, and obtained equally Favorable concessions from the Government, and the result is, that altiicpof&tthe opal mining has been pushed on v to an eporrobus pitch of productivevery eyes o{ the land Ahps^ye been picked out by these Company's, and is now held in an iron grip, which has re« tarded the natural growth of the place and shut the city up within limits which cro all to narrow. In spite however of these drawbacks up to within a year or so ago Newcastle was perhaps one of the finest end most thriving communities within the territory of New South Wales. The output of coal had reached to nearly 40.000 tons weekly, and its enormous shipping trade rivalled that of Sydney itself, and it appeared as if no possible bounds could be put upon the magnitude of its trade in the future. Sut i& the full flush of all this bountiful prosperity New* castle suddenly sustained a blow, which was like the bursting of a blood vessel in its commercial system. The history of the rupture is a fcbort and instructive one, and as it is not without its moral in this community, which hopes some day to grow rich from its coal fields, I shall endeavor briffly to sketch it upon such slender materials as I was able to gather from persons on the spot. For some years after the commencement of the coal workings there the number of men employed in the pits was comparatively small, and as they were piid the current rate of wages, they worked on in peace and apparent contentment. But as time progressed, with the growth of the colonies and the needs of shipping the industry rapidly expanded, competing collieries rose into existence, | the mining population wa9 multiplied a thousand fold, and the men feeling their own, or their presumed strength, began to dub the word " labor," with a capital letter and to secretly discuss schemes for the advancement oT thelF own interests. For a long time the only outward manifestation of such a movement was an occa* sional meeting of the colliers at some common rendezvous. Later on, however, these assemblies began to wear a more bold and menancing aspect. The efforts of professional agitators had inflamed the minds of the men against the painted bujj bear, Capital, and the long pent up agi« tation finally burst forth ifl a peremptory 'emand for higher wages. This brings the history of the place down to within the last few years, by which time the coal trade had reached undreamtof magnitude. The whole of the Australian Colonies, San Francisco, China, and innumerable other countries were dependent entirely uoon Newcastle for their coal supply, and it is hardly too much to say that the shipping interest of the world at large was concerned directly or indirectly in the production of the mines, Whether as baU last to returned shipping, or as direct cargo, there was hardly a port British or Foreign, which did not draw largely upon its store of wealth, and in short Newcastle afforded perhaps the most wonderful instance which the colony has yet seen of the transeendant power of coal in building up a country's commercial greatness All this the miners of course saw, but, in themselves alone recognised the instru* ments of that greatness. They had seen by experience that the utmost resources of every nine were required to keep pace with the demand, and holding: over their employers the dread of an instant strike they put forward their demand for higher pay. To this reqoost the masters replied that owing to the great disparity betwepn the capacity of tbe mines, no increase in the rate of wages could be paid without closinc several of the collieries, as while some pits could turn out 150,000 tons an» nually. others coulcl not with equal labor yield more than hnlf that quantity. At this juncture the men convinced of the soundness of the masters' contention, came forward with one of the most ab« snrdly iniquitous, the most stupidly illogical proposals that was ever devised to curb industry and fatten monopoly. It was what is termed the *• Vend system," but it. was the application of the Vend system to conditions which were wholly at varir«ee with the principles upon which that system proper re^t.s, bpirrr. in short, thtt. the highest yearly production of coal 1 slmuld be taker, as s bn«?s, anci that dr vidprl by eight, the number of collieries working, should be made the maximum quantity put out by each during any year. Under this scheme any colliery was to be allowed to turn o\\t its 15,000 tons in threp or four months if the mines chose, but the pit was to remiin 'dp for the balance of tie year. The whole ' design of

the system was, of course, to limit the actual supply of coal, and thereby raise the price of the commodity and in that way enable the owners to feed the exactions of the men. To this most of the less fruitful mines naturally acceded, but the larger mines quite as naturally re* jected it, whereupon the miners did their wost — they struck work and threatened to hold out until the refusing miners joined the " /end." The affected conn pany's, however, sent to Sydney for pew hands who arrived in due time, but were prevented for a day or two from going to work, but the arrival, of military force soon pat mob law r to flight, and so the tumult ended. Thus after months of agitation and idleness, during which the men taxed themselves to a considerable Gxtent to send delegates about the country and maintain the married of this class, they were compelled to seek work at the old rate. But the injury to News cestle was, and must for many years, continue to be irreparable- The stoppage t of the mines for a time paralysed the shipping trade of Australia, locked up in* numerable factories and did a widespread and inestimable injury- to snarly all brans ; cbes of colonial indusrtry. The inter colo« I nial steamers were either laid npTJFrtran*' ing on short allowance ; the enormous collier trade was brought to a standstill and in this emergency recourse had to be had to the mines at Russel, Bay of Is* lands, the trade of which places received an enormous impetus, But it was not in the loss of the earnings of the strikers or the temporary banishment of the intercolonial trade that Newcastle sustained its heaviest disaster, but the worst of the injury extended further afield. As soon as news of the strike reached San Francisco, China, and other places steps were at once taken to guard against anything so disastrous as a coal famine, accordingly the shipping interest of those places combined with private capitalists, and sent out rxtensire plant to Japan, and British Columbia, to open up long dor"* mant coal mines there. These coal mines are now being worked upon a larjze scale, and the whole coal supply of San Francisco has since been drawn from Vancouviers Island, while China is fed from Japan, and these two enormous consumers have thus entirely withdrawn their trade from the colony and placed it in a channel from which it is never likely j to return. The coal mines at Newcastle are situate about two miles from the bar* bor, and are connected by a Government railway, the companies paying go much per (on for transit and provide their own trucks. The coal, that is. round coal, is put on boarJ for 9a per ton. The colliers earn from 8s to 10i per day of eight hours, or 3s 9 1 per ton for breaking out. Some of the workings are very extensive, and formerly ga*e employment to thous* ands of men. The pits are ventilated by means of fire blasts. One of these furnaces, just completed at the time of our visit, was inaugurated by a public ban* quet underground, and afforded sitting accommodation for no less than 600 gues!s, the Duke of Manchester being amongst the number. The whole of Newcastle from the sea shore for mile 3 inland is one vast bed of coal, in fact its magnitude can hardly be estimated. The facilities (or putting the coal on board ship are all that they should be. There is abundance of wharf accommodation, eight enormous cranes worked ty hydraulic pressure stand at convenient distances along the quay to lift the coal on board. The loaded trucks are run on to the wharf, and are lifted bolus bolus by Ihe crane, swung round over the ship's hold, and the contents, consisting of from three to five tons, are shot below through a trapsdoor in the truck. Injthis manner 1000 tons of coal can be placed on board a vessel in eight hours. The cranes are owned and worked by the Government, and derive their pressure from a building nearly a quarter of a mile away. It is a splendid stone box-like structure, of the most massive and substantial character. Its foundation is down 20ft. in the earth, and is upon the whole a perfect pyramid of strength. At each end of the edifice is a massive stone tower, one hundred feet high, in each of which is an iron tank or cage containing fifty tons of stone. These tanks are hauled 10 the top of the tower by a steam winding engine, and then disconnected like the weigbls of a clock, and their downward pressure upon the cisterns conveys motive power to the crciies, by means of strong mains. Nothing could exceed the rapidity Bnd facility with which they are worked. Their movement is in fact cat-like, so quick and noiseless is it, and to see one of them snap up a loaded truck as though it were a band box. is one of the siqbts of the place. The immense superiority of hydraulic cranes over those worked by steam lies in the fact that they do not take up more than one»third of the valuable wharf space, are clean, silent, and far more rapid and sure in their movements, are always ready for instant work, and can be manipulated with the utmost safety by any person. It is said that the short line of railway between the wharf and. Wallsend is the best paying OD6 in the world. Newcastle is now connected with the interior by rail tor a distance of 200 m.les and it is intended to eventually continue the line on to Brisbane. There is a« yet no land line to Sydney, but the project like tha West Coast railway, has been long sgitated and will no doubt be some day carried out. Opposite Newcastle an the north shore of

the Hunter l?iver, are hn^ ti:)>=?TK>|titn works, the ore being obtained fr <m th Richmond Hirer district, soina miles vi the Hunter. The river where it d louche into the bay [9 a magnificent tidai stream quite half a mile wide, and is navigabl for steamers of medium draug it as fa up a 9 Maitland, 40 miles distant, whic! is (he heart of the agricultural and p*s (oral country. The most remark ab! feature about Newcastle is the immena area of reclaimed land, which has bee] raised from the water of the bay solely b the deposit of ballast from incomin shipping. A space larger than (ho whol of Eeefton has been built up in tvrent] feet of water by nothing else than Ihi ballast of twenty years shipping It represents the contributions ofprol ably every country under the sne, on when the geologist of the future got skirmishing around that hi'tero^enoa? d( posit, he will come to the conclusion ti« the his'ory of (be science will liave to I rewritten. The city itself U pictu e?qaely situated on the southern side 1 the bay. It possesses one main busine street, about half a mile long, but ti buildings though permanent are unpri tentious in appearance, and the numb of hotels by no mteatrs underrate* ~*l drinking capacity of colliers in genen Everybody was complaining louily of tl dullness of the place and the injury su tamed by the strike, while not n few d< paired of the place ever recovering iis< The Hero being now full of conl, and t bulk of the passengers being equally f of information concerning it, we got or more on board, and 6 p.m. on Saturdf 30th October, found us on the move : Melbourne. (To be Continued)