§ Lord Ellenborough moved, that the London Coal Trade Regulation Bill be read a second time.
The Marquis of Londonderrycongratulated their Lordships on the advantages the country was about to derive from this measure, which embodied many of the suggestions he had so frequently ventured to offer to the House. He would take this opportunity of adverting to the statements which had been made, denying that the repeal of the coal duty had been followed by any adequate reduction of the price. He admitted that the full advantage of the measure had not yet been reaped, either by the coal-owner or the public, but had been in a great degree engrossed by the ship-owners. Competition could not fail, however, soon to correct this evil. The coal-owners had no such monopoly as could enable them to obtain an inordinate 493 profit, and the reduction of duty, so far from giving them any undue advantage, would attract new capital to the opening of fields of coal, give a greater development to the trade, and render combinations difficult and ineffectual.
§ The Bill was read a second time.