>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 coalowners
 which has curious analogies with the stint? of the
Merchant Adventurers; it appears to have taken very definite
 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.