Epitome of evidence taken before the Commissioners appointed to enquire into the condition of all mines in Great Britain to which the provisions of the Act 23 & 24 Vict. cap. 155 do not apply, with reference to the health and safety of persons employed in such mines / presented to both houses of Paliament by command of Her Majesty.
- Great Britain. Royal Commission on Mines
- Date:
- 1864
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Epitome of evidence taken before the Commissioners appointed to enquire into the condition of all mines in Great Britain to which the provisions of the Act 23 & 24 Vict. cap. 155 do not apply, with reference to the health and safety of persons employed in such mines / presented to both houses of Paliament by command of Her Majesty. 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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![(C.)—VENTILATION. (C.) tion. Ventila- in a little fresh air as well as being back in a current doing nothiBg. 5348. So that it is a loss both for the men themselves and for the adventurers ?—Yes ; I have been long urging that. 1 have never let men work under my guidance, for many years, in iDoor air, unless they wei'e trying to hole or to communicate air to another place. I have said, if there is-poor air I will have a fan or a water fall, or some appliances. 5349. But that is not the general practice ?—No ; or at least it is not general enough; a great deal of the poor air might be avoided with a little attention being paid to it. 5350. Are there cases where you think that it could not 1)0 avoided?—No place. If you have a fresh current of air you can always take it up from that place. 5351. And therefore it is neglect ?—It is neglected too often, I am sorry to say. 5352. Do you think that the men suffer in health from that.^—They must suffer in health when they are breathing such a bad atmosphere. You hear men com- plaining very often when they are climbing the ladders ; they know when they are working in poor air, they feel a Aveakness in their legs. I have not expci-ienced it myself. I have generally worked in good air places upon tribute. 5353. Do the men go back again the next day to the same place when they find that the air is poor ?—Yes ; in most of our mines we keep three shifts of men, and they will relieve each other, and they may have half an hour before their relief time. 5354. Supposing a shift of men found the air bad, would they go on with the work for the whole month for which they had taken it?—Yes ; very often, when men are in such a place they are reluctant to be out of employment, and they work and injure their health, and it goes on for years imperceptibly, perhaps, till it tells upon the constitution. 5420. {Mr. Kendall.) And did it then fall into other hands ?—I was there as long as it was worked ; till it was abandoned. 5421. Where did you go then ?—I had the Great Crinnis mine at the same time. 5422. Did that also pass into other hands ?—Yes. 5i23. With regard to ventilation, where there is de- fective ventilation, does that occur more in small and new mines, or in large mines ?—I do not know; it varies very much. 5424. Have you been called in lately to see any ex- tensive mine, to report on it?—]So, not for the last two or three months. 3425. Have you, within the last year, seen any old workings ?—Yes, many times. , 5426. Do you think that it is more frequent in old mines ?—Yes. 5427. In old mines is there much decayed material— much decayed wood, or anything of that kind ?—Yes ; I have known several mines where the wood has been decayed, and the atmosphere there has been very bad indeed. I think that all the dry levels should be pitched or tarred underground. It would be worth while to do so for the preservation of the timber, and I do not think that then that matter would issue from it. 5428. In any of the mines which you have visited do they use air sollars ?—Yes ; that is frequently done. 5436. Where has the ventilation been bad which you have inspected ?—In most mines that I have inspected, when the ventilation has not been generally bad throughout, there have been ends driving or winzes sinking where the air has been very bad in many points. 5437. Can you state a case, without mentioning the mine, where there has been bad ventilation ?—It has come under my observation several times, and I do not know any particular place. 5438. Will you state some mine, at some depth, where there has been the driving of an end, within the last two or three years, which you have been called in to inspect ?—There is a mine which I have inspected for the last 20 years. I have Observed that there have been ends or distant points where men have been working in such air as I have been speaking of. I have observed it many times in that period, and in my own mines I know that it is the case if I do not apply some machine. 5439. Take the last four or five years. Will you state one or two of the worst cases where you have re- monstrated, and have said that the men were working in very impure air ?—In almost every mine, if the levels tion. are about 20 or 30 fathoms from the shaft, I always fQ\y observe that the air is not fit for the men to work in. 5440. Have you observed that more in small mines or in large mines ?—It is possible to have the air as bad in a shallow mine, not more than five fathoms deep, as it is at 100, or 130, or 140 fathoms. 5441. Have you observed it most in those small mines or in the large and deep mines ?—In both. I always observe, that when the end or gallery is 20, 30, or 10 fathoms off, the air is very close and very impure. Men must keep their candles down flat for them to burn, and I have seen men working when the grease has been running down from the wick. 6480. [M}\ A. Brvce.) Do you consider that at 30 fathoms from a winze, the air can be sufficiently good for a man to work in, without any artificial ventilation ? —I think that it should be improved if above 20 fathoms. Men may work at 40 fathoms. 5481. Have you ever known an instance in which a close end was worked at 30 fathoms from the shaft or winze without some stagnation of air ?—Yes, I have known levels more than 30 fathoms from any current of air, and a candle would burn Avell; but when the men blasted, the dense smoke would lie where it was until they made another blast, and the place has been quite full of smoke from one end of the corps to the other, when the candles would burn moderately. Even then, I think that the air is too bad for the men to breathe, if it can be improved. 5482. Do you think that any place in which the powder smoke remains half an hour can be a proper place for a man to work in ?—No ; he ought not to do so. 5483. Is it common for close ends to be driven 30 fathoms from a supply of ventilation without any artifi- cial ventilation ?—It is very often the case. 5481'. Am I to understand it to be your opinion that in all those cases artificial ventilation ought to be sup- plied ?—Yes, it would improve it. 5485. And that a man's health must suffer sooner or later from continuing to work in the air of such a close end ?—Yes; if an end is 20 fathoms off and a little fan machine were put in, and three boys were employed to drive that fan, I believe that the men in the end would do more extra work than would maintain those three boys, besides the value of their health. Mr. William Petheeick. 5554. (Mr. Kendall.) How deep was that mine when you left it?—She ^yasin 1834, I think, 140 fathoms. 5556. During the years that you were there was the ventilation generally good or bad ?—It was always very good, except in a little way from the ends where the winzes were not communicated. 5557. How far used you to drive before you commu- nicated with the winzes ?—Perhaps about 30 fathoms. 5558. Have you known bad air there ?—I have known bad air there occasionally for days. 5559. Did you ever see any difficulty as to the burn- ing of candles ?—Sometimes, but not very often. 5560. Were you obliged to put the candles in an in- clined position to make them burn ?—Yes, occasionally, in the close ends. 5561. To the best of your recollection, how many close ends at one time were they obliged to work in that way ?—Perhaps five or six. 5562. In those cases the men, I suppose, suffered ?— Yes, some little; sometimes it was owing to the stuff not being taken away. 5563. There was so much stuff in the end that they were overcrowded by it ?—Yes, it was so, sometimes ; and very often that occasioned a close atmosphere. 5598. [Chairman.) Has the longest time you have ever known the men driving in an end before the winze was opened been three months ?—Yes ; in inferior air. 5599. Have they never driven more than three months in inferior air?—Not on veins. I am speaking generally. There might have been one case in a year. I was there for 17 years. 5600. During that time was there only one case within your knowledge ?—They have never been more than three months working in bad air. 5601. During the whole of those 17 years?—Yes ; at a time. 5602. {Mr. Kendall.) How happened it that they were for so long a time as three mouths?—Sometimes the stuff could not be brought away from long dis-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2398482x_0042.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
