Appendix B to the report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the condition of all mines in Great Britain to which the provisions of the Act 23 & 24 Vict. Cap. 151 do not apply, with reference to the health and safety of persons employed in such mines. / Presented to both houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty.

Great Britain. Royal Commission on Mines

Date:: 1864

Credit: Appendix B to the report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the condition of all mines in Great Britain to which the provisions of the Act 23 & 24 Vict. Cap. 151 do not apply, with reference to the health and safety of persons employed in such mines. / Presented to both houses of Parliament 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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redy's, and has been there for the last nine years. He has almost always been in good air, but he has worked in bad for a chance time for a bit, may be for a fortnight or so. This has not been the case for the last two years. The candles would always burn, but they burnt dull. The air did not at all affect him, and he has never worked in any very bad air. He earns about a pound a week, and gene- rally gets fresh meat every day. He does not take much ale. His tongue is somewhat furred, pulse quick, does not 10 complam of shortness of breath or any other symptom of indisposition, and is a stout healthy-looking man. No. 4. Aged 30. Barrow. March 26, 1864. Has twice worked at Parks Mine. He first went there when he was a young man and worked ten months, and then left in consequence of the water breaking into the mine and four men being drowned. He afterwards went again for two years, and then left in consequence of a crush occurring and his mate being killed. It was partly his own 20 fault; he was not materially injured; there were only two or three scratches on him ; but he was smothered. He does not know that the miners are not as good men as the agricultural labourers, but they look pale. He is in a club in which most of the miners are, and he does not think they suffer more than others. He is also not acquainted with any sick miners, and he must have known it if many of them had been sick; and was not aware that they suffered from coughs, or were bad in their breath, or in any other particular way. They got better wages, and 30 that enabled them to live better, which was favourable for them. The miners breathe the dust of the ironstone, and when they leave the mines they spit red stuff. When they get a cold they spit red stuff a long time after they have left going to the mine. He did so fully five weeks after he had worked in the mines. The iron ore is of greasy nature, and it gets into their skin, and won't come out even with washing. Generally the air of the mines is good; but sometimes it 40 is bad, and the candles cannot be got to burn, and the men are unable to work. Sometimes also the candles don't go out but won't burn well, and then if the men contmue to work they feel sick and all of a tremble, and have their breath stopped, and lose their appetite; but this is not often the case. No. 5. Aged 33. Dalton in Furness. March 27, 1864. Has been a miner for eight years, and worked as a quarry- man before. Since he has worked at the ironstone mines ^'^ he has been at Mr. Ashburner's mine of Elliscales, and also at Mr. Kennedy's at Roanhead. In the last mine he worked in bad air twelve months ago for six months. It was at the pit bottom gaining the ore. It was 60 or 70 yards underground, and there was only one shaft, and they were driving about 10 or 15 yards from the shaft. The candles only burnt when they were held on one side, and then they smoked very much, and sometimes they went out. He felt a little short in the wind at times, but he stood it well and did not suffer; but one of three others who ^0 worked with him complained one day of being terribly dizzy. They did not use any artificial ventilation. Now there are two shafts, and the air is good. Before he went to work at the mines, about twelve years ago, he lost one eye from an injury by a stick, and now he has had an accident by which he has injured the other eye. This accident did not, however, occur at his work in the mines. He has been off work in consequence of this acci- dent some time, and has got out of health, and now com- plains of dyspeptic symptoms, flatulency, pain in the bowels, difiiculty in passing water, &c. His tongue is clean, pulse weak but not quick; bowels regular. He is pale and delicate looking. No. 6, Aged 3 Dalton in Furness. March 27, 1864. First went undergrounawnen nine years of age, and works a Roanhead at the present time. He has however been away at the quarries occasionally. He has never worked in bad air. The drift lie works in is 26 or 27 yards under- ground, and the air is good, but sometimes the smoke dees 80 not clear away very quickly. He has always enjoyed good health, except that he met with an accident in firing a shot in a quarry. He has earned various sums while at work as a miner, as little as 16s. and as much as 27s., but generally 20s. to 22s. or 23s. per week. He is now suffering from cold. Has a severe cough but not much expectoration ; his appetite is defective, his pulse somewhat quick, and he is prostrated and pale ; the bowels are confined except when he takes medicine. No. 7. Aged 47. Dalton. 90 March 27th, 1864. He wc rked underground for six or seven years, at Elliscales, but for the last 13 years he has been engaged at the sur- face as an engine-driver. He never worked in bad air except for about four days, and then it was nothing but what he could stand. He thinks that the cause of the failure of his health was his having worked in the pit's bottom where it was warm (but not warmer than an ordi- nary room) and that tendered him so that he readily took cold when at the surface. All miners get a little tendered 100 and are not so hardy as men that work out. Some of the pits are dry and some wet, and the old pits have naturally more wet than the new ones. He complains that he has been suffering for some time fi-om pains in the stomach, and sickness and vomiting after food ; but he is now free from sickness and altogether better, but he still has pain and flatulency. There is obviously some swelling and hardness in the liver and in the situation of the pyloric end of the stomach, and he is extremely thin and pale, and much prostrated. There are no symptoms of 110 or signs of disease of the lungs or heart. No. 8. Aged 39. Dalton in Furness. May 27th, 1864. A Cornish man. He first went to work underground at Buckett's mine between Redruth and Cambourne, near Carn Brea, and while there worked in plenty of bad air, what they call cold damp.' The candles would sometimes only burn when heeled, or two placed together, or placed behind them, but he was young then and did not suffer. He has been working at the ironstone mines for 17 years. ]20 Since he came here he has not had to work in bad air, except a little at times for a day or two, but never for any length of time. He considers the mines much better for the men than in Cornwall. His father was a miner and worked in Cornwall for 50 years, and died when he was 67, but generally they can't work in Cornwall after they are 40 to 43 or 44 ; certainly the ironstone miners are the better men. There is not much dust in the ironstone mines, and they don't swallow it as they do the copper in the Cornish mines. Then the mines in Furness are not a tenth part the depth. 130 It is a deep pit that is 100 yards, and where he is now working is only 20 yards. The drifts also are larger and give more air, and that is one of the things the men have in their favour. Here too, the mines all lie together, and they sink many shafts near together, some perhaps as near as 100 yards, others may be 200 or 250 yards apart, and then there are so not many men for each shaft. They could not sink shafts in that way in Cornwall; they could not afford to do it. The men also live better in Furness, for they get more j^q money. For the last year he has worked at the surface, and gets 3s. per day for a week of six days, though the Saturday afternoon is a holyday. When at work below he got 41. 4s. to 41. 10s. and might get sometimes as much as 51. per month, according to his bargain, but there is not the uncertainty about the work that there is in Cornwall. He thinks that this country is one of the best for working men. He first went to work underground in Cornwall to do what they call boy's work, but that is harder for them ]5q than the men's work for them, and going so soon must wear them out very quick. He thinks they would make just as good miners if they went at 16 or 18, as if thej- went at 10, but it is a great gain to a man to be able to take a son down with him. When he worked in Cornwall there were not so many boys at work as he understands there are now. Since he has been at work in Furness he has been at Parks Mine. About a year ago he had erysipelas, and has not worked underground since, though he has been quite ^gQ well and at work at the surface. His present indisposition is only a cold which he has taken, and he has had a cough and sore throat, and lost his voice, but he is now much better. He is a small dark- complexioned man and is somewhat pale.

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