MINING REALITIES
Sut,—I feel that I would like to write to you about mining and miners, as both are very much in the news just now. The country at large is hearing now of the failure of the " Ministry of Labour " to secure men for return to the coal-mines. For this reason there is to be registration of all ex-miners who have spent six months in a coal-mine since 1935, presumably to compel such men to return. That, I think, is useless, for, while they can be forced to go back, they will not be forced to win coal. Why? To answer this question I will try to describe the mining conditions—very briefly—in the seam in which I have worked for the last twenty years.
The coal-seam at the very best is only ao inches high—the best, mark you—and it must be understood that the filler or hewer cannot hope for anything higher. Rather the reverse, for when the filler begins his work—that is, after the cutting-machine has been across the coal-face—subsidence has already taken place and the height is reduced to 14 and even 12 inches. To do his work the filler must use his shovel and pick whilst lying on his side, at full length, or even flat on his back. Our seam is mined in too-yard strips or faces, and, bad as these conditions are, I would ask your readers to try and imagine what the effect is when water is 2 or 3 inches deep on any face. There are many intelligent men in the mines today, par- ticularly young men, 99 per cent. of whom spend their time trying to find a way out of such degrading conditions. Do you wonder? Many of your readers would not take ,Cro to just look at such things.
Along comes Mr. Bevin to force the lucky ones—who have found a way out—back again. Of course there is resentment, for, to many of the younger men, the services have opened out golden opportunities of escape, of which they have taken the fullest advantage, swearing never to return. To me, there is only one way in which Mr. Bevin might have some success in his efforts. Better wages by far to the men who return, and a guarantee that the job each man leaves is open for him at the close of the war.—Yours faithfully,
zo York Terrace, Willington, Durham. WILLIAM SENNETT.
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