how that terrible day seems to haunt mehow the shrieks of my victims ever seem ringing in my ears! In the morning I returned to the accursed spot, hoping to find one at least alive. Alas! all were dead -dead and cold; their bodies lying scattered about, in all sorts of cramped, twisted positions, showing the agony each had suffered, before death, more merciful than I, had finally taken compassion and pity on them.

My tale is told. From that hour to this I have never known one moment's peace. The phantom forms of those I murdered ever follow and pursue me-their shrieks of pain ever sound loudly in my ears! And worse-ten times worse than all, ever before me I see the sweet, sad faces of my lost wife and child, mutely and gently upbraiding me; and I feel that never-never through the endless eternity that hangs like a black cloud before me, shall I ever meet them; that in the great and awful future our paths must be far apart; that their home will be in the presence of a great God, kind and loving, where all is ineffable peace, and supreme joy and happiness; and that mine must be deep down in the darkest abyss of perdition, amid everlasting misery, anguish, and despair! For months I roamed through the bush, raving mad. And when, tired and reckless of life, I gave myself up to the police, and told my tale, I was called mad, and disbelieved. Then I took to gambling and drinking, in the vain hope of forgetting for a few brief hours all my misery. In this way I soon spent all my money, and since then have become what you now see me-a low, swearing, drunken sot, the boon companion of blackguards, ticket-of-leave men, and convicts.

"Next morning," continued Stevens, "he was missing, and we found he had quietly gone off, leaving sufficient money to pay for his share of the living expenses. From that day to this I have never heard of him."

"Do you think his tale true?" asked Bill. "Yes, I do," replied Charlie, "he told it with all the appearance of truth; and although, certainly, he may have been mad— evidently believed it himself. Besides, I have heard a report of something of the same kind of thing having happened many years ago."

"It is a strange story, at any rate," I said, "and I for one believe it to be true. To

morrow night it will be my turn to tell you something, but I fear that anything I can relate will sound very tame after yours, Charlie. What shall we do to-morrow? Shall we make an early start, and push on to the Rakaia? the Rakaia? It's a long drive-eighteen good miles-but as there is not a drop of water on the plain, I think it would be best to do so." "So do I," put in Pat. “And if we spell the cattle for three or four hours in the heat of the day, they will not hurt much."

"All right, then," replied Stevens; "we will try. And if we are late we must send one ahead to put up the tent and prepare supper, so that it will be no great odds how long we take on the road. And I am going to turn in. You and Bill," he added, turning to Pat, "should take a turn round the cattle, and see they are all right. If they seem quiet and settled, we might chance them without watching. If not, it will be my watch at four in the morning, and I'll let them draw on towards the Rakaia. Good night, my boys."

IT

BLACK DIAMONDS.
BY A COLLIERY VIEWER.

T has often been said of late, and with truth, that "Old King Coal is a dear old soul." The rise in the value of coal throughout these islands during the past two years is something marvellous, and it has very naturally caused both surprise and alarm.

No doubt one of the causes may be traced to the development of the railway system throughout the globe, to the vast increase in steam shipping, and to the application of steam to almost every purpose where manual and horse labour was formerly employed.

In other words, it cannot be doubted that a constantly increasing demand may be taken as one great cause of the present high price of coal. But another powerful cause has been at work which must not be neglected if we want to form a correct view of the whole question: we allude to the position the men hold, and the amount of coal they cut per day.

We have had occasion to study very closely coal and colliers, and the various modes of working coal mines, since the year 1830; and, in looking over some old accounts of that date lately, we were much

interested in tracing the astounding changes which have taken place, and we purpose here to give the substance of those old records, and, as they continue-with some interruptions-down to the present time, a glance at the history of this important trade for that period-viz., from 1830 to the end of 1872-may thus be gained.

In the year 1830 I find that pitmen-I am speaking of Northumberland and Durham-worked on an average ten hours per day underground, and earned on an average 3s. 6d. per day; and boys, from eight years of age up to twenty years of age, worked from fourteen to seventeen hours per day, their earnings being in proportion to the men, the strongest young men earning 35. per day.

At that time the coal trade here was a close monopoly, and entirely in the hands of the colliery owners. The London market was at that time entirely supplied from the coal field; and the council appointed by the body of coal-owners arranged the quantity of tons of coal each work was to send to the market per annum, the prices to be paid for working the coal, and all other matters connected with the trade.

The men were kept pretty well under at that time-their position, indeed, was little better than that of serfs; for if any man offended his master very seriously, the latter had the power of sending his name through the trade, and so preventing him getting employment at any other work in the district; and many were discharged, and thus sent forth really outcasts.

Now, if we contrast the amount of work and pay received by the miners in 1830 with the time worked and wages received at the present time, we shall find that at the former epoch the time worked per day was ten hours, earnings 3s. 6d. per day, and at the present moment the time worked is five hours per day, and earnings 75. per day -the wages having been doubled, and time worked reduced one-half.

In 1832 a remarkable event occurred. An attempt was made to form a trades union amongst the pitmen, and this was so far successful that more than half of the men were enrolled in this union, and a great agitation took place, the men aiming at the removal of various grievances. Ultimately a strike took place, and some points were gained, the most important concession being the reduction of the working hours of the

boys underground to twelve hours per day; and this arrangement was never afterwards disturbed until the hours were reduced by Act of Parliament to ten hours per day on January 1st, 1873.

Dur

During the strike of 1832 some rioting took place, and some murders were also perpetrated; and a noble marquis had a very narrow escape from assassination. A general meeting of the pitmen was held on Shadow Hill, on the Black Fell, six miles south of Gateshead. This meeting was addressed by the leader of the pitmen at that time, Mr. Thomas Hepburn, a man of very considerable intelligence, and also by others. ing the progress of the meeting, the late Marquis of Londonderry, with his usual bravery, but rather rashly, made his appearance on the scene, and requested to be allowed to ascend the platform and address the meeting; and to this the leaders made no objection, and a long conference took place between the marquis and Mr. Hepburn. Now, it was known during the previous week that the marquis intended to address the meeting, and, as he was a very extensive colliery owner, many of the ignorant pitmen were very much prejudiced against him, and numbers of them were armed with pistols, for the avowed purpose of shooting the marquis.

We shall never forget that, while standing about twelve yards from the spot on which stood the marquis on that day, we were suddenly told to move a little on one side; and, on looking round, a tall miner was levelling a large pistol at the body of the unconscious marquis; and, when he was on the point of firing, a strong arm was raised, and he was prevented from doing so, and ultimately persuaded to put the weapon into his pocket. This man was a noted poacher, and well skilled in the use of firearms.

A few minutes afterwards our attention was arrested by a group of men who were in rather loud contention; and one of them, we discovered, had a short gun under his coat, which was intended for the same purpose of shooting the marquis. All this, and the conference going on upon the platform between the marquis and the pitmen leaders, was brought to an abrupt conclusion by a very strange occurrence.

The marquis, when he made his appearance on the common, was accompanied by a troop of horse, and those he left at a distance from the place of meeting; and at the

moment we have above indicated, one of those troopers having dismounted, his horse escaped and galloped off, and several mounted troopers pursued the escaped horse. An alarm was soon spread in the immense crowd of pitmen, it being surmised that the cavalry were about to charge them, and a general panic was the result; the whole crowd flying at once to the east, north, and west, the dreaded cavalry being posted on the south side.

There is no doubt that this occurrence saved the life of the marquis, as a large number of poachers' short guns and pistols were in the possession of the pitmen, for the express purpose of shooting him.

When the panic took place, the officer in charge of the troop did advance at a quick pace to look for their leader, and he joined them as quickly as possible, and mounting his horse, rode off.

This strike was terminated by the colliery owners making some concessions, the most important being, as already pointed out, the reduction of the boys' working hours to twelve hours per day.

Very shortly after the conclusion of this great strike, the organization of the men as a trades union fell to pieces; and it was not again revived, to any very considerable extent, until the year 1844, when another great struggle took place, having more remarkable. results than any former strike. The pitmen now aimed at higher wages, shorter hours, and some regulations for ensuring greater safety for the lives and limbs of the men employed in coal mines.

Some slight concessions were made by the owners, after a protracted struggle, and a monthly agreement was substituted for the old yearly agreement; but the most important fruit borne by this contest was the total collapse of the combination hitherto kept up by the colliery owners.

The noble marquis again came to the front, and positively refused to join the masters in keeping up their regulationthat is, as to the vend each colliery was to make, the prices to be charged for the coals, and the prices to be paid to the miners.

The marquis, in fact, declared for free trade, and acted at once upon the principle. The other owners contrived for a few years to keep up their system; but ultimately all acted on the free principle, every one vending as much coal as possible, and getting labour as cheaply as possible, but in the

open market. This was a great revolution, and this led to the period of cheap coal, which comprises the period from 1844 to 1870.

Of course, coal mines were developed to an enormous extent during this period, and the production largely increased; but this rate of increase could not go on for ever.

The extended application of machinery has brought the consumption of fuel nearly up to the means of production, and the miners have reduced the output to such an extent as to cause the supply to be quite unequal to the demand, and hence the price has been enhanced to an enormous extent, good coal being now worth 24s. per ton at the pit, and coke worth 45s. per ton.

It must be noticed that the miners have now a trades union in each of the counties spoken of, and the entire body of men, both surface men and underground men, are members of this union. The men are acting under able, well-informed leaders, and they are now perfectly trained to obedience and united action.

Such a combination as this never existed before, and has only been made possible now by a great and increasing demand for coal, and by the great spread of general knowledge and information amongst the miners during the past twenty-five years.

It is apparent that we have here a power which may be used for bad purposes-or, at any rate, for purposes which operate against the interests of manufacturers and the population generally.

It is a fact that lately many poor people in Newcastle, the northern metropolis of coal, were suffering severely from cold, owing to the high price of fuel.

A great deal has appeared of late in print respecting the cost of raising coal to the surface, the wages earned by miners, and profits made by colliery proprietors; but, so far as we are aware, all these articles have been written by persons who can only make guesses on the matter, as they have no practical knowledge of the subject.

It is sufficient to remark here that coal mining always must be highly speculative in character. The occurrence of a fault or an accident may ruin the best mine any day.

One of the largest and best mines in Northumberland commenced to pay dividends in 1865-eight years ago-and that work was commenced in the year 1840; so that twenty-five years elapsed without a

farthing dividend, and of course a very large sum of money was expended during that time. Many fortunes have been lost in the coal trade, and many gained.

With respect to the profits made by coal and iron works, both branches are, as a rule, realizing large profits at present. Take an actual case which we are acquainted with: An extensive coal mine near Newcastle-onTyne has, from the 1st of January last up to Saturday, March 15th, vended 70,000 tons of coal, and the profits realized amount to £32,000. This is equal to 9s. per ton; and many works are doing as well, and some considerably better.

A great deal has been said about the rapid rise of men from the ranks of pitmen to be eminent viewers, and ultimately affluent colliery proprietors.

The number who have achieved this does not appear to us to be large; we have known a few, certainly.

Mr. George Elliott, the present member of Parliament for North Durham, is a notable example. His father was a coal miner, and George was from his earliest years very robust in health, active, and enterprising, and exactly a man who might be expected to succeed in any branch of

business.

He of course laboured hard to improve himself in every respect, acquired the rudiments of knowledge mainly at a night school; and he found an opportunity, which he did not neglect, of advancing himself to the position of colliery viewer, and from this point his rise was rapid to influence and wealth.

He has risen only by the old method hard work, great skill, and unflinching courage and determination.

Two more remarkable cases of working miners who have risen to great wealth may be found in Durham. These are Mr. Love, of Durham, and Mr. Joicey, of Gateshead Fell; and both these gentlemen are at the present moment realising upwards of £100,000 per annum from the coal mines they possess.

As to the future prospects of the coal trade and colliers, we could not do justice to that question without occupying considerable space; but we may observe that the present condition of the fuel trade is most certainly abnormal.

And both colliers and colliery proprietors ought to be on their guard, and not lose

their heads. Capital is flowing fast into the business, new mines are being opened out in all directions, machinery is being introduced for the purpose of cutting the coaland this will shortly supersede the expensive system of hand labour-economy in the use of fuel is the order of the day; and all these causes combined must, at no distant date, effect a great reduction in the value of coal.

A

TABLE TALK.

CORRESPONDENT: In Piccadillyjust now becoming gay and charming -on the pavement nearly opposite those mansions of the late Marquis of Hertford's so long untenanted, there is a sort of wooden shelf, supported at either end by stout posts. Its height from the ground is about five feet; it is not ornamental; and I think very few of the strollers from Pall Mall into the park who notice it as they pass by it on their way, know what use it had. It is the last, I believe, of a once long row of these long, narrow-topped tables, and it was put up for the men and women who, in the old coaching days, carried fruit in huge baskets on their heads from Brentford, Isleworth, and all the regions thereabout, to set their heavy loads on while they rested themselves on their way to the Covent Garden Market of our grandfathers. Before the days of waggons with springs, most of the strawberries grown round London were sent to market on the heads of these porters. In this way, the fruit arrived uninjured at its destination. Long files of these men and women, bearing baskets laden with ripe fruit, started from the country with their burdens with the first streaks of daylight in the summer sky. They got paid about six shillings a journey from a place as far distant say as Brentford is, and they frequently made the long journey from Brentford to Covent Garden and back twice a-day. So tempting were the wages to be earned by these feats of pedestrianism, that very many women of the labouring class came up in coal barges from Shropshire and other distant counties, or even tramped the whole way on foot, in order to obtain this employment. There was plenty of it for a couple of months, and the porters often took back to the country districts they came from, enough to support them through the dull winter months. For their comfort when they wanted a rest, the