Sat 3 Feb 1849
To John Brewin & Sons, coal merchants
Cirencester
Tonnage for Newport coal to Cirencester via Framilode would be 16s 3d per ton. Continued …
Feb 3rd 1849
Jno Brewin & Sons
Cirencester
Gentlemen
I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 30th Ulto which shall be submitted to the Committee of the Stroudwater Navigation which will not meet until the 21st Inst but as you wish for an immediate reply I lose no time in answering some of your observations and first as to the cost of Newport Coals sent by Canal to Cirencester which you state to be 17/ per ton but which from all the information I can obtain I believe can be delivered at 16/3 per ton as follows:
Cash price of Coals at Newport.............................9/3
Tonnage on the Stroud and T&S Canal ....3/-
Wharfage ................................................................................................0/3
Freight ........................................................................................................3/9
Total ..............................................................................................................16/3
There is no Tonnage on the Gloucester & Berkeley Canal as the Vessels entered the Stroud Canal at Framilode.
And indeed a large Owner is now delivering the best red Newport Coals at 16/ and the White at 14/6.
With regard to the tonnage on the two Canals price was put so low to Cirencester in the first instance there has not been any room for reduction being only 1½ per ton per mile or 3/ for 24 Miles whilst the Stroud, Brimscombe & Chalford Dealers are paying 2/6 for scarcely half the distance.
With respect to the Coals sent by Railway to Cirencester by Ford & Son I knwo they have forwarded about 24 Tons weekly for the last month chiefly of the quality of Nubbings which they sell at Stonehouse for 14/6 per ton, the carting from one Station to the other costs 1/ per ton and the charge by Railway 2/2 with an addition of rent or wharfage, 3d, beside the expense of unloading the Trucks and paying a person for selling at Cirencester so that the profit must be very small at 18/ and only put so low to endeavour to procure a trade & then raise the price and I feel confident that if the Cirencester Coal Merchants will act with spirit and temporarily reduce the prices of their coals they will soon be driven out of the Market for altho' they are persons of great integrity and industry, they cannot prosses much capital as the father was a weaver and worked for Mr Sheppard of Uley & I have known them for 30 years,
With regard to the Bristol & Birmingham & Great Western Companies making an arrangement for Trucks to run from Coal Pit Heath via Stonehouse without stopping, that would not make the transit cheaper on account of the greater distance, on both lines, and the nature of the Junction renders it impractical even now they are both on the broad gauge, but when the new line from Gloster to Bristol is finished on the narrow gauge it will be impossible to accomplish it, so the carting system must still continue.
With regard to Forest Coals I have ascertained they cannot be delivered so low by Railway from Gloster to Cirencester by 1/ per ton at least, as by Canal & that they are sold to the Dealers in Cirencester at 16/6 per ton & I know that a cargo of Staffordshire Coals was sold there this week at 16/-.
The whole quantity of Newport Coals carried to Brimscombe last year did not exceed 2100 tons, about 1200 of which was forwarded to Cirencester so that the consumption is very small in comparison with other coals amounting altogether to 12000 tons.
Our Coal Dealers in this neighbourhood are quite satisfied with a profit of 1/6 per ton and you must excuse my saying that I consider it is the high prices with the Coal Merchants in Cirencester have obtained on their sales that have opened the door to the present competition ¬ the rate of tonnage on the canals.
C Hawker
