1349 December 31, 1915. THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. _______________________ ____________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ MINING ACCIDENTS AND LABOUR IN 1914.* The total number of persons employed^ at mines and at the quarries under the Quarries Act in the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man during the year 1914 was 1,236,363 (1,157,455 at mines, and 78,908 at quarries). Of the 1,157,455 persons employed at mines, 929,807 worked underground, and 227,648 above ground; of the latter 6,724 were females. Compared with the pre- ceding year, there is an increase of 3,448 males work- ing underground, and a decrease of 1,271 males and of 24 females working above ground, making a net increase of 2,153 persons. The increase at mines under the Coal Mines Act was 5,856; at mines under the Metalliferous Mines Act there was a decrease of 3,703. There were 1,300 separate fatal accidents in and about mines and quarries, causing the loss of 1,338 lives, a decrease of 532 fatalities as compared with the previous year. Of these accidents, 1,205, causing the loss of 1,243 lives, happened at mines, and 95, causing the loss of 95 lives, happened at quarries, or, expressed in terms of the number of persons employed, the death rate from accidents per 1,000 persons at all mines was, under- ground 1’187 (or surface and underground 1-074) for 1914, as compared with 1-736 underground (or 1-545 surface and underground) for 1913. The depletion of mining labour owing to recruiting over the last five months of the year was very heavy and irregular. Unfortunately it has not been possible, in calculating the death rate and rate of persons injured from accident, to make allowance for this depletion, and the rates have had to be based on the number ordinarily employed during the first seven months of the year— that is, during the pre-war months. This makes the rates lower than they wTould be if the ratio between acci- dent and employment could be exactly determined, and no precise comparison can be made with the results in previous years. A comparison of the first seven months of 1914 with the first seven months of 1913 is hown in Table A. Table A.—Number of Fatal Accidents and Deaths at Mines and Quarries in the First Seven Months of the Years 1913 and 1914. 1913. 1914. Table B.—Persons Employed at Mines under the Coal and Metalliferous Mines Regulation Acts respectively, Classified according to Sex. Act. No. of mines. Under- ground. Above ground. Total under and above ground. Comparison of total number employed with that of preceding year. Males. Males. Females. Coal Mines Act Metalliferous Mines Act 2,988 564 915,381 14,426 211,789 9,135 6,576 148 1,133,746 23,709 + 5,586 - 3,703 Total in 1914 3,552 3,922 929,807 926,359 220,924 222,195 6,724 6,748 1,157,455 1,155,302 4- 2,153 + 38,154 Total in 1913 Table D.—Fatal Accidents and Deaths at all Mines under the Coal and Metalliferous Mines Regulation Acts, arranged according to Place or Cause. Place or cause of the accident. Fatal accidents. Non-fatal accidents. Separate accidents. Percentage of total No. of accidents. Deaths from accidents. Percentage of total No. of deaths. 1 Average for preceding * five years. Separate i accidents. Percentage of 1 total No. of accidents. No. of persons injured. Perc* ntage of total No. of persons injured. ! Average for preceding five years. Separate accidents. Deaths. Separate accidents. Persons injured. I. Underground accidents: 1. Explosions of firedamp 10 0-8 26 21 18'6 270-0 78 01 105 0T 109 167 or coaldust 2. Falls of ground 592 491 604 48-6 i 604’2 625'8 ! 57,354 35-8 57,476 35-8 57,196 i 1 57,398 3. Shaft accidents 66 5*5 69 5*5 l 82-2 95-8 j 735 0-4 826 0-5 762 ! 847 4. Miscellaneous 399 33T 40 > 32-6 374 4 391-0 88,883 55'5 88,967 55 4 92,065 i 92,192 II. Surface accidents l'?8 11’5 139 11-2 159*6 162’0 ' 13,103 8-2 13,112 8-2 12,374 12,396 Total 1,205 100*0 1,243 | ioo-o > 1,239*0 i 1,544’6 160,153 ioo-o 160,486 100-0 162,506 163,000 Mines under the Coal Mines Act— Number of fatal accidents..... 699 ... 736 Number of deaths............ 752 .. 762 Mines under the Metalliferous Mines Act— Number of fatal accidents..... 20 ... 15 Number of deaths___ ’............. 21 ... 16 Quarries under the Quarries Act— Number of fatal accidents..... 43 ... 61 Number of deaths ____............. 44 ... 61 Table E.—Death-rates from Accidents in and about all Mines under the Coal and Metalliferous Mines Regulation Acts, per 1,000 Persons Employed, from 1905 to 1914. Year. Death-rates from accidents per 1,< 00 persons. Underground workers taken, separately. Surface workers taken separately. 1 General i death-rate of all ; persons | employed both above and under ground. Explosions of fire- damp or coal dust. Falls of ground. Shaft accidents. Miscel- laneous. All causes under- ground. 1905 •251 •758 T06 •404 1-519 •720 1358 1906 •076 •773 T04 •472 1-424 •767 1-291 1907 •057 •755 T33 *511 1-455 •761 1-316 1908 T57 *741 •111 •458 1467 •740 1 322 1909 •272 •736 •108 •505 1-621 •670 1*432 1910 •579 •760 •111 •467 1-917 •748 1-686 1911 •041 •721 T24 •422 1’308 •725 1 193 1912 •138 •658 •089 •388 1-273 •808 1-181 1913 •499 •682 •112 •443 1-736 •773 1-545 1914 •028 •650 *074 •436 1 187 •611 1’074 The death rate per million tons of mineral raised pro- vides a more satisfactory basis of comparison. The rate at mines under the Coal Mines Act during 1914 was 4-37, as compared with the average figure of 4-91 for the decennial period 1905-14. The results of the year’s working are therefore not unsatisfactory, and the year was happily marked by the absence of any great disaster. The total number of persons injured by accidents disabling them for more than seven days at all mines and quarries was 165,150 (mines 160,486, quarries 4,664), as compared with 184,202 for the preceding year (mines 178,962, quarries 5,240), or a decrease of 19,052. During the year 1914 there were prosecutions by the __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Home Office under the Coal Mines and Metalliferous Mines Acts in 50 cases, involving 287 charges, as against 31 cases, involving 170 charges, in the previous year. In eight cases the prosecutions failed; in the other cases convictions were obtained on some or all of the charges. The number of cases reported to the inspectors of workmen who -were prosecuted by mine owners for offences under tlm Coal Mines Act and Metalliferous Mines Regulation Act was 1,723 (1,895 for 1913), result- ing in 1,631 convictions, 19 cases withdrawn or not proven, two cases the defendants did not appear, one case was committed for trial, and 70 cases dismissed. Table B gives a general summary of the number of persons employed in mines under the Coal Mines and Metalliferous Mines Acts. In Table C the statistics relating to employment at coal mines are arranged according to counties. Table C.—Persons Employed at Coal Mines classified ACCORDING TO COUNTIES. Total _______ worked. Males. Males. Females, above ground. York ..................... 129,128... 35,032... 15... 164,175.... Glamorgan .............. 133,924 .. 22,945... 69... 156,938 Durham ................ 133,037... 32,658... 96... 165,791 Lancaster.................. 83,597... 19,849... 2,905... 106,351 Monmouth .............. 53,048... 8,559 .. 53... 61,660 Northumberland........ 50,815... 11,000... 33... 61,848 Derbv..................... 48.337... 11,781... 4... 60,122 Stafford____.................... 47,470... 14,625... 52... 62,147 Lanark................... 47,485... 10,233.. 1,275... 58,993 .... Nottingham.............. 32,684... 8,334... 2... 41,020 Fife....................... 24,130... 4,093... 1,000... 29,223 Other counties .......... 117,730... 29,604... 1,046... 148,380 Total in 1914 ......... 901,385 208,718...6,550... 1,116,648 Total in 1913 ......... 895,857...208,473...6,551... 1,110,884 In classifying the accidents according to place or cause, we find (Table D) that in 1914, 48-6 per cent, of the deaths were due to falls of ground, 32-6 per cent, to miscellaneous causes underground, 2-1 per cent, to explosions of firedamp or coal dust, and 5-5 per cent, to shaft accidents. The figures in Table E give the death rates during the last 10 years. * From Part II. of the General Report on Mines and Quarries for 1914, edited by Sir Richard Redmayne, H.M. Chief Inspector of Mines. f For mines under the Coal Mines Act the figures relate to the period January to July, i.e., previous to the outbreak of war. sales abroad, which are being pushed successfully in many directions—to Japan, Chosen, Hongkong, Manila, Singapore, and the China ports—amounted in 1914 to 1,153,000 tons, leaving 183,000 tons for the bunkers at Darien, Newchwang, and Antung. In 1914, 80,000 tons were shipped to Manila. The company has made, during recent years, extensive wharf and harbour improvements at Newchwang for the shipment of coal from that port, which is 120 miles nearer to the mines than Darien. In 1914, 93,000 tons were sent away from New’chwang, mainly to the China ports. Up to 1914 all the mines were worked by the pillar- and-stall system, but during that year the sand-flushing system was installed at several of the pits, with such good results that the working of all the pits will in time be changed .into this system. The mine water is com- paratively small in quantity, and there is very little fire- damp. All the pits are equipped with modern mechanical ventilators. Electric current from a central plant is used for power in all the mines. The seven-mile colliery electric railway from Fushun Station to the six pits is operated by six electric loco- motives, three from the United States and three from Germany. For the passenger traffic, two large street cars are used: they run between the central residence quarter and the mining pits. To facilitate safe and rapid transit a system of automatic block light signals has been adopted; this material also was supplied from America. Another electric railway extends from the Hunho River to the mining pits, a distance of about seven miles. This line is used exclusively for the sand- flushing system already referred to. The electrification of these railways on the overhead high-tension, direct- current system is the first of its kind to be adopted in tlie Far East. All buildings, streets, and residences are lighted by electricity supplied from the central power station. Gas is supplied to all houses for cooking purposes. The maximum capacity of the gas plant is 120,000 cu. ft. per diem. The offices of the colliery and the residences of the staff, as well as the many public buildings belonging to the colliery, are heated by steam from the central heating installation. There are 20,000 employees connected with the whole enterprise, 18,000 of whom are Chinese, 10,000 being employed underground. There are 2,000 Japanese employees, consisting of engineers and their assistants, foremen and clerks. The houses of the Chinese coolies are models of sanitation and convenience. Disputes as A MANCHURIAN COLLIERY.* The U.S.A. Consul General, P. S. Heintzleman, Mukden, China, gives the following description of the Fushun Colliery and its equipment : The Fushun coal mines have raised this region to a prominent place in the Eastern commercial world. This property, which belongs to the South Manchuria Rail- way Company, was accorded to Japan by the Sino- Japanese agreement of September 4, 1909, and the export duty was settled on the same favourable terms as in the case of Kaiping and other coals. The colliery is situated 20 miles east of Mukden, and is the terminus of a 32-mile branch line which leaves the main line at Suchiatun, 267 miles from Dairen. The coal field runs east to west, parallel with the Hun River for a distance of 10 miles. The thickness of the seam, which dips toward the north at an angle of 30 degs., varies between 120 and 175 ft., and the width of the workable deposit is at least a mile. The Fushun coal fields are said to be unparalleled in the world for thickness and volume of seams. The belt of coal is calculated to contain 800,000,000 tons—a vast supply, which, even if taken out at the rate of 6,500 tons per day, would last for 350 years. The coal is bitu- minous, rich in volatile matter, and with a heating power of 6,800 calories. As fuel for locomotives and marine engines, Fushun coal can compete with the best Japan coal, and is better suited for gas making than any other coal found in the East. Moreover, its superior qualities for household uses are becoming more widely recognised. Mining operations are being conducted in three pits, two (Oyama and Togo) of two shafts each; and one open cut excavation. The two new shafts are 1,234 and 925 ft. deep respectively, and one has an open diameter of 21 ft., and the other 18 ft. The most up-to-date equipment has been used in these new pits, and the average daily output of the mines is 6,500 tons, with a daily capacity of 7,500 tons. The production in 1914 was 2,273,000 tons, which was only slightly less than in 1913. As a result of the efforts made to promote the use of coal in bean mills, distilleries, and other factories, the total sale of coal in the interior of Manchuria during 1914 amounted to 494,000 tons, while the company’s own consumption for the same period was 443,000 tons; the * The Coal Trade Bulletin.