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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![(G.)—WAGES an; 3529. That is because they -wonld be fined if they came to the surface ?—Yes. 3630. By what means does a miner ascertain what the time is ?—He can tell by his candles. 3631. Is no signal sent down to him?—No. 3632. AVhen a miner has completely blasted his boles, which I suppose ho does generally near the end of his time, whore can he go ?—-It is a great foil}' to detain hmi. If a man is working in a close ])lace he blasts his holes, and then the place is not fit to go into for hours, for it would be very injui-ious to breathe the hot powder smoke. It is, therefore, great folly tofoi'ce a man to do It wlien he can help it. I could overcome that by giving men a fair price for their work, and let them get as much as they can get., 3533. Might not a miner be allowed to come above ground, and go to some place and wait P—He would not want to wait; he might come up and put on his clothes, and go home ; there is no object in keeping him waiting. 363-t. But what security would you have that a miner did the full extent of the work that he had undertaken to do ?—You do not want any security if a man is not paid for more than he gets. We have Avhat is called stent ; and the meaning of that is, that a certain portion cf work is set to a man, and ho has a certain amount paid to him for doing it; so whether he does it in six hours or eight bours it matters not to the miner. 3536. Then why do you suppose that the rule is so very general that the miners are not allowed to come to grass?—I have no supposition upon the point; I know it. 3536. But wby should it be so general ?—I can hardly tell. I never could conceive the reason for it. I know that there is no good in it. 3537. Is it not injurious to the men ?—Yes. 35i5. (Jfr. St. Auhyn.) But if he is not present how is he to prevent a man sitting down for the last half hour that he is down ?—The common rule is, when the agent comes in, for the men to sit down; they never work while he is there ; he would want to look at the lode, and see what the work was worth; and the com- mon practice is, that the miners, who are a very civil class of men, as soon as the agent comes in, stop their working, and they go back for him to examine the work. 3646. [Chairman.) Suppose there was half an hour or a quarter of an hour's law given before they were allowed to come up, do you think that Vy'ould be abused ? —It would amount to the same thing precisely. I see no good whatever in keeping a man from the adit be- tween the adit and the surface till tbe bell rings ; there is little good in it; it is not carried to the same extent as it used to be. 35I7. But it is carried out to some extent ?—In scraie mines I dare say it is. 3648. [Mr. St. Aubijn.) Self-interest will generally induce a man to work as long as he can, will it not ? —Yes ; and the great point is to give a man as much work as he can do in a month, and a fair price for bis labour ; that is all that is necessary. 3649. You stated that a rule was adopted to restrain as far as possible any idling in the bottom of tbe mine ? —In the best regulated mines, where the agent is not cramped by the adventurer, and where the agent is an intelligent man, he gives a fair price for the work tbat he has to let, and gives a man as much work to do as he can during the mouth. Then a man, if the system of what is called the monthly allowance is not adopted, thinks he may get 4L or bl., and there is no restraint upon it; he is allowed by dint of his own skill and manual strength and industry, to do what he can, and then he pursues his labour with a greater degree of interest. But the other system, where the monthly allowance is made, entirely destroys that. 3550. Will you be good enough to explain what you mean by the monthly allowance with reference to tut- work ?—The monthly allowance is of this kind. When a men comes into a mine and asks for work, be also says, What do you allow ? We allow 31. or 3Z. 5s. Then if the adventurers are close upon the agent, the agent is not expected to allow a man to get more. And I mean that that system destroys the energies of tbe men, because tbe miners are a calculating body of men, and a miner says, I must not get more than 3/-. or 3L 5s. I may as well got it easy as hard. But if the captain or the manager is unshackled, and he is allowed the full exercise of bis own judgment in conducting the whole of the operations of the mine, he would do as I have said. I will just give the Commisioners my own history upon N 3 DEDUCTIONS. this matter. When I have been asked this question, (G. e.) 3Ien What do you allow ? I have said, Nothing; I make spaled or fined. no allowance. I fix the price upon the work, and you may get as much out of it as you can. You may get 2>l., 4:1., or hi.; there is no stint to your getting. Then a man goes to work, and uses his best skill and bis best energies. Mr. Feancis Puckie. 4992. [Chairman.) In those sbafts where they still use the ladders, may the tutwork men come up at any time, or are they fined if they come up shortly before the time ?—There is a regular time allowed for them to come up. 4993. Are they fined if they come up before the time ? —Sometimes they come up too soon. 4994. Do they wait below until it is time to come up ? — Some do, and perhaps some do not; we are disposed to think that some wait on the ladders. 4995. If they stand on tbe ladders waiting, will they catch cold ?—They will certainlj-. A MiNEB, No. 1. h'dVi.\[Chair'man.) Have you never been fined for being too soon ?—I cannot say that I never was fined, because I have been. Mr. John Nankekvis. 7249.'(C7iaM man.) If an accident occurred to a man from his not using the wooden instrument he would forfeit bis club money ?—Yes. 72.50. Has tbat ever happened ?—Yes, occasionally. Capt. Stephen Hakvey James. 7471. [Chairman.) In letting tbe ground to your tributors and tutwork men, is it equally their business to carry the deads away ?—Yes, to bring them to shaft. 7472. If yoti foimd them accumulating, what would you do ?—There would be a noise about it; they would not be paid until they had cleared their work. 7473. Would a man be spaled for it ?—No ; but there would be a noise about it. I do not think you can spale any men in this place, they would be off to another place ; they are just as independent as yourself. All the spaling that you can give them is to say, If you have not completed your bargain altogether we will not pay 3ou. We cannot spale here, the men are masters here, and they have been masters for years. (/.)—PAYING IN NOTES. (G./) Paying -.r T r~, in Notes. Mr. James Siccombe. 1444. [Chairman.) When you pay tbe men (the pairs) do you pay them the full sum in notes ?—If they are a pair together, like eight or nine men, we might pay them nearly half the money in notes, the remainder or nearly all the remainder, in sovereigns; and some silver generally goes out. Then, if we have got three Or four or five or six of tbe surface men, if they have got to receive 21. or Zl. or 3L 10s., we should manage in this way: the pit pairs would take so many sove- reigns, so many half sovereigns, and fthe remainder in silver ; and as I know exactly what I want when I am going into the bank, I take so many notes and so many sovereigns down. With regard to the other pairs, every body that has got to receive so much, say a sove- reign, will be paid in sovereigns, and every one that has got to receive half a sovereign will have it, and everybody below that sum will have to take change. 1446. If the men wanted change for their notes, would you give them change ?—If they were to say we would like to be paid in sovereigns altogether, or in notes, we should do it for them. 1446. But suppose they did not get the change from you, how would they change their notes ?—They generally go to have something to drink upon the settling day, if there is no money to be received at all on the pay day. 1447. Do they obtain change for their notes at the public house ?—Yes ; they go and pay what they have on the settling day as well as anything else. 1448. Is it general among them on the settling day to go to the public house H—Tbat is where most of them go, after taking their month's bargain, to have a little beer. Capt. RlCHAUD BOYNS. 6782. [Mr. Holland.) Does the mode of payment induce them to go to the public-house naaterially ?— No; I think not. 2](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2398482x_0101.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
