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from the fact that wages are so much lower, the owners can afford to compete successfully with South Staffordshire. Also the lime trade is being injured by the importation of lime of an inferior quality from a distance, which is sold at lower rates, but is dear at any price compared with that raised from the Silurian limestone of this neighbourhood ; nevertheless, it is difficult for farmers, who use it for agricultural purposes, to be made aware of this. Cheapness alone is the thing considered.

The Dudley coal field extends for about twenty miles in length by six or seven miles in width, the southern portion being of the greatest importance, as it contains seams from thirty feet to forty-five feet in thickness. The yield from all the coal fields in the country in the year 1865 was 98,150,S87 tons, from 3,256 collieries, of which Staffordshire and Worcestershire furnished about one-eighth, or 12,200,989 tons, and this supply is on the increase. Indeed the Dudley division of the South Staffordshire coal-field—famous for its ten-yard or thick coal—is the most important mineral bed in England. It was here that coal was first used in smelting iron, about 1619. The duties on the introduction of foreign iron were removed or rendered nominal in 1826, since which the production of both coal and iron has enormously increased. The total quantity of iron ore raised in the United Kingdom in 1865 was 9,910,045 tons; value, £3,324,804. Of this South Staffordshire furnished 659,500 tons; value, £189,606. All the ore raised in this district appears to have been consumed here; and of the much larger quantity raised in North Staffordshire, a considerable proportion was exported to South Staffordshire. Colliers' riots and combinations have unfortunately distinguished Dudley for many years, especially in 1832, 1834, and 1842. In the latter year the Enniskillen Dragoons were

•called in, and many of the rioters were injured, while others were seized by the local squadron of "The Queen's Own Worcestershire"—a crack body of men, "who rode only grey horses," and were always the pride of the county