Prime Cost, Duties, Expenses, and Freight, made on Coals imported from Newcastle into London. Trinity-dues, 15s. 6d. ..... 0 10 0 015 8 2 16 8 0 18 0 12 To metage on 296 tons, at 1s. per ton 14 16 0 13 To petty expenses... 14 To discount, scorage and stamp on note allowed the buyer.. 15 To factor's commission 10s. per cent.. guaranty or del credere commission, 10s. per cent..... 16 To undertaker's bill for delivering the cargo..... 17 To dock dues.. 0 12 6 7 11 0 510 232 12 4 Remarks on the preceding Account. 1.-The Newcastle chaldron is to weigh 53 cwt. 2. Keels are craft employed to bring coals from the staiths or wharfs to the ships: they carry eight Newcastle chaldrons, or 21 tons 4 cwt., and have marks on the stem and stern to ascertain the weight of coals in them; and the charge is the same to the importer, viz. 13s. 4d. per keel, though the distance is various, some staiths being within two miles, and others fourteen, from the ships. 3. The keels are navigated by three men and a boy, who are allowed Is. 4d. each trip for beer, and 2s. 6d. for bread; this charge is sometimes paid by the ship, when freighted with coals, out of the freight, but this is only by virtue of a special agreement. 4. The duty, called coast-duty, was originally 2d. per chaldron, payable to the crown; its origin is not known; but it is recognised in the oldest statute in which coals are mentioned, viz. 9 Hen. V. cap. 10. A. D. 1422. In 1677, King Charles II. granted it to his natural son, Charles Duke of Richmond and Lennox, and to his heirs; but it was purchased by government in 1800, under the sanction of parliament, from the then Duke of Richmond. 5. The coast-lights amount to about 8d. per chaldron. In the coaltrade, when ships are freighted, the freighter pays all lights, and the ship all pilotage. 6. The Spurn-lights were granted by charter from the crown, and are in private hands. Bridlington, or Burlington-Pier, is by act of parliament, and the amount received is expended on repairing and improving the pier and harbour. 7.-These dues were claimed and paid for many years, at the rate of 5d. per chaldron; but the right has been proved to be only after the rate of 2d. Newcastle freemen are exempted, as are London freemen also; but doubts are held, whether residence in London be not essential also, to entitle the latter to the privilege. The corporation of Newcastle have dues on BALLAST: but this is a charge on the ship only. 8. This is to defray the expense of the new Lights at Shields, and is d. per register ton of the ship, or about d. per chaldron: a ship carrying as many chaldrons of coals as she is tons by register. 9. 10. Assurance is not usually made on cargoes of coals; but, whether the importer be his own underwriter or not, it is a charge which should be made on the article: and from want of attention on this point, it is likely that ship-owners, in this and other trades, injure themselves, by not separating the gains of freight and assurance. It is therefore here inserted. 11. The market dues at London were granted by act of 47 Geo. III. § 2. c. 68., and are repaid by the buyer; but that act being now repealed, they are payable under the 1 and 2 Wm. IV. c. 76. local. 12.-Metage is paid to the corporation of London for measuring coals, &c. and is repaid by the buyer. Orphans' duty, 6d. per chaldron, is paid likewise to the corporation, and is appropriated by act of parliament, 44 Geo. III. c. 27. local, till 5 July, 1837, for completing Blackfriars Bridge, rebuilding Newgate, repairing the Royal Exchange, embanking part of the north side of the river Thames, paving the streets of Westminster and Southwark, widening Snow hill, and improving the avenue near Temple-bar. Screened coals and ashes are exempted from the orphans' duty of 6d. per chaldron by 6 Geo. IV. c. 111. § 28. for which see the DUTIES of CUSTOMS. The duty on coals, water-borne, was originally 5s, per chaldron throughout the kingdom, till the reign of queen Anne, when a local tax, of 38. more per chaldron, was imposed on all coals brought into the port of London, to pay the interest of £1,750,000 borrowed at 4 per cent. and applied to the building fifty new churches, and completing St. Paul's cathedral. The extra duty, on the import of coals, being then about equal to the payment of the interest only, the prospect of repaying the capital was so distant, that a subsequent act carried the debt to the funded debt of the country, and the interest was directed to be paid out of the Consolidated Fund. The last duty payable was by 6 Geo. IV. c. 111. (6s. per chaldron), but that was repealed by 1 and 2 Wm. IV. c. 16, from 1 January, 1832. 13. These charges include receipt stamps to the buyers of the cargo. 14.-The discount and scorage are allowed to the buyer, by virtue of the usual agreement, for sale of Newcastle best coals, which is as follows: London, 1826. We, whose names are hereunto subscribed as buyers, have this day severally bought of A. B., factor for C. D., owner or master of the ship E., the several parts or proportions of the cargo or loading of Wall's-End coals, now on board the said ship, which are annexed and opposite our respective signatures, (the whole cargo or loading being computed to be tons,) at with metage and market dues, to be severally taken and received by us, respectively, from and out of the said ship, at and after the rate of tons per day, and to be paid for by us severally, according to our respective proportions, on delivery of the same, viz. one-third value in cash; one-third in a note of sixty days, dated on the next market-day after the delivery, payable to the order of A. B.; and the remaining one-third on the fourth market-day after the said delivery. And we, the buyers, further severally agree to fix among ourselves the turns which we shall respectively take in working the said cargo, he or they, whose turn shall happen to be last, taking the full residue of the cargo, be the same more or less than the computation. And we severally hold ourselves liable to any loss or demurrage in case of detention occasioned by not fixing our respective turns as aforesaid. 15. The factor's usual commission is 10s. per cent. and he is generally allowed 10s. more for del credere, or guaranty of the buyer; but whether this be paid or not, the importer should reckon it, if he run the risk of bad debts himself. 16. The undertaker's bill being sometimes paid by the factor, and charged in his account, is apt to be reckoned as charges on the coals; whereas it is a charge upon the ship, and must be paid from her freight, as also the trimming of the coals in loading. 17.-Dock dues are raised by virtue of the 39 Geo. III. c. 69, local, (the West India Dock Act,) and the 39 and 40 Geo. III. c. 47. local, (London Dock Act.) The money raised under this head of dock-dues does not go to the dock proprietors, but for compensations to the legal quays and suffer ance-wharfs, the lightermen, carmen, porters, &c. who may suffer by the new system of docks; and, more particularly, to the purchasing of all the chains and. moorings on the river; which are afterwards to be used gratis. It is on this last ground determined to fall upon the ship in coal voyages. 18.-Ballast is a charge on the ship also. 19. This balance is the fund whence the freight must be paid, and the importer derive his profit for employment of his capital and risk. 20. This ship is taken as an example, as being the medium size (between ten and twenty keels) of ships generally using the London market. Suppose the number of cargoes to be 5501, and the quantity of coals 1,117,034 chaldrons, it gives only 203 chaldrons average for each ship. 25 100 The delivery is estimated at eight Newcastle chaldrons (or a keel)` making out 15 London chaldrons. The foregoing remarks having explained the supposed prime cost, expenses, and freight, made by coals imported from Newcastle to Lon don, with the particulars whence derived, and marking the distinction between those charges which are really on the coals, (and should be paid by the freighter of a ship when that occurs) and those which the ship-owner has to pay out of the freight he makes. The following blank sketch of the usual expenses on a coal voyage may be suggested as a short, plain, and simple mode of keeping a ship's book, by which any individual may compare one voyage with another; or different ship-owners ascertain their respective rates of expense, profit, or loss, with each other. In ruling and preparing these accounts, where they are not to be purchased in a printed form, it is recommended to leave small spaces after each class of expense for the insertion of any trifling charges that may occur, but which do not come within any of the before-mentioned heads; and for greater certainty it is recommended to set a number opposite each item, (in red ink,) beginning Pilots, No. 1. Horse hire, No. 2. &c. and numbering the bills and receipts to correspond, (also in red ink,) by way of voucher, whereby the accounts will be at all times readily gone through and easily checked. A further piece of advice is that of keeping a rough entry book of the money laid out from time to time, in the order in which the payments may be made. After which, when there is leisure, the items can be carried to the respective accounts in a clear and conspicuous manner, without making erasures and interlineations which are always unsightly, and often give rise to unfavourable surmises. Remember that assurance, (unless specifically made on that voyage only,) repairs of the hull, and replacing the larger stores, as cordage, sails, masts, boats, &c., the wages of boys, and any accounts of damage, or average, are articles of a general nature, and should be kept distinct, and brought to the yearly account, and there settled. |