The morning call., 1892-10-02
COAL mines And miners.
How a Perilous Calling Is Fol-
lowed in England.
PIT GEORDIE AND HIS WAYS.
home L:fs and Tastes-sport and Betting
Powerful Representatives,
In Parliament
Written for THE MORNING CALL

A glance at the map Of Great Britain Will
show how invaluable to it have been its coal
and iren fields. Without these manufac-
turing resources it never could have become
the great industrial country it is, maintain
ing vigorous trade relations with the whoie
earth. The distribution OF coal in Europe
is very unequal France has little on us
northern frontier: so has Belgium little;
Prussia has some good fields, and Russia is
supposed TO have great coal area. Inc
English area is not only the largest but the
most accessible, almost every coal center
being in close proximity 10 the sea.
Leaving London out of consideration,
those sections of the country which have
coal and iron in abundance are the sections
which have prOSpered aud have increased
In population and wealth. The purely agri-
cultural districts are picturesque but poor
and backward in everything, even in educa-
ton.
How the conditions of prosperity have
changed since the days of the Stuarts! The
west oil England was the business center IN
the times of the Stuarts. and long before
their day wool and agriculture were the sta
pies of wealth.
iron or coal is uupr0gressive. The great
eeDters of industrial population are in the
coal and iron regions. Lancashire. South
Yorkshire. Durham. N0rthGm berland.
Leicestershire, South Wales, the Lothians
of Scotland, ClydeSdale and FIfeshire
flourish upon coal and iron and hundred
Tamifed dependent industries
But for cheap fuel Lancashire could
\ never have obtained the mastery in the cot
ton trade, nor could Yorkshire have sus-
tanned its supremacy in wooden fabrics.
Similarly with tie Clyde in Shlpbullding
When iron vessels came into vogue the
Clyde led the way easily. and sull holds It's
own against all competitors. Rartlep0ol,
Sunderland, Newcastle-On-1yne, Barrow
iu-Furness and Middlesborough are also de-
pendent upon coal and lion Tor their ere
alton and advancement.
When coal gives out in England. say 500
years hence, perhaps less. then may come
The time when MRcaulay's New Zealander
will take up the study of Great Britain
arche0logically But il is quite possible
science may discover a way out of the diff
Guilty by the transmission Of energy from
regions where there is plenty of coal OF
water force.
But it is not my purpose TO bother the
reader with statistics on the dull facts OF
trade. which, If in the mood, he may search
out for himself and cOgItate upon at his
leisure. 1t is much more Interesting to
glance al the ways of miRers-cOalmine
and their social atmosphere. They are
peculiar people, bent and warped Dy their
occupation, and although they live on land,
and have access TO newspapers and other
current sources of information, they are
almost as much in need of being taken care
Of as sailors, who proyerbially are childish
with money in their purse when ashore.
The comparison is not far-fetched.
Jack on board ship is isolated. and lives
his own life. Dick down in the c0alpit is
also cut off from the world, aud the greater
number Of his fellow-men hardly c0mpre-
bend the nature Of his toll. aud only wake
up now ana again to consider him when an
explosion occurs, ana many lives are lost, or
when the price OF household coal jumps up
few shillings.
being reckless and imprudent as to the
future. He enjoys the present, forgets the
past, and gives the future very little serious
thought When wages are nigh he does not
think champagne too good for himself and
his friends. When they are low or there is
strike or lockout. the pimau can be-
come very humble and 60 begging for break
fast, bacon, bread, Or even oatmeal. singing
a song in the streets as reward. But take
= tlIe pftmau ali in all. the wonder is he holds
so good position In the social scale of life,
for well into this century he was very much
neglected By the higher social orders
When John Wesley began 10 preach
among tho miners he found them almost as
rongh material as would be expected in
Central Africa or New Guinea. The Church
of England did not exist for these toilers in
the bowels of the earth. They had neither
education nor political power, and in some
districts were little better than manual
slaves.
The amelioratiou of the life OF GOLFERS has
come with uni0nism. Federation OF the
workers Tor trade purposes has elev ated the
whole body. and the masters do not ind Ii
easy 10 hoodwink the men they employ
when they propose a reduction OF wages.
Some of the unions are so strong in num-
bers aud funds that they can afford TO sup
port members of Parliament. This is the
case in Northumberland and Durham. I.
Burt now a member of GiadstCne's Gov
eminent and Mr.. Fsnwick were both
working pitmen. and are paid salaries by
the miners of Northumberland. john Will
son OF Durham is also miner and there
are few others similarly In the position OF
delegates from mining constituencies.
The precise amount of good they do In
Parliament ii would be difficult to measure.
But they take care by legislation and in
spectlOn that mines are we'll equipped and
that all possible dangers are guarded
against. There are numbers Of employers
so unscrupulous that they care little about
the lives OF their men, provided they can
avoid the expense of efficient ventilation
and sound administration of their colleries.
These wretches have to be checkmated by
vigilance on the part of workman and Gov
eminent inspectors.
of owners in mines. There is the landlord
in freehold. who in law owns the soil from
the surface to the center of the earth.
Sometimes the landlord does his own min
ing. as IN the case of the Marquis OF Lon
donderry and the Earl of Durham, but usu-
ally he leases his mineral rights and charges
so much a ton as royalty. AT shil-
ling a ton this means great revenue on
from 500, 600 TO 500. 600 tons year extracted
from single cOlisry. No wonder late
Earl was able to afford himself the luxury
of an opera performed for his own specia !
entertainment. The lessee has also to pay
for way leaves on the surface, and as rule
be finds it cheaper 10 lease the land also
and farm it on his own account.
Vast fortunes have been made cut OF
collieries but 1t Is also true that numbers
of capitalists have lost heavily by unlucky
bargains. When wages are high, or en-
gineering difficulties are encountered. the
lessee may easily lose 5000 or fl0,o00 a
year on a colliery, and yet he prefers to
continue operations, because ms loss might
be much more were he to bring everything
TO standstill. A pit which has been stand
ing idle involves much cost when started
afresh. The landowner never suffers loss
The limit OF depth at which coal can be
extracted by the miner has not yet been
reached in England. Perhaps 1000 feet VIII
be found too deep and too hot Tor painting
human nature, but the collier has not
nearly reached that point. The Monkwear-
mouth pit in Durham, near Mlddles Dor
ough, has workings almost 20OO feet deep,
and there is another collery In Lancashire,
near Wigan. with workings 2400 feet deep:
These are extreme cases. From 300 to 1000
feet may be taken as an average depth-and
deep enough it is for men whose ives dc,
pend upon the security Of singie-strand
wire rope. AS to the galleries aud road
ways which radlate from the bottom OF
SHAFT, they often extend number OF miles,
and a miner has good tramp before ne
reaches the coalface and begins hewing and
filling the c0ryes.
To the malicious person who has avoided
mining as means of earning livelihood
the descent OF ascent of that dark hole
called the shaft is the most forbidding oil or
deals When the rope gives way. as some
times it does, or when the eEglneman is
careless and overwinds the rope and upsets
the cage. throwing the living freight head