February 33, 1914.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

367

TECHNICAL TRAINING FOR UNDERGROUND
WORKMEN.

The first of the winter series of higher mining lectures
arranged by the local branch of the National Association
of Colliery Managers and the Midland Mining Officials’
Association, with the aid of grants made by the
Leicestershire County Council, took place at the Adult
School, Coalville, on Saturday, January 24. Prof. Wi H.
McMillan, B.Sc., M.I.M.E., of University College,
Nottingham, read an instructive paper entitled “The
Value of a Technical Training to Underground
Workmen.”

Mr. W. A. Brockington, M.A., Director of Education
to the Leicestershire County Council, who presided,
said they hoped to bring about an agreement with the
Derbyshire County Council, with far-reaching results,
one of which would be the founding of a small mining
institute in Coalville, with rooms and laboratories
adapted to instruction in mining. The North Derby-
shire coalfield was being provided for in a similar way.
Mr. McBride was being appointed joint organiser to the
class in connection with the South Derbyshire and
Leicestershire coalfields.

Prof. McMillan said he intended to deal with the
subject from a broader standpoint than was suggested
by the title. He would take into account its national
as well as its economic importance. Low fuel cost, he
maintained, was essential to our continued progress and
high efficiency in the industrial world. He might even
hazard the opinion that our present position was not so
good as it was five years ago, judging by the great
increase in the number of advertisements by foreign
companies for processes dealing in mining problems,
nowadays appearing in the mining journals. The
methods of sinking through troublesome ground, the
manufacture of coke ovens, and the recovery of the by-
products of coking were particularly evident, and to keep
pace in other ways with those countries we had been
compelled to copy them. As to where we were lacking,
he ventured to suggest that much of it lay in the
system of technical training. The mining engineer’s
knowledge should enable him to have at least a working
acquaintance with mechanical, civil and electrical
engineering, as they still came under his control, but
there should be more facilities for specialisation and
research in his main subject, promotion to any position
of trust in mines being controlled by Home Office
examination, while the conditions under which mining
was conducted (depending on individual care and
attention to duty) made it obvious that every under-
ground worker should have a good knowledge of his
own special work, and in addition a close acquaintance
with the physical and chemical conditions which pre-
vailed, so that the dangers attached thereto might be
reduced to a minimum. Prof. McMillan proceeded to
show that the suspicion with which many employers had
previously regarded technical training was disappearing,
and many of the mining schools and colleges which were
being established all over the country were being
equipped in many cases on the initiative of the
employers themselves. It was a singular fact, too, that
many of those changes had also been brought about by
the miners themselves showing a rapidly growing
tendency for a knowledge of the technique connected
with their work.

Importance of Technical Training.

There were certain walks in life in which a man could
carry his work to a successful issue without external
assistance, but that of the colliery manager was entirely
different. Success could not crown his efforts, no matter
how excellent an organiser, or how great his abilities, or
how good a leader of men, if his subordinates were not
also good. The result was that he was quick to realise
what men were most suitable for certain purposes, and
encouraged those whom he found by experience could
serve him best. But a few years ago what would have
proved sufficient capital fully to equip and develop a
mine would not now suffice for the sinking of the shaft,
or pay for the surface equipment of a modern colliery.
The manager in those days was considered amply
qualified if the whole of his experience was obtained
in the underground workings, and even to-day many
adhered to this opinion. It followed, therefore, that
the employer must of necessity select skilful manage-
ment and well-trained officials, and reject those who
would not avail themselves of an intelligent knowledge
of the duties attached to their several posts. If the
difficult problems with which the manager must inevit-
ably be faced in the near future were to be surmounted,
something more than practical experience would be
required. A purely practical man in colliery work was
undoubtedly very superior to the purely theoretical one,
but many occasions arose on which, without some
theoretical training, he was compelled to experiment on
a large scale before arriving at a sound working solution.
With some technical training a certain amount of
experimental work must also be done, but as a rule the
solution could be arrived at much more expeditiously,
and with much less cost. As in all other industries,
progress must be made by developing the scientific side
of the work.

The Education of the Workers.

Coming to the question of the education of the
workers, Prof. McMillan said that the ages of under-
ground workers, their mental and physical status, varied
within such wide limits that no single definite scheme
could be laid down which would be suitable to all except
perhaps in the early stages of technical instruction.
They might, however, be roughly divided into three
classes : (1) Those young men who had a laudable desire
and ambition to better their position, and were imbued
with some latent ability; (2) those young men whose
mental capacity was limited, and had shown conclusively
that they were incapable of developing their thinking
powers to any great extent; (3) older men who realised

that they had reached a stage in life when they could
not hope to rise. It was commonly stated that any
technical instruction whatever was valueless to those in
classes 2 and 3—representing by far the majority of
workers underground, whom he might term the mainstay
of the industry—and the men themselves seemed to
accept it as a matter of course. In some industries
that must be the case, but in mining it was not so.
Every time an underground worker entered the mine he
had not only his own safety but also that of all men in
the mine in his control. It had been repeatedly
suggested that if the general intelligence of the work-
men were improved many of the compulsory changes
involving financial outlay necessitated by the new Mines
Act would have been unnecessary. No one would deny
that rules were needed, but their value was largely
reduced if their meaning and importance were not fully
understood. A mine could never be regarded as safe so
long as the present conditions prevailed and a large
number of the workers were quite in the dark as to why
certain causes produced danger.

The ordinary methods of imparting knowledge must
be deviated from. It was only reasonable, when a hard
day’s work was over, that there should be some time
devoted to recreation, and it was a vain hope to expect
men to attend classes in which the various operations
connected with coalmining were detailed, a great deal
of which they would never see, and in which they had no
interest. The present-day tendency of technical
instruction was to demonstrate facts instead of merely
stating them, and where possible still better results
would be obtained if the men could be provided with
some simple apparatus and allowed to elucidate the
chief points for themselves under suitable guidance.
They realised more quickly the point dealt with, and
what was more important, their learning became recrea-
tive. This method had been in existence for years in
some parts of the country, notably in Scotland, and had
proved very successful.

The Choice of Subjects.

As to the choice of subjects, undoubtedly the most
reasonable scheme was to give the men a fair acquaint-
ance with the dangers arising from their employment,
and the conditions which went to make those dangers.
Every worker, for instance, was interested in the
ventilation of the colliery. What an additional sense
of security there would be if underground workmen
before descending read the barometer daily, and could
correlate that reading with the conditions underground.
Yet a few very simple experiments with comparatively
simple apparatus would suffice to make the dullest of
men understand the whole question. Having acquired
the idea of pressure, the methods of producing currents
of air in mines would be easily understood, and then the
guiding of the air by the use of doors, stoppings,
brattice, &c. A boy of 14 starting to work in the mine
was given a safety lamp and probably a book of rules,
but no further explanation. He was placed in an
atmosphere quite different from anything he had been
accustomed to, and was absolutely ignorant of the
dangers which surrounded him. It was just possible
and conceivable that his desire to know something
about the lamp might lead to disaster. There were
many men who had been working in mines for years
whose knowledge of the safety lamp was not much
greater than on the first day they handled one. It was
surely a matter of the most urgent importance that
every man should understand the nature of flame, the
phenomenon of combustion, the idea of the gauze on
his lamp, and the behaviour of the lamp under adverse
circumstances—in conditions under which it might fail.
In mining districts this was a question which could
profitably be dealt with during the last year of a boy’s
attendance at school.

Another matter which should be treated somewhat
fully with men of that type was the question of
timbering. Here again valuable results could be
gained if the workmen were trained to a proper under-
standing of the rules. The distances fixed were too .
often rigidly adhered to, and many of the accidents
which had occurred had been traced to cases of bad roof
where intermediate props should have been set. If the
nature of roof pressure—especially in the districts in
which the men worked—and the general principles of
timbering were explained by carefully-selected sketches,
and the meaning of the rules thoroughly investigated
with due regard to precautions for setting props and
sprags, and also for their withdrawal, much would be
accomplished in reducing the death-rate from falls.
Matters such as those, with possibly some knowledge of
the behaviour, use and abuse of explosives, the nature
of coaldust and the dangers attached thereto, were
subjects with which every worker underground should
be familiar.

The Training of Deputies.

Dealing with those underground workers who had
some ambition to rise in their profession by obtaining
official positions, such as — (1) deputies, (2) under-
managers, (3) managers, the lecturer said that he need
hardly deal with the first, as the training of deputies
had been fully discussed of late. Despite the fact, how-
ever, that the new Mines Act laid down the condition
that a candidate must be able to estimate percentages
of gas down to 2 per cent., quite a number of men
presented themselves who had never seen a gas cap.
They had formed their ideas as to the sizes and densities
of caps for the different percentages of gas in many
cases from coloured diagrams. Those pictures might
be a fair guide for one particular lamp and for one
particular man ; but it must be obvious to anyone who
had used the various kinds of lamp with various sizes
and shapes of wick, burning different oils, that they
could be very misleading. The candidate must have
actual practice with the lamps in atmospheres containing
definite percentages of gas, and under conditions whereby
he could manipulate the height of flame. He must of

necessity have handled an anemometer for some time
before he could become sufficiently familiar with it to
measure velocities. He suggested that the would-be
deputy should obtain some practical instruction in the
subject after he had already attended the course already
indicated. While the theoretical training afforded by
correspondence schools was highly beneficial, it must
be obvious that when a student presented himself as a
candidate for his certificate he was at a serious dis-
advantage, the Home Office examinations being entirely
of a practical nature. W ith respect to the requirement
that a deputy should have his eyesight tested every five
years, it seemed to him that a man could pass a duly
qualified medical practitioner’s eyesight test without
being able to see 2 per cent, of gas on the flame of a
safety lamp. The examination, to be a real test, should
be carried out with a safety lamp each time.

Judging from the standard of the recent papers set
at the colliery managers’ examinations, it was clear
that unless a candidate had obtained a thorough technical
training in conjunction with his practical experience,
his chances of success were very small indeed. Speaking
generally, there were three distinct methods of obtaining
the necessary training : (1) By attending a full-time day
course at a college and spending the summer vacations
in the mine; (2) by attending the college on alternate
days; (3) by attending classes in the evenings, and
working in the mine during the day. The first method
was undoubtedly the best, provided the student could
afford it, for by attending such a course during three
years he would obtain much more information than by
spending six or seven years under the second or third
methods. He thought, however, that a youth should have
at least one full year at the mine before commencing
such a course, in order to obtain a general idea of
mining conditions and terms. He benefited from the
start instead of being bored, as would undoubtedly
happen if he started direct from school. In all
three cases the general scheme of instruction must be
the same, being arranged so as to give the student
a good grounding in the fundamental sciences of
mathematics, physics and chemistry, which formed a
basis on which to build the applied subjects. It should
teach him how to learn, for in many mining operations no
hard-and-fast rules could be laid down, and it was often
a somewhat difficult matter to determine how best the
desired result might be obtained. But the student who
had been trained in an organised course and had
cultivated his powers of cultivation and reasoning
had a most striking advantage: Having got a good
grounding in the fundamental subjects, the remainder
of the course should be spent in the application to such
subjects as geology, surveying, mechanics, electrical
engineering and mining proper. Such a course of
instruction involving the fundamental principles which
underlie nearly all industries, produced men who
possessed the valuable qualities of reason and deduction,
and who knew something of the world’s industries as
well as that of mining.

In the next lecture, on February 21, Prof. McMillan
will deal with “ Mining at Great Depths, with Special
Reference to Ventilation.”

Gas Companies and the Price of Coal in 1913.—The
reports of the various gas companies now to hand show how
sorely felt was the high price of coal during the past
year; shrinkages in profits are put down almost entirely
to this factor. At the half-yearly general meeting of the
Gas Light and Coke Company on Friday last, Sir Corbet
Woodall said that for the third time in succession they were
carrying forward a balance smaller than that with which
they opened the half-year. This would be no surprise to
the shareholders, as for two years past the coat of coal had
been much above normal, the purchases last year being
exceptionally so. In August last he reported that for the
supplies purchased forward to June 1914 they would have
to pay more by £175,000 than the already high charges
for 1912-13. In this lay the explanation of the reduced
balance. The increase in the price of coal during the
last half-year represented .£88,072. The ^mailer quantity
carbonised reduced the figure by .£38,674, leaving an excess
over December 1912 of £49,400. The carbonising had been
further improved, saving 20,834 tons of coal, otherwise the
extra on coal would have been £66,200. Oil had cost more
by nearly .£9,000. The total receipts from residuals would
have been £20,000 less had it not been for improvements in
manufacture. The South Metropolitan Gas Company also
found the price of residuals disappointing except in the case
of tar products. The report of the South Suburban Gas
Company for the past half-year states that dearer coal,
combined with lower prices for residuals—especially coke—
has seriously reduced the trading profit, so much so, in fact,
that but for the likelihood, owing to the falling off in the
trade of the country, of coming contracts for coal being
made at lower rates, an increase in the price of gas would
have become inevitable.—Mr. William Bradshaw, at the
meeting of the Commercial Gas Company, on the 5th inst., said
they were paying now no less than 2s. l^d. per ton more for
their coal than this time last year, and 4s. 9d. per ton more
than they were paying two years ago. The company
obtained their coals from Durham, and the wages of miners in
Durham last year had increased by 13| per cent. The
result was not a pleasant one, for, instead of the miners
being glad to put renewed energy into their work, they
relaxed their efforts. It was calculated that, owing to their
refusal to work full time, no less than a loss of 20 per cent,
was occasioned in the coalfields, the result being’that prices
had been kept up artificially, and their company and other
industries had suffered by it. It was estimated that the
output of the collieries in Great Britain last year amounted
to 280,000,000 tons, of which 98,000,000 tons were exported
again, to the detriment of home industries. There were
signs, however, that the price of coal was falling very
considerably.