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

THE COLLIERS OF SOUTH LANCASHIRE

The Daily News presents its readers with an interesting
article on the colliers of South Lancashire apropos of the
present strike at Wigan. Wigan itself is described as a
most dull and Uninteresting place. Whatever 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 ob-
scure the atmosphere and impart a dingy hue to all
surrounding objects. Nor is the aspect of the town par-
ticularly 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 labouring classes are concerned, to he
few and far between. Cotton and woollen mills abound in
the neighbourhood, but the collieries are the staple
pearls resorted to of obtaining a livelihood. The work-
gng life of a collier generally commences about the age
of 10 or 11 ; but most of the present adult male popula-
tion be ,::an at a much earlier date, say 6or 7. This was
before Act of It 0, which prohibited the employment
of children under 10 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 3,000.
Youths and young men of from 13 to 19 years old are
also largely employed, the proportions being about
50 or 60 boys and young men to every 100 adults.
The employment of boys is undoubtedly an evil, but the
great scandal of the coal mines is the working of women,
about 500 of whom are employed at the several pits.
Their ages vary from 12 to 50 ; a few are the widows of
colliers. They generally wear a peculiar description of
attire, consisting of coarse trousers, resembling those worn
by men, fastened by a belt round the waist, a soft
bonnet, and • a shawl. The petticoats are generally
tucked into the trousers. Sometimes they may be seen
wearing jackets like the men, smoking, drinking, and
behaving as if completely unsexed. It is acknowledged
that the habitual wearing of this costume tends to destroy
all sense of decency amongst them, but it has not been
ascertained that their morals are more lax than those of
the generality of females employed in agricultural opera-
tions. The work they do—removing tubs of coal from
the mouth of the pit to the waggon—is severe even for
men ; at the same time, they earn less than half the
wages of those whom they assist. They are more regular
and punctual in their habits than the men, but their
employment renders the homes uncomfortable, and in
many cases unhappy. The men are paid by piece-work,
and the disputes which take place arise from the way in
which coals are measured.

Extensive horse-breeding farms have been esta-
blished in the Cape of Good Hope for the supply of horses
to India. The export of horses to India from Australia
has been checked in consequence of Australian horses
having become deteriorated.

The Salford General Purposes Committee has
decided by a larie majority to recommend the Council to
appoint a Medical Officer of Health, "who shall devote
the whole of his time to the service of the borough." Th:
salary proposed to be given is £3OO a year.

It is stated that Colonel Harcourt, of Nuneham,
will contest the borough of Abingdon in the Liberal
interest at the next election, and that it has been
arranged in the county for one of the present represents'
tives to retire to make room for Mr. Walter, and so pre-
vent a contest.

FUNERAL OF THE BISHOP OF HEREFORD.-011
Thursday afternoon the mortal remains of Renn Dickson
Hampden, Lord Bishop of Hereford, were :deposited in
the family vault at Kensal-green (in close proximity to
that of the Princess Sophia), surrounded by a large circle
of his cst,eemed friends. The service was most impressively
rendered by the Venerable Lord Saye and Sele. The
outer coffin was of dark polished oak, and the cortege con•
slated of a hearse and four horses, and five mournint
coaches, followed by several private carriages.
SHOCKING ACCIDENT.—On Wednesday evening
intelligence reached Cardiff that a dreadful accident had
occurred at No. 3 shaft on the Caerphilly branch of the
Rhymney Railway. During the dinner hour a man had
been working in the shaft, and asked to be pulled to the
top of the shaft. Shortly afterwards six other men joined
him to proceed to their work in the shaft. When the
engine was set in motion it was found that the gearing
had got out of order, and before it could be remedied the
whole of the men were thrown from the top of the shaft tc
the bottom, a depth of 117 yards.—Ccimbria Daily Leader,

SIR JAMES CLARK. —Sir James Clark is reco•
vering steadily, though slowly, from his late severe illness.
A very sharp attack of bronchitis, accompanied by ex,
treme prostration, and complicated by distressing
dyspepsia, together with the feebleness of heart conse
quent upon the sufferer's advanced age, at one time caused
grave anxiety to his medical attendants, Dr. Sieveking
and Dr. Kough, of Bagshot. These gentlemen now, how
ever, think their patient is making good progress towardt
recovery, if not, indeed, fairly convalescent.—Bridal
Medical Journal.

THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH.—To the medical
profession, which is never backward in its loyalty, the cast
of the Prince is of especial interest as an example of s
somewhat rare, though not by any means unknown, for
tuitous occurrence—the passage of a bell along a rib for
considerable distance without any injury to the viscera Of
the chest or abdomen. Thus Guthrie, in his Commentaries
speaking of this accident, says : " It is a rare exception
to a general rule, dependent upon the ball being re
fleeted upon something solid which it cannot penetrate
such as a button, a piece of money, a rib, &c." According
to the telegraphic despatch the ball entered the bad
half an inch to the right of the spine, struck the ninti
rib, followed round the course of the rib, and lodged five
inches from the umbilicus, and 44 inches beneath the right
nipple, having thus traversed a distance of 12i inches
The ball in all probability was fired somewhat obliquely
and this favoured its course around the chest. It was
perhaps, fortunate also for the royal patient that hi
cowardly assailant attacked bins behind, since the tissue
of the back would offer more resistance than the this
chest-wall in front. It may be remembered that the unfor
tunate bandsman who fell a victim to Fenian hatred las'
autumn was fired at directly in front, and the ball passed
between the ribs and traversed the lung, finding an exi:
behind. We congratulate Drs. Watson and Young, a
the Challenger and Galatea, on their successful extraction
of the ball, which was, no doubt, readily accomplishes
under the circumstances through a small " counter
opening." As the latest accounts pronounce the Princ
convalescent, we may hope that, though injuries of th
chest-wall arc not without some danger to the irnportan
organs in the vicinity, the good health and youth of th
patient, combined with the solicitous care he has received
will have fully restored him to health before he reache
these shores, where his advent will be anxiously awaited
by the public no less than by his august rclatives.—Th
Lgncet.