Minutes of evidence taken before the Royal Commission on metalliferous mines and quarries : volume 1.

  • Great Britain. Royal Commission on Metalliferous Mines and Quarries.
Date:
1912
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: Minutes of evidence taken before the Royal Commission on metalliferous mines and quarries : volume 1. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    10 June 1910.] Mr. M. Delevingne. [Continued. as calling attention to the differences between them. It does not follow necessarily that everything that is here is applicable to both, but those are the chief points of difference ?—I thought it would be convenient to the Commission to give those. 103. Does that exhaust what you have to say on that P—Yes. 104. Will you tell us what has been done in pre- vious inquiries with regard to metalliferous mines ?— The important inquiries have been four. The first was in 1864, when a Royal Commission reported. I do not know whether it would be of interest to the Com- mission to know roughly what their conclusions were. 105. Decidedly ?—-Their two chief conclusions are : “ (1) That there is a great excess of sickness and mor- “ tality amongst metalliferous miners which is mainly “ attributable to the imperfect ventilation of the mines, “ (2) That several other causes, both general and local, “ largely contribute to impair the health of the miner.” 106. Did they say anything special about any kind of disease?—Yes. They drew attention to the exces- sive mortality, chiefly from pulmonary diseases. They sent, as regards Cornwall, medical men to investigate the conditions in the Cornish mines, and they sum- marised the report of those medical men as follows : “ They ascribe the unhealthy condition of the miners “ to several causes ... to the early age at which “ miners commence working underground ”—at that time it was 10—“ to the severity of the labour which “ they undergo, especially in deep mines, where ladders “ are the only means of access ; to working in a heated “ atmosphere or in places which are draughty or wet “ from defective drainage; but more particularly to “ the impurity of the air which the men have to “ breathe when underground . . . exposure to “ cold and damp at the surface, or in the shafts and “ other parts of the mines, is the most frequent excit- “ ing cause of disease among the miners, operating “ with peculiar severity upon men in a state of perspi- “ ration or exhausted from having worked in close “ places, or ascended ladders from great depths.” They made certain recommendations for the improve- ment of ventilation, and on other points. 107. I think you might outline those roughly to us. They were with regard to changing-houses, and me- chanical means for raising and lowering the men ?—The Commissioners recommended the provision of changing- houses—that was given effect to in the Act of 1872 ; and also the provision of mechanical means for raising and lowering the men when the mines were of great depth — that was not given effect to ; and without formulating a definite recommendation as to the means, they insisted on the necessity of an adequate amount of ventilation in the mines. 108. The difficulty in carrying out improvements in recent years is to some extent to be attributed to the declining nature of the industry in a good many mines, I mean the want of money ?—I should think that was an operating cause. 109. We have to look that in the face, I suppose ? —Yes. 110. What is the next inquiry to which you 'wish to draw our attention ?—No further inquiry took place with regard to any section of the industry till 1895, when Mr. Asquith appointed a Committee to inquire into the conditions of work in the Merionethshire slate mines. I presume that Report* will be befoi’e the Commission. They made a number of recommenda- tions, some of which required legislation, and have not yet been carried into effect. A considerable number could be given effect to by means of Special Rules, and a code of Special Rules was prepared and established for the Merionethshire slate mines in 1900. 111. Can you mention the principal one of those recommendations that strikes you that has not been carried out ?—They strongly recommended that a certificated manager should be appointed for every mine. They recommended that the General Rule in the Coal Mines Act to which I referred just now, which requires roofs and sides to be made secure, should be applied to metalliferous mines; that the daily visit to every working place by a competent person should be made compulsory, the same as the rule in the Coal Mines Act. They recommended that interested magistrates should not be allowed to adjudicate upon cases under the Act, that is, similar to the provision in the Coal Mines Act; and an amendment of the definition of non-fatal accidents, which has been carried into effect by the Notice of Accidents Act, 1906. There were general recommendations about technical instruc- tion and other matters which did not fall within the jurisdiction of the Home Office. 112. So much for that Committee of Inquiry. Now will you tell us what has been done about ankylo- stomiasis ?—An inquiry was held by Dr. Haldane into the outbreak at Dolcoath in 1902, and his report was published, and the recommendations in the report were given effect to by a Special Rule which was established at all Cornish mines in 1905. 113. What evidence have we got of the present condition of ankylostomiasis in the Cornish mines beyond the report of Dr. Haldane ?—There have been subsequent inquiries by Dr. Haldane and Dr. Boycott. (Dr. Haldane.) And the Mines Commission. 114. (Chairman.) You refer this Commission to the information obtained by that Commission ?—They have dealt with it in their Second Report. 115. (Chairman.) We might leave that for the present at all events. Now as regards the inquiry into the health of Cornish miners'in 1904?—In conse- quence of reports which reached the Home Office as to the prevalence of disease amongst the Cornish miners, the Home Secretary appointed Dr. Haldane, Mr. Thomas, and Mr. Martin, the Mines Inspector, to make inquiry into the subject. Inquiry was made and the Report was published. The Report recommended certain precautions. It found that the prevalence of disease was due chiefly to the inhalation of dust by persons engaged in rock drilling, and recommended that rules should be made for keeping down dust when rock drilling was going on. The recommendations were carried into effect by means of Special Rules which were established in 1905, and they have now been in force about four years. I propose later to give the Commission the general results but I will keep that back for the present. I ought to add that similar rules were established immediately afterwards for Canister mines in Yorkshire. Those Canister mines come under the Coal Mines Act. I understand that the Secretary of State desires that the Commission should inquire into the effect not only of the Cornish rules but also the rules for the Canister mines. 116. (Mr. Lewney.) Would not the metalliferous mines of the Isle of Man come under the same rules ?—- No, there are no Special Rules on the subject there. That will be one of the points for the Commission. 117. (Chairman.) I suppose we may say here, without anticipating what is going to be said, that the question of dust or the danger of dust depends largely upon the character of the dust. It seems to me mysterious that some dust is dangerous and that other dusts can be breathed in large quantities with impunity ? -—It depends on the nature of the dust. 118. Therefore these rides have to take carefully into account the character of the dust ?—Yes. 119. That I think ends all that has to be said on that head ?—Yes, I have nothing more to say on that at present. 120. Now we will pass to the accident tables ?—I have prepare da series of tables*one of which showsthe number of accidents from each cause since 1872, and another the death rates from groups of causes since 1872. Those two tables apply to all metalliferous mines, and I have similar tables for the iron mines since 1895, for the slate mines in North Wales since 1873, and for the Cornish mines since 1873. I have tables showing the non-fatal accidents from each cause since 1895, that is non-fatal accidents reported to the inspector, which are the more serious non-fatal accidents. I have also a table showing for 1908 and 1909 the number of accidents which disabled for more than seven days. Those returns were
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