The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-28 00:00:00

MINING STATISTICS.

A report issued by the select committee ap-
pointed last session to inquire into the operation of
the acts for the regulation and inspection of mines,
and into the complaints contained in the petitions
from miners of Great Britain, states that a great
number of witnesses havel been examined, but that
on certain points it may, perhaps, be desirable to
hear further evidence. It was therefore recom-
mended that the committee should be re-appointed
next session. According to a return prepared by
the Government Inspector of South Durham, it
appears that the deaths from explosions of fire-
damp in Great Britain in the ten years, 1856 to
1865, were 2,019. Out of this number 412 occur-
red in South Wales, 340 in Yorkshire, 238 in North
and East Lancashire, and 126 in South Stafford-
shire and Worcestershire. The total number of
explosions from fire-damp in Great Britain was 235
in 1856, and 377, 215, 95, 363, 119, 190, 163, 94,
and 168 successively on the nine following years.
The deaths from falls in Great Britain in the same
period (185 G-65) amounted to 3,953, 745 of which
occurred in South Staffordshire and Worcestershire,
530 in South Wales, 358 in West Lancashire and
North Wales, and 238 in Yorkshire. In the ten
years the number of deaths from accidents in shafts
was 1,710, and from miscellaneous causes on the
surface of the earth and in mines, 2,234. The total
number of deaths from all violent causes in the ten
years was 9,916. Out of this number 1,357
occurred in South Wales; 1,302 in South Staf-
fordshire and Worcestershire ; 1,141 in North-
umberland, Cumberland, and North Durham ;
970 in West Lancashire and North Wales ; and 787
in Yorkshire. In 1856, 1,022 deaths occurred from
all violent causes in Great Britain; and 1,122, 931,
905, 1,109, 936, 1,133, 907, 867, and 9E4 succes-
sively in the nine following years. Of the 9,916
deaths, 2,019, or 20 per cent., were from fire-damp
explosions; 3,953, or 40 per cent., were from falls
of roof and coal ; 1,710, or 17 per cent., were shaft
accidents; and 2,234, or 23 per cent., were mis-
cellaneous accidents in mines and above ground. In
the last two years (1864 and 1865) the returns for
Great Britain show a 'reduction of 991 deaths in
proportion to the increased quantity of coal raised,
or nearly 35 per cent., as compared with the fatality
in the two years 1856 and 1857. In the five years,
1856 to 1860, there were 5,089 deaths from colliery
accidents in Great Britain, and during the same
period of 381,067,047 tons of coal were raised. In the
succeeding five years, 1861 to 1865, 468,518,905 tons
of coal were raised, so that if the deaths. had in-
creased in the same proportion as the quantity
of coal raised the deaths in the latter quinquenniad
would have been 6,257, whereas they only amounted
to 4,827, being 1,430 less than in the former
quinquenniad. This shows a redaction of fata-
lities to the extent of 23 per cent. in five years,
being at the rate of 46 per cent. per annum in rela-
tion to the coal raised. In the three years imme-
diately succeeding the passing of the Duplicate Shaft
Act (1862) the deaths in Great Britain were 690
less in proportion to the quantity of coal raised than
they were in the three years immediately preceding
the passing of the act. In 1856 the number of
tons of coal raised in Great Britain was
71,787,552 ; in 1865 it was 98,911,169. Taking the
several groups of inspection districts into which the
coal-fields of the country are divided, the return
shows the following results for 1865 :—To one
death the number of miners employed was 182
in South Wales ; 238 in West Lancashire and
North Wales ; 258 in Northumberland, Cumber-
land, and North Durham ; 296 in South Stafford-
shire and Worcestershire ; 325 in Monmouthshire,
Gloucestershire, Somersetshire, and Devonshire ;
330 in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicester-
shire, and 'Warwickshire ; 340 in the western dis-
tricts of Scotland ; 356 in North and East Lan-
cashire ; 403 in North Staffordshire, Shropshire,
and Cheshire ; 414 in South Durham ; 450 in the
eastern districts of Scotland ; and 636 in York-
shire.

A WORD ABOUT ICELAND.--The whole island,
which belongs to Denmark, is divided into three ampts ;
each ampt has its own ecclesiastical and political govern-
ment. The clerical head of an ampt is a probst, respon-
sible to the bishop; the political head is an amptman, who
is answerable to the Governor at Reykjavik. Each ampt
is divided into so many syssels, and each syssel has its
sysselman, while each syssel is sub-divided into harps,
each with its legal officer. Under the probst of an ampt
are the pastors of their different parishes. In Reykjavik
aro 13 merchants and tradesmen ; there is an apothecary,
who is also French Consul ; a printer and bookseller, who
edits and publishes a monthly paper chiefly filled with
local news ; there is a silversmith, who hammers out dol-
lars into trinkets for females, and a watehmaker.—Once
Week.