INSPECTION OF MINES.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SPECTATOR. Temple, 3d October 1844. Bra—Some months ago you were good enough to give insertion to the re- marks I addressed to you upon the errors of the opposition to Lord ASHLEY'S Factory Bill. May I hope that the following sequel to that subject will obtain publicity in your columns.
if the internal regulation of Factories by act of Parliament and their inspec- tion by Government-officers are required by the interests of humanity and industry, much more so is this surveillance called for in Mines; where abuses are not only hidden from the sight and knowledge of all but those who work in them, but where the results of carelessness or misrule are immeasurably more disastrous to health and life.
Another of those wholesale sacrifices of life to the defects of mining economy, which so frequently startle the public and evoke its transient sympathy, has just occurred. This fact, together with the recent appearance of Mr. S. TRE- ALENHEERE'S Report, render the time opportune for directing attention to the Means of preventing these serious evils, and of lessening the dangers which surround those numerous and brave men who spend their lives in procuring— often for a very inadequate payment—one of the first comforts and necessaries of life. A more dreary or useful existence than that of a collier, or one more deserving of the active sympathy of society, will be sought in vain throughout the whole range of labour. Deprived wholly of daylight during a large portion of the year, (save on Sundays,) and devoting all their leisure time to the rest and sustenance their toilsome craft demands, the minds of these poor men are nearly as benighted as their daily lives; and it needs not that the indifference of the country should add to the necessary evils of their condition, by leaving them to the mercy of abuses fearfully fraught with the peril of sudden death. It became my duty, as an Assistant-Commissioner under the Inquiry into Mines instituted by Government in 1840, to visit and inspect about fifty col- lieries of different kinds ; and, having investigated the usual modes of venni- kting and managing them, I have no hesitation in saying that the danger of the work is capable of being materially mitigated by perfectly practicable means and careful management. I know not how the last accident occurred; but I do know that many very serious losses of life have arisen from defective venti- lation, quite capable of being avoided. For instance, in one case a very fatal explosion took place, owing to a door having been propped open by a young child who had gone to play, instead of opening and shutting it as each waggon or corf passed through. The ventilation of a mine is not by any means a complex or difficult matter. The whole principle consists in making one continuous current of air, which descends the " down- cast " shaft, drive in an unbroken stream through every passage and work- ing of the mine, before it arrives at the " up-cast " shalt; where a large fire, by creating a vacuum, draws it out, and discharges it, loaded with the impurities it has gathered, into the air above. The great art is to prevent the current from taking a shorter cut, and by finding access from one passage to another, leave more distant parts, where the gas is most freely generated, with- out ventilation. Upon this the whole safety of the lives of those in the mine depends, wherever carburetted hydrogen abounds. To avoid this accumulation of gas, doors are so placed that the current may be turned through the furthest passages of the vast labyrinth ; and, inasmuch as these are constantly traversed by the coal-waggons, children are stationed there to open and shut these doors. For the sake of economy and on account of the physical lightness of the work, the youngest children in the colliery are selected for this important office. Their pay is seldom above 6d. per day ; and yet upon their unwearied attention during a period of twelve hours' duration, it may happen that scores of lives are dependent 1 Davy's-lamps are generally used only where the ventilation is so imperfect that they cannot be dispensed with : they do more for the con- venience of the master than for the safety of the men. It would occupy too much of your space to enter into the detail of the regu- lations whereby a better-secured ventilation might be effected, and also bow greater safety with respect to the machinery for descending and ascending col- lieries might be likewise accomplished. But none of these regulations, how- ever judiciously framed, could be kept in force without constant inspection— inspection not by gentlemen at large, but by practical men trained to the work. As far as my experience went, very few of the proprietors of collieries go into them at all, or know more of their management than they gather from their butties, foremen, and managers. To leave regulations requiring careful and constant attention to the commonwealth of colliers, would be to render them a dead letter. Miners would be neither capable nor competent to en- force such rules ; and the manager would have the master's and his own interest inducing him to avoid an extra trouble. I do not believe that the law already passed for the exclusion of young children is or can be properly enforced. My friend Mr. TREMENHEERE thinks otherwise ; and Las been so told in many instances by persons who, like himself, have not visited the mines, and can know nothing of their own knowledge about them. I have great respect for Mr. TREMENHEERE, and am quite sure that he made the best of his limited time in his late tour of inquiry ; but I have no faith in outside reports of what is done under-ground. I have had ample evidence of proprietors themselves being perfectly ignorant of the real condition of their own collieries, even where they live close to them. Dr. SOUTHWOOD SMITH, and Mr. Seim- DERS, the Factory Inspector, at my request visited a colliery teeming with abuses in which this was the case.
For reasons I have already stated, I approve of the general principle of limit- ing labour in factories ; but to any one who has witnessed the respective con- dition of colliers and labourers, there is no greater caprice in legislation than its provision for factories and its neglect of mines. I beg to remain, Sir, your obedient servant, J. C. SYMONS.
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