320

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

August 13, 1915^

COAL MINING ORGANISATION
COMMITTEE.

In February the Home Secretary appointed the
following, viz., Sir Richard Redmayne, K.C.B., Chief
Inspector of Mines (chairman), The Earl of Crawford
and Balcarres, Vernon Hartshorn, Esq., Arthur Francis
Pease, Esq., Charles Edward Rhodes, Esq., Robert
Smillie, Esq., and Stephen Walsh, Esq., M.P., to be a
Committee ‘ ‘ to enquire into the conditions prevailing in
the coal mining industry with a view to promoting such
organisation of work and such co-operation between
employers and workmen as having regard to the large
numbers of miners who are enlisting for Naval and
Military service, will secure the necessary production of
coal during the war.” Subsequently Mr. Adam Nimmo
was appointed in place of the Earl of Crawford and
Balcarres, who had resigned. The report of the Com-
mittee has already appeared.* We now give a digest
of the evidence tendered before the Committee at
various dates between March 9 and April 28.

Mr. J. R. R. Wilson.

Mr. John Robert Robinson Wilson, inspector of mines
in charge of the Northern Division, gave evidence on March 9.
In his division, he said, it was chiefly the coal getting and
coal transporting classes underground that had been denuded
by enlistment. He did not ’think there had been any influx
of outside labour. On the contrary, there were men who had
left the east coast collieries who had not gone to the war, but
had gone to Elswick and similar works. It was chiefly the
stonemen that had left the mines for' that purpose. It had
affected the output because the stone candies were not kept
up. The hewer could not get the stone ripped near enough
to the face. That meant throwing the coal a certain dis-
tance; and he was hampered, and the output was lessened.
The seams in Northumberland were low and hard.

Northumberland exported about 80 per cent, of its output,
not including colliery consumption. At the commencement
of the war, in the early weeks, there was no particular
demand for Northumberland coal, and the pits were working
very short time. There were a few pits which stopped at the
beginning of the war, but they had been re-opened. The
Durham pits exported about 25 per cent.; the rest was gas
and for manufacturing coke.

Witness said there had certainly not been a decrease of
absenteeism since the war. It was chiefly amongst the
hewers and stonemen—not so much the putters. It was the
putters who had so largely gone away; and the men who were
doing the putting were men who ought to be doing other
work. Absenteeism in Cumberland was pretty much the
same, varying from the best colliery, where it was only 5^-
per cent., up to 19| per cent.; the former percentage could
practically be explained by sickness. He should say in the
Whitehaven district the average daily wage was 10s. to 12s.
Cumberland had been working practically full time all the
way through; but enormous numbers of men had gone from
^he Whitehaven district. It was -a very serious question
with the owners of the Whitehaven collieries as to whether
they could keep going, and they were losing money heavily.
They had 70 Belgians now, which was a help, and they were
excellent miners.

To mitigate absenteeism, witness could not think of any-
thing beyond moral suasion. He was afraid that crowds of
men did not realise the position. If an owner or a manager
spoke to them, of course they took it for granted there was
something behind what he said; that he wanted an output.
He thought some system of bonus for regular attendance
would help. He believed it had been tried in the Cumber-
land iron ore districts.

As to the greater utilisation of labour-saving appliances,
the chief difficulty was that they could not get apparatus
quickly—not only coal cutting machinery, but auxiliary
haulage. That would save putting and driving. He had a
case in mind where they commenced just before the war to
instal coal cutting machinery. They had just got it nicely
working, and it had made all the difference in the world.
Instead of getting a ton and three-quarters per man for the
getters, they were getting six tons, and the output per person
employed at the mine had gone up tons. In fact, it had
made the difference between the place not being worth any-
thing at all and being a paying concern. The adoption of
the machinery was • governed entirely by the period of the
war. Then perhaps some of the thinner seams might be
stopped. He believed a lot of people had already shut off
temporarily all districts where the coal was thin or difficult
to get, and concentrated work in those parts where the coal
was more easily got, near the shaft, and so forth. That was
where they could ensure getting back into the district. But,
of course, if a district was going to be shut off entirely, then
it was a very serious consideration.

Witness added that in some parts of the division, particu-
larly in Central Durham and Western Durham, and in parts
of the Northumberland district along the Tyne, there were
very old collieries, with long straggling haulage roads, and
he had considered the question’of closing some of those mines,
and diverting the labour into newer mines and mines where
the coal was more easily got. Of course, a great difficulty
would be the housing question, because in Northumberland
and Durham the villages were the property of the coal
owners, and the men were supplied with houses and coal as
part of their wage. Some of them supplied water and
electric light also. It would depend on the train service.
They would, more or less, have to pool the thing. There
were owners now who had any amount-of trade, who could
not get men. Then there was this difficulty, that the colliery
would have to be kept open, because presumably it would
resume operations at the termination of the war, and there
would be a certain amount of dead labour in keeping open
that mine. The royalty owner might object; he presumably
would have to be compensated. The royalty owner, of
course, was only losing temporarily; he was not losing per-
manently, because the coal still remained.

Allowing boys to go to work a little bit earlier, say, at 13,
would relieve matters somewhat. It would help very con-
siderably by letting the big lad do something else, and so
on. One of the difficulties of the moment was that, the young
men having enlisted, the older men doing young men’s work
did not do it so well. The hewers were putting, and they
ought not to be putting; stonemen, who ought to be getting
the canches down and doing nothing else, were removing
their own stone, putting the stone.

Mr. Wilson thought the provision in the Eight Hours Act
allowing of an extra hour for 60 days under certain condi-

* See Colliery Guardian, June 11, p. 1217.

tions had been utilised pretty fully where possible. Of
course, it was no use talking about reducing the hours of
getters in the North. They worked most extraordinary
times. The man who got the coal was actually getting coal
for perhaps five hours. The hewers’ time from bank to
bank was often 6| hours—4 to 10.30. Of course, to suspend
the Eight Hours Act temporarily would help all the on-cost
labour. The provision might be utilised to a greater extent,
by agreement between the representatives of the men and
masters. If they worked the boys 10 hours for the moment
it would give a lot of labour for doing other work. They
might suspend the Eight Hours Act, but they could not
compel people to go back to the old system; only they would
give those who were disposed to take advantage of it the
opportunity. v Now they had not the opportunity. A lot of
people "Would like to do it. There were a lot of young men
who at the moment were disposed to work longer and get the
coal out, but they could not; that was, to go on with the
stone working and get the canches down. In many places
he knew they would not have it. The change would be too
great. Opinion differed undoubtedly among owners as to
whether any good would result. But if there were one shift
of 10 hours instead of two shifts, that is, hauliers and putters
and on-cost men generally, it would free about 80 per cent,
of the hands on the other shift. At present there were two
shifts of putters, rolleyway men, drivers, and so on. They
overlapped four hours, and they would save that, at any
rate. To many members of the Committee the two- and
t’hree-shift system as it obtained in the North was somewhat
strange. He had a note of a mine where 200 hewers per
shift were assumed to be employed. In a two-shift pit there
would be 400 hewers, and 120 putters would get the work
away from those men. It would take 70 rolleyway men and
drivers—that is, men on the haulage roads, and that sort of
thing—10 onsetters, and 80 stonemen; that was a total of 680
men. The output would be something like 1,050 tons per
day. With three shifts at tlfe same place they would have
600 hewers, the same number of putters—120 would do it—-
the same number of rolleyway men, and the same number of
onsetters. Then there would be rather more stonemen,
numbering 110; that was 910 persons, and the output would
be' about 1,500 tons. Now the times for a two-shift place
were these. The hewers went down for the 4 o’clock shift at
4 in the morning, and commenced to come out at 10.30. The
back shift went down at 10 in the morning, -arid came out at
4.30. The putters, rolleyway men, and onsetters commenced
to go down for the 4 o’clock shift at 5, and came out at 1,
and the back shift went down at 9 in the morning, and
came out at 5. They all overlapped for four hours; that
was where the waste came. He was an advocate of a partial
suspension of the Eight Hours Act in respect of transit hands
and stonemen only. It practically would mean a reversion
to the pre-eight hours system existing in Northumberland
and Durham. He contemplated that at one pit they would
work under the suspension and that at another they would
not. The suspension would have to be optional.

Questioned by the Earl of Crawford, witness admitted, that
the effect of the transference of labour did not always corre-
spond in percentage to the number of men transferred. A
man who had been accustomed to work in one thickness
did not get the same quantity of coal in another thickness.
Looking at it from a financial point of view, probably the
gain would be nothing, but the output ought to be increased
materially. Even so, he admitted that the results would be
small compared with the results which would be secured
by working the pits a full number of shifts for a full
number of days. In Northumberland, the men played
Saturday, which was a sacred day. In some cases it was
worked in Durham, and in all cases it was worked in
Cumberland. As a matter of fact, it was a short day in
Cumberland, but still the pit worked. Of course the
absenteeism varied from day to day. On Mondays it was
tremendous, sometimes 40 to 50 per cent., towards the end
of the week the absenteeism was almost entirely measured
by the* sick and compensation rate. The loss of output
would be rather more than the absenteeism, assuming a
basis of one ton output per man. His estimate of 15 per
cent, absenteeism was assessed on 11 working days. He
could hardly conceive any circumstances under which they
could get the men to work this extra day. The absenteeism
was more nearer the large towns.

As to the transference of labour to the more productive
mines, witness said they had not in Northumberland got
the conditions which obtained in Lancashire, where the
miners’ daughters, and sometimes even their wives were
working in the mills.

Mr. 'Wilson said that where the 60 hours was taken
advantage of in his division was on the Saturday morning.
Men came in an hour earlier than they were entitled to do
to make a short Saturday, and they took an hour of this
60 in that way. They regarded it as though they had worked
an hour longer on Friday, and, they took it back on the
Saturday, and came in an hour earlier on the Saturday.

In reply to Mr. Pease, witness said he did not assume that
machine getting could be generally adopted through Durham
and Northumberland. It was only in exceptional places
where machines could be put in where they were not in
now. In the older collieries, where seams had been
exhausted underneath those now being worked, it would
often be impossible. Then with regard to additional
haulage, he admitted that the colliery mechanics -were scarce,
and if they increased the machinery they would have still
greater difficulty in maintaining the plant at the present
moment, that was especially with regard to electrical
apparatus. There were not the trained men to look after
them. He also agreed that in some cases if the seams were
stopped they would close up so that they could never be
opened again. What was in his mind was merely individual
places. He was not taking a thin seam colliery in one
district and a thick seam colliery in another, because some
thin seams collieries did quite well indeed, and got quite
good outputs. The one day in the week off was extremely
useful for putting the pit in order. In fact, even that was
not always sufficient to keep the pit in order.

Witness stated that the miners’ agent at Whitehaven told
him that the English Cumberland miners had watched the
Belgian miners there. They worked in threes usually at
the Whitehaven pits; and one Belgian at the outset always
went into the place alone, and told the other two to keep
outside. He examined it thoroughly, and then he told the
other two to come on. None of the Cumberland miners did
that. They took it for granted, when the deputy had been
in, that the place wTas all right, and they went and started
work. The Belgians were extremely careful men; he wished
they could get spine more of them.

Mr. Wilson did not think any of the mines had been
stopped owing to the want of timber. With regard to the
transport question, a number of collieries could discharge

the coals direct from the screens into the ships, or had
their own private railway. The great difficulty had been
with shipping, and he had not heard of any pits stopped
through want of railway trucks where there were ships
available.

Witness said he knew of one or two rather extraordinary
cases where the output had increased. They were on the
minimum wage, and the proprietors were going to give the
men notice and stop the mine. The men then said they
thought they could do better, and they increased the output
12 per cent.

Mr. Vernon Hartshorn here mentioned that at the
present time in his own district he was revising a large
number of old price lists which were established many years
ago. They were so low that it did not matter what work
the man did he was dependent upon allowance or minimum
wage; and there was no incentive to do a bit more and
produce the biggest output possible. Witness hardly
thought that would apply in his district. The case he
mentioned was exceptional. He had two eases similar to
that, both near large towns. The other case was even
more extraordinary still. They were nearly all on the
minimum wage, and 200 hewers were discharged. The
colliery could not stand it any longer, and they were all
under notice. After the discharge of the 200 getters, the
output increased. Probably the work was not being got
out as satisfactorily as it ought to have been, and therefore
those that were left probably had their work got out better.

The Earl of Crawford said he could quote a case from
his own knowledge where there had been an enlistment of
35 per cent., but where the output had, none the less,
increased. That was owing to the opening of a modern
mine. Witness said this was an old mine'. But it was his
impression that the output per man had not increased since
the war. In that division it was the practice to employ
more men than could get their work out, but nothing like to
the extent of 15 per cent. ; he should say a few more, perhaps
nearly 4 per cent.—what they called market men. They
could not do that in Durham on account of the “ cavil ”
system. Then there were difficulties in keeping the faces
straight and regular, because if a man was out for a day
or two they could not put another man in his place.

Where these Belgians wrere employed, precautions had been
taken as to the language. If they did not understand the
English language, or if the management did not understand
theirs, they could not be employed without an interpreter.
If there was an interpreter employed, then he must travel
with the fireman. It was astonishing how quickly these
men picked up local knowledge; and they were utilising the
services of the first lot to look after the others, acting as
officials for them, going round with the deputies and
instructing the men.

With regard to the hardship that might be created in
stopping an old colliery, because they could not take the
manager over, there had been a great many managers who
had gone to the front, and witness said he had had applica-
tions from collieries to know what they were to do. There
were a lot of places where they were in great difficulties as
regards the management.

Witness thought if the public-houses were closed on
Sundays there would be less absenteeism. He would cer-
tainly give up everything and take nothing whatever but
water himself if they would close the public-houses on
Sundays.

Asked whether any advantage’could be made of “ Baff ”
Saturday, witness said there was one large colliery in his
division where, at present, they were only working three
days a week, and the men were agitating for one of those
days to be a short day; because it had' always been the
custom to have a short day in the week, and they wanted
a short day. The suggestion was hopeless. The men would
prefer to work ,a little longer on other days than to have an
extra day’s work.

Mr. A. D. Nicholson.

Mr. Arthur Darling Nicholson, divisional inspector of
mines in charge of the new Lancashire division, and formerly
actirfg district inspector in charge of South Durham and the
North Riding of Yorkshire, also gave evidence on March 9.
Witness said the enlistment had not been evenly
distributed. In Flintshire very few had joined, but from
round Wigan and St. Helen’s a great number had gone.
At one of the St. Helen’s collieries they had lost more than
half their men from recruiting. They had lost 83 per cent,
of men of military age. At other firms it had gone up to
30 per cent, of the total number of persons employed. In
North Wales they did not get the same spirit among the
men. They were of a quieter disposition. In Cheshire, at
one colliery, of about 700 persons employed, only 20 had
gone. The vacancies caused by those men joining the
Colours had been to some extent filled up, about 5 per cent.,
against 20 per cent, enlisted. They mostly came from other
pits in the same district. Only one colliery near Manchester
had Belgians, and there were only half a dozen of them.

Witness said absenteeism varied very much at different
collieries. Taking the whole of the district, he thought it
was something between 15 and 20 per cent., including those
who were sick and injured. He put it down principally to
the high rate of wages. Some figures he had for January
and February showed an increase for February over January.
The only remedy was to appeal to their patriotism. The
local leaders of the men would have more influence than
anybody else in that direction. Bonuses for regular work
might be established in some cases. It should be for regular
attendance.

As regards the introduction of coal-cutting machinery,
that would possibly not be such a benefit to Lancashire
as to other districts, on account of the greater difficulties
which were met with in working the coal, owing to faults.
Then everything in connection with the roof is against the
regular working of coal getting. And there was the
question of motive power. At the majority of the
Lancashire collieries he would not like to suggest the putting
in of electrical power, and that would mean falling back
on compressed air, which would take a considerable time
to instal. A little might be done in the direction of
auxiliary haulage and getting it near to the face. As a
matter of fact, in one oi the largest collieries they were
thinking about doing that.

Witness thought he had had three cases where he had
re-arranged the winding times—where they had taken advan-
tage of the 60 hours a year. It was with'the object of start-
ing an hour earlier and leaving off an hour earlier. The
suggestion that the one hour in 60 days should be utilised in
the actual rate of production was hardly worth the trouble.
The customary time for piecework in the‘ Lancashire division
was from 6 to 2, for six days a week, if they were working
full time. In one or two cases they worked double shifts,
but, as a rule, they were all single shift collieries.