The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-26 00:00:00

The South Yorkshire Colliers.

The locksout of the South Yorkshire colliers,
which has lasted exactly 18 weeks, has now termi•
noted. At a meeting of the Coalowners' Association
held at the King's Head Hotel, Barnsley, on Satur.
day afternoon it was agreed that the lock-out should
be removed, and the pits opened to the old hands.
For the last two or three weeks the time for resum-
ing work depended on the Oaks and High Royd
colleries, which were to have their full complement
of hands before the others were opened. The Oaks
has been supplied with a good number of men from
Nottinghamshire and other places ; and although
there may not at present be so large a staff as there
was previous to the strike, yet, considering the
season, the managing partner appears satisfied. At
High Royd they are said to be underhanded, but
the proprietors, with their machinery and in other
ways, have advantages which will counterbalance a
deficiency. There was groat excitement in Barns-
ley up to a late hour on Saturday night on it being
zumoured that work was to be resumed at all the
collieries locked out. The feeling was one of intense
gratification, which could be read in the faces of
the numerous knots of miners which were to be met
with in the principal thoroughfares in the town,
anxiously discussing the probability of the rumour
being correct, and which to them was of such vital
importance. The determination of the masters was
not officially announced to the public, but it is ex-
pected that by Thursday the greater part of the men
will be employed. The lock-out has caused a vast
amount of suffering, which has been borne with
great patience, and it will take a consi-
derable time for the men to replace what they have
been forced to dispose of to keep life in them-
selves and their families. The loss in wages alone
during the time the strike and lock-out have lasted
considerably exceeds £60,000. Singularly enough,
the lock-out terminated by agreement on the day
when the first coat-cutting machine was introduced
and tried in the Barnsley coalfield, and which is to
be followed by a number of others as fast as they can
be turned out. The one alluded to was tried at
Messrs. Hall and Stones, High Royd Colliery, on
Saturday, and was in every way satisfactory. If as
successful in cutting the coal as is expected, they
must work a revolution in the coal trade, and, while
altering the position of our colliery population, will
diminish the chance of turn-outs for the future. The
machines, it is said, will cut as much as 30 tops per
hour, equivalent to the labour of 25 men, and in
connexion with them ponies, it is said, will be intro-
duced into the thick seam for hurrying purposes.
Tee men who struck at the Oaks and High Itoyd
Collieries continue out, and show no disposition to
resume work on the old terms, and are tolerably
well supported. How the termination of the lock-
out will affect them is not apparent, but the fact of
the great body of the men resuming work will be
received with satisfaction by the public, and by none
with more pleasure than the colliers themselves. At
the Barnsley Court-house yesterday eight colliers,
named Wright, Carr, Hammerton, Simmons, Doran,
Macarthy, Dundas, and Winter were charged with
conspiracy. On the 16th inst., at Barnsley, they
bad attacked men at the Oaks Colliery on their
return from work, there being at the time a mob of
5,000 persons present. They were committed to the
assizes on three charges.