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If colliers, therefore, commonly earn double and triple the wages

of common labour, it ought not to seem unreasonable that

coal-heavers should sometimes earn four and five times those

wages. In the inquiry made into their condition a few years ago,

it was found that, at the rate at which they were then paid, they

could earn from six to ten shillings a-day. Six shillings are

about four times the wages of common labour in London; and, in

every particular trade, the lowest common earnings may always be

considered as those of the far greater number. How extravagant

soever those earnings may appear, if they were more than

sufficient to compensate all the disagreeable circumstances of

the business, there would soon be so great a number of

competitors, as, in a trade which has no exclusive privilege,

would quickly reduce them to a lower rate.