>30 PARLIAMENTARY COLBERTISM
AD. 1689 a practical success; not only were new fields opened up bub
—1776. . :
mehe UDe old mines were worked more vigorously than before’,
Newcastle The development of the trade and its fluctuations gave rise
dustrict the . : : .
employers $0 @& curious system of combination among the great capi-
Srl talists for the regulation of the out-put; the trade was
Fo on the deliberately organised in the Newcastle district with the
wmiput view of giving a regular and steady return to all the capital
invested in this employment throughout the district.
The ‘vend’ was an agreement among the Newcastle coal-
owners which has curious analogies with the stint? of the
Merchant Adventurers; it appears to have taken very defi-
nite shape about the year 1786. The object apparently was to
give the owners of mines, which yielded inferior sorts of coal,
a chance. The shipowners preferred to load the best sorts of
coal; and if there had been no regulation, the whole trade
would have been monopolised by a few collieries which yielded
the best qualities, and other owners would be ruined. This
result, as was argued in 1800, would not really benefit the
public?, since the few high-class mines that were left would be
able to charge what they liked for coals. It thus came about
that the ‘vend’ was organised; it was an agreement which
was officially described in 1830. A committee was formed to
represent the different collieries, and “ the Proprietors of the
best Coals are called upon to name the price at which they
intend to sell their Coals for the succeeding twelve months;
according to this price, the remaining Proprietors fix their
prices; this being accomplished, each Colliery is requested
to send in a Statement of the different sorts of Coals they
raise, and the powers of the Colliery; that is, the quantity
that each particular Colliery could raise at full work;
1 The Commissioners of 1871 estimated it as follows (Reports, etc., 1871,
VIO. 852):
1660 2,148,000 tons.
1700 2,612,000 ,,
750 4,773,828 ,,
770 6,205,400 ,,
1790 7,618,728 ,,
1795 10,080,300 ,,
2 See above, p. 220. A similar arrangement existed among the Hostmen with
regard to the shipment of coals in 1602. Brand, mm. 273 n.
8 See the evidence of the Town Clerk of Newcastle, Reports from Committees
of House of Commons, Misc. Subjects, 1785—1800, x. 544.
