The Express.
London, England, 1868-05-01 00:00:00

THE COLLIERS OF SOUTH LANCASHIRE.

The state of affairs among the colliery operatives
of South Lancashire and their employers has at
last, as had long been feared, reached a oriels.
The failure of the recent attempt+, despite the pre-
sence of a strong military force, to protect the non-
unionist workmen from the systematic intimida-
tion and ill-usage of their unionist brethren on
strike, bids fair to terminate iu • general closing of
the numerous coalpits in the Wigan district, a
result which must inevitably occasion a consider-
able amount of distress and suffering anion the
families of the unemployed colliers. The Wigan
district, in which the unhappy dispute originally
commenced, embraces an area of some 12 or 13
square miles, the town of Wigan forming the
centre thereof. A more dull or unintereat-
Mg region can scarcely be imagined. What-
ever picturesque features the surrounding
landscape once possessed have become well
nigh obliterated by the rapidly-increasing number
of huge cinder-heaps, lofty pit-chimney shafts, and
dense clouds of thick black smoke which obscure
the atmosphere and imparts a dingy hue to all
surrounding objects. Nor is the aspect of Wigan
itself particularly, enlivening. The streets possess
few architectural attractions, and although places
of religious worship abound, the means of social
and intellectual recreation appear, so far as the
1 labouring classes are concerned, to be few and far
between. But there is no lack of indications of
unceasing and productive industry. What \Vigan
lacks in the picturesque is amply made up by an
abundance of the useful ; it is the beau ideal of an
utilitarian town according to popular notions.
Everywhere are to be found the unfailing signs of
profitable and increasing labour. Cotton and
woollen mills, iron works, agricultural implement
manufactories, and coal-pits abound in the neigh-
h.urhood, apparently affording ample means of
employment to all who may desire it. The staple
industry, however, is coal-mining, in which pursuit
several thousands of men and boys find plenty of
occupation in ordinary times. About 500 females
are also said to be actively engaged at the
mouths of the different coal pits. The social con-
dition of these people lately formed the subject of
parliamentary inquiry, when many interesting de-
tails were elicited respecting the general habits
and character of a class whose recent violent de-
meanour has awakened grave doubts as to the
possible maintenance of peace in the neighbour-
hood of Wigan during the continuance of the pre-
sent unhappy dispute. It appears that although,
in some respects, the condition of the colliers is
more encouraging than was the case a few years
since, still it is admittedly beset with many difficul-
ties and hardships, partly self-created, and beyond
the reach of mere legislation to remove ; and
partly the result of former abuses, the effects of
which will require years to dispel. The working
life of a collier generally commences about the age
of ten or eleven •, but most of the prevent adult
male population began at a much earlierdate, say six
or seven. This was before the Act of 1860, which
prohibited the 'employment of children under ten
years of age in coal mines. The number of collier
boys between the ages of 10 and 12 engaged in the
Wigan district is estimated at 3,a00. Youths and
young men of from 13 to 19 years old are also
largely employed, the proportions being about 50
or GO boys and young men to every 100 adults.
These proportions vary considerably, according to
the character of the respective pits. The boys
are invariably the offspring of miners, or of per-
sons connected with the mines, and are employed
with the consent—generally in compliance with
the entreaties—of the parents. Sometimes, bat
not frequently, the boys are procured from the
parish. The labour is generally hard, and the
hours long, but the rate of remuneration is pro-
portionately high. The boys, as a rule, are in the
mine from 11 to 14 hours at a time, including the
intervals for meals, and their labour consists in
assisting the pitmen—generally their parents--tn
fill the coal tubs, afterwards dragging them, when
tilled, into the more open portions of the
workings, or to the bottom of the shaft.
The tubs, when filled, weigh about seven hundred-
weight, and sometimes have to be dragged by the
lads a distance of 400 or 500 yards. The wages
received by the younger boys range from Is. to
Is. 4d. per day, the elder lads receiving from Is. Gd.
to 2s. Gd. In the cotton factories the operation
of the half-time clauses prevents the children earn-
ing more than 2a. or 2s. 6d. per week ; hence the
anxiety of both parents and offspring that the
latter should find employment in the coal-pits.
Unless they begin early the boys seldum make
good colliers. The pit labour, however, often ope-
rates unfavourably on the physical health of the
lads. Numbers, on returning from work, find
themselves so terribly fatigued that they
have not strength to wash themselves so
as to get to bed. A collier lad can inva-
riably be recognised by his pale, sleepy, and
stunted appearance. He resembles a plant which
has been growing in a place from whence the light
has been carefully excluded. It is asserted that
this is not essentially an indication of ill health ;
but, on the other hand, it is as stoutly maintained
that the scale of mortality—whatever be the cause
—among the collier population is extremely high.
The greater part, sometimes the whole, of the earn-
inga obtained by the collier boys goes into the
hands of the parents—too often to be recklessly
squandered in beer and gin, especially during the
Saint Monday holiday, which inevitably succeeds
the regular fortnightly pay-day. Habits of improvi-
dence prevail to a lamentable extent among all
sections of the working collier community. The
deficiency of educational acquirements is also pain-
fully apparent, a circumstance which goes far
to explain much of the rough and violent be-
haviour of many of the men during the last few
days. It is positively asserted by many who ought
to know the truth, that the majority of collier lads
can neither read nor write. Certain it is that the
educational standard existing among them is ex-
tremely low ; yet the facilities for procuring cheap
and good education are numerous. Mr. Knowles,
ex-mayor of Wigan, and an extensive colliery pro-
prietor, however, states that out of 1,000 men
there were only five or six who could not write
their own names, and these were chiefly aged per-
sons. But the signature test is by no means a
sound or reliable one. A person may bo able
to write his or her name, and yet be perfectly un-
able to read or write anything else. The number
of day schools in Wigan and neighbourhood
—within an area of three miles—is 34,
the average number of scholars being from
8,000 to 9,000, the average proportion of
boys being from 2,500 to 2,700. Most of those day
schools are in connection with the established
church, and are, as a rule,liberally supported by the
colliery proprietors. The various Sunday schools
afford an irregular kind of secular education, and
are generally well attended. The night schools are
the least successful, although their results are en-
couraging, especially in individual instances. Still,
the broad facts remains that children are em-
ployed in large numbers in the South Lancashire
coal mines at an age when they ought to be at
school, and that the fault is quite as much
with the employed as with the employers.
Until recently the demand for boy-labour was
greatly in excess of the supply, the results
being s gradual increase in the rate of
wages received by the lads. At twenty years of
age the collier lads begin to bo regarded as men,
and receive a higher scale of remuneration accord-
ingly. The wages are generally paid direct to the
men by the employers, the truck-system being all
but unknown in Wigan. The rate of wages,
according to the men, is from sa. to 6e. per day ;
according to the employers, it is from se. Gd. to
Ga. Gd. or 7s. per day. This is considerably in
excess of the wages received by the Belgian
miners, who seldom earn more than 2a. 6d. or 3s.
per day. The men are paid by piece-work, and
the majority of disputes between them and their
employers arise out of disagreements as to the
manner in which the coals are measured, the
present system being eminently unsatisfactory.
The great body of the colliers are na-
tives of Lancashire, the intermixture of la-
bourers from other districts being compa-
ratively small, the Scotch elements being
wholly absent. They mostly reside at some