Safety in Mines The appalling waste of life on the
roads of this country has rightly been impressed on the public conscience with some insistence ; but far less has been heard of the annual toll. of life taken by the coal mines, which, in proportion, is actually far more serious. In the House of Commons debate on safety in mines on Monday it was revealed that the number of deaths resulting from pit accidents has been steadily rising and that no fewer than 535 deaths occurred in the first six months of this year. This country has the worst accident record in Europe, and this cannot entirely be attributed to the more difficult conditions which prevail in the majority of British pits. The Royal Commission on Safety in Mines has already been sitting for two and a half years and it is to be hoped that it will not much longer delay the publication of its report ; for, in spite of the extreme paucity of Government Members attending the debate on Monday, the problem of obtaining greater safety for coal- miners is a very pressing one, and one which will require national legislation for its solution.
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