The Miner's Safety Three years after it was appointed the
Royal Commission on Safety in Coal. Mines has reported. Even during the preparation of the Report the situation has been getting worse, and in the House of Commons in July the Secretary of the Mines Department admitted .a substantial increase in the number of accidents in mines. Last year 859 men and boys were killed, 69 more than the, year before, and the first six months of this year show a tragic increase over the same period of 1937. The last Commission resulted in the present Act, which is 27 years old. New conditions demand new legislation, and the Commission makes a series of important suggestions as to its content. They include proposals for more effective ventilation, to decrease the amount of firedamp in the air ; compulsory workmen's inspection once a quarter ; improved and increased supports fir the workings, and improved conditions of haulage ; a lditional precautions against silicosis ; an increase in the number of inspectorates ; and a proposal that no one under 15, and without previous training on the surface, should be allowed to work below ground. These recom- mendations should immediately be passed into law, and indeed the Government is committed to doing so. The Commission generally is to be congratulated, but most of all Mr. David Grenfell, M.P., who for years has advocated the proposals which now will provide an added legislative protection against the terrible and undiminished dangers of the collier's life.
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