February 6, 1914.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

307

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THE ELEMENTS OF MINING AND QUARRYING.

An Introductory Text-Book for Mining Students.

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AND

Journal ol the Coal and Iron Trades.

Joint Editors—

J. V. ELSDEN, D.Sc. (Lond.), F.G.S.

HUBERT GREENWELL, F.S.S.

LONDON, FRIDAY. FEBRUARY 6. 1914.

The London coal trade has lost a good deal of its
vigour, and the return to milder weather has also
influenced the public orders considerably. Colliery
quotations are still uncertain. 'No official records
are published yet, but it is anticipated that lower
prices will be issued by the close of the week. The
prompt markets on the Tyne and Wear are rather
quiet. The demand for house coal in Lancashire is
easier consequent upon milder weather. In York-
shire and Derbyshire business is fairly satisfactory,
especially in the latter. At Cardiff little change is
reported, but prospects of improvement are favour-
able. The activity of the Scottish coal trade has
been maintained.

A special conference of the South Wales Miners’
Dederation was held at Cardiff, on Monday and
Tuesday, when several recommendations were agreed
to with a view to the amendment of the Coal Mines.
Act, in order to secure additional safety in mines.

The Home Office enquiry into the Senghenydd
explosion was resumed on Friday last. On the
previous day experiments were carried out at New
Tredegar with a view to testing whether sparks
emanating from electric wires might have been the
cause of the disaster. It is understood that the
experiments point to the conclusion that the voltage
at Senghenydd was not high enough to cause sparks
sufficient to account for the explosion. At the enquiry
itself several of the under officials have been under
examination during the week.

An explosion caused by firedamp took place on
Friday last in a mine at Achenbach, near Brombauer,
Westphalia. The death roll has been officially
announced in the Beichstag'as being 25.

A general meeting of the North Staffordshire
Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers was
held at Stoke on Monday, 2nd inst. A paper on
electricity in mines was read by Mr. Robert Nelson,
in which he discussed the advantages of the three-
phase alternating system over the continuous-current
system.

A deputation from the Miners’ Federation of Great
Britain was received by the Prime Minister on
Tuesday on the question of the continuation of the
Coal Mines (Minimum Wage) Act, which terminates
in April 1915. The chief desire" bf the Federation
was to secure the inclusion of surface workers in the
Act, but upon this point Mr. Asquith was unable to
give satisfaction.

The Home Secretary on Wednesday received a

deputation from the Miners’ Federation of Great
Britain on the subject of inspection of mines. On
behalf of the men Mr. W. Brace, M.P., put forward
a scheme for the appointment of a staff of inspectors
selected by the workmen but paid by the State.
Mr. McKenna, in reply, said he thought greater
safety would be got from an extension of the present
system rather than by the new scheme.

The Minimum Wage Board for the Lancashire
and Cheshire area sat at Manchester, on Thursday,
to consider the application of the men for certain
changes to be made in the local award. The question
of the surface worker was also under discussion ; an
offer of the employers-of a minimum of 3s. 4d. per
day for adult workmen was refused.

A meeting of the Manchester and Geological
and Mining Society will be held on Tuesday next, at
Manchester, when Mr. Wm. Clifford will read a
paper dealing with the reversing of main air-currents
in coalmines.

The deputation from the Miners’
The Joiners Federation that waited upon the
and the Prime Minister on Tuesday, urging
Kinimum certain amendments in the Minimum
Wafe« Wage Act, got very little satisfaction.

Indeed, the alacrity with which Mr.
Asquith discerned the weak points in the miners’
case was remarkable.

Epitomised, the demands were that surfacemen
should come under the Act; that all conditions as to
age and regularity of employment should be barred;
that the minimum wage of colliers should be
ascertained with- reference to one week’s earnings
only; that in all cases of dispute the onus of proof
should be placed upon the employer; and that the
minimum wage for each grade should be raised by
9d. per day.

Taking the last first, Mr. Asquith quickly got to
grips. “Why ninepence?” he asked, thus com-
pelling Mr. Hartshorn, who spoke for the Welsh
miners, to admit, in so many words, that the
object was to resuscitate the Federation schedule put
forward when the Act was passed. The Premier
refused to listen to any suggestion of this kind, the
impracticability of which cannot fail to impress him
both as a lawyer and a practised politician. Kates
of wages are as transitory as other conditions of
living, and to burden Parliament, already overloaded
with parochial affairs, with the meticulous fixation
of wages, is just as uneconomical as it is unbusiness-
like. It is difficult enough in such matters to give
the arbitrator a true knowledge of the facts, and we
confess that we are rather surprised that the miners’
leaders should choose to surrender their case entirely
to the mercy of so ignorant and heterogeneous a
body as the House of Commons—unless it be that
they entertain hopes that political opportunism may
work in their favour, to the exclusion of all equitable
considerations ; and that they claim to be the only
party entitled to state a case for the decision of
Parliament.

In regard to the question of the surfacemen, the
Federation have got themselves into a tangle.
Candidly, we believe that the lords of the under-
ground world care little about the men on the
surface ; unfortunately, the latter, at the close of the
strike in 1912, made themselves so unpleasant that
the Federation were compelled, for ecumenical
reasons, to espouse their cause. As Mr. Asquith
pointed out, the Act originated in a particular and
specific grievance—namely, the grievance of the
underground workers in regard to abnormal
places. Whatever may have been the real
motive, that undoubtedly was the ostensible
grievance, and the one which Parliament set itself
to remedy. The surfacemen, on this basis, have
no more claim to a minimum wage than have
the baker or the candlestick maker; and when
Mr. Hartshorn affirms that there is no argument
applying to underground men which does not apply
with equal force to men employed above ground, he
is treading on dangerous ground, for to many the
implication will be that the underground workers’
claim for the minimum was not based upon a genuine
grievance. If the policy be now openly declared as
a “ minimum wage for all,” we can only say that this

was not the claim upon which Parliament gave a
minimum wage to the miners.

With regard to the other points raised, the Prime
Minister was more reserved in his judgment, but he
gave the deputation but small hope of acquiescence
in their views. Thus, he pointed out that the ques-
tion of the period for averaging wages was sub judice,
and with respect to the burden of proof, he refused
to commit himself. It would seem to us to be an
elementary duty of the workman, who claims a
minimum wage on account of some abnormality in
his working place, to prove the existence of such
conditions. But the object, we suppose, is gradually
to eliminate the “ abnormal place” entirely.

The employers cannot complain of Mr. Asquith's
attitude. He reiterated his intention of hearing their
point of view before making up his mind, and he
repeatedly urged upon the deputation the advisa-
bility of seeking to obtain satisfaction by negotiation.
Had he been fully aware of the pourparlers that have
already taken place in regard to nearly all the points
brought to his notice on Tuesday, he would have
placed still greater stress on this mode of procedure,
for there are none of them that cannot better be
dealt with uis-Dris.

As to the Act itself, with the working of which
the Premier expressed so much satisfaction, it
is only necessary to observe that conditions have
not yet arisen, owing to the permanence of good
trade, which may be calculated severely to test its
fundaments.

It was perhaps inevitable that the
Safety	South Wales Miners’ Federation

Proposals	should consider the moment oppor-

ill Hines. tune for bringing forward a number
of proposals respecting the working
of mines in the interests of greater safety under-
ground. Nor can any reasonable objection be taken
to the fact that these proposals have now been
definitely formulated and sanctioned at the conference
of delegates assembled this week at Cardiff. As far
as the suggestions represent any really workable
solution of the problems dealt with, they are entitled
to receive due consideration. We print them in extenso
in another column, and it is clear that so wide a
range of practical mining questions is presented in
these 17 paragraphs that it would not be possible to
discuss their individual merits or demerits adequately
in this article.

In a general sense, one is struck by the fact that these
proposals, one and all, are aimed at further regula-
tion of the management of the pit. In not a single
instance can we see any serious proposal to deal
more effectively with the source of about two-thirds
of colliery accidents—viz., those arising in connection
with the working face, and connected with the due
exercise of proper precautions by the miners them-
selves.

The suggestion to create a large staff of State-
paid inspectors, to be selected by the workmen, and
to give the workmen the right to appoint and control
the colliery firemen, is in itself evidence of the
spirit in which the recommendations have been
evolved. With regard to the inspectorate, Mr.
Brace on Wednesday explained to the Home
Secretary exactly what was the view of the miners
upon this point. As regards their number,
he thought that each inspector should have not
more than 5,000 men to look after, and that the
salary of each need not exceed £200 a year.
This would mean the increase of the staff of the
inspectorate by something like 200 working-men
inspectors. The Koyal Commission on Mines
examined this question in great detail. The Bill
promoted by the Miners’ Federation in 1907, in fact,
contained a provision of this character, although it
did not go so far as the present proposal. One of
the arguments then put forward in favour of working-
men inspectors was that more attention would thus
be paid to the practical questions as distinct from
the more scientific points involved in coalmining.
Such men, it was argued, would be more in touch
with the practical working of the pit and more open
for consultation by the miners. On the other hand,
there can be no question that the appointment of
such a class of inspectors would be to lower the