Boys in Coal-Mines
SIR,—In the colliery where I work I know personally two lads who, while under the age of eighteen, since 1949 have worked on night- shift in rotation with morning and afternoon shifts. This is the most dangerous form of night-work, since the constant change-about of hours upsets the normal working of digestion and sleep. In the last year I know one lad who, while under the age of eighteen, worked a seven-day week for six months on end. This boy was, before that period, a normal athletic fit games-playing boy; at the end of the period he became ill with diabetes, and in that sense it is true to say that these conditions are for him a thing of the past.
In any other sense Mr. Gee's letter is disingenuous; the two counties of Northumberland and Durham, which he mentions rather as if they were trivial exceptions, contain more than 200 pits between them. Why is the Board " obliged " to continue a dangerous practice ? Is any consideration worth more than the lives and health of young workers ? It is precisely this sort of defence which leads me to believe that legislation is necessary, and if Mr. Gee wants a short Act of Parliament I will send him one in draft form.—Yours faithfully,
MICHAEL GEDGE.
Church Hill House, Eythorne, Dover, Ken!.
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