But when the wages were doubled, the magistrate could scarcely get through the business in a day.

It seemed as if high wages meant more idleness, more whisky, and more broken heads and faces.
These were doubtless "roaring times" for the colliers, who, had they possessed the requisite self-denial, might have made little fortunes.
Many of the men who worked out the coal remained idle three or four days in the week; while those who burnt the coal, were famished and frozen for want of it.

The working people who were _not_ colliers, will long remember that period as the time of the _coal famine_.

While it lasted, Lord Elcho went over to Tranent--a village in East Lothian--to address the colliers upon their thriftlessness, their idleness, and their attempted combinations to keep up the price of coal.
He had the moral courage--a quality much wanted in these days--to tell his constituents some hard but honest truths.

He argued with them about the coal famine, and their desire to prolong it.