A PLEA FOR THE COAL MINERS

Greymouth Evening Star, 10 July 1908, Page 1

A PLEA FOR THE COAL MINERS

(Contributed by David K. Pritchard, Wellington.) "It is gratifying to find that tbe mining industry, which is second only to our pastoral and farming industries, is thriving and progressing with steady strides." I might truthfully state that the a!>ove sentence, contained in the Governor's opening address to Parliament, is directly responsible for the writing of this article". I had hoped indeed that the mining industry would receive more than ordinary attention on this occasion, but the above hard, dry, commercial reference to it, has banished every germ of optimism 1 was inclined to harbour, and I am now appealing for further and immediate legislation, on behalf of a body of men who are certainly following the most dangerous calling of any of the skilled artisans in the dominion, namely, the miner, but directly 1 am chiefly concerned about the roai miner. The above statement, which I have referred to as a commercial one, contains two facts, the tirst of which is, essentially an economic one, for the coal miner could not produce coal if the farmer did not produce food for him. But as all industries are more or less subservient to the pastoral and atri'icultural industries, I claim nrimc importance for coal mining.

Coal is, I contend, at present a necessary anid indispensable commodity of modern life, which forces me to the conclusion that, to comply with present-day conditions of life, coal must lie produced, and this is the fundamental base of my appeal, which is a human one. It is quite unnecessary for me to cro into detail to prove that coal is absolutely necessary. I have only to refer to the chaotic state of commerce which a great coal strike precipitates, such as, for instance. the great strike of the Durham miners in '92, and the. bis: miners' strike of '93, when about 200.000 men struck against a reduction of wages and the great coal strike in Scotland in '94 when 65,000 men were out. (I might mention 'en passant* that it was in the big strike of '93 that Mi' Asquith. the present British Premier, sent the military to Featherstone, where they fired on the mob, killing two of tlic miners, and wounding many others). The next point I want to refer to is the dangerous nature of their occupation. To those who arc unacquainted witli the nature of the work of the miner there may not seem any valid reason why anyone should e;o to the trouble to appeal for special legislation for miners. But, is .'t not a remarkable fact that one can hardly pick up a daily newspaper without noticing something in the nature of a "mining disaster." At random, I pick up four papers, two from Home, and two of this

City, and notion the following headlines : No. 1 Mine Explosion.—Ten Men Suffocated.—Twenty Escape.—Heroic Attempts at Rescue. —Many Rescuers overcome by gaseous finnes and carried out of the Mine insensible.—One dies. No. 2—Two Hundred Killed in a Mine in Russia —Explosion wrecks shaft and workings. —Men rescued only to die. No. " 3.—" Pit Accident. —Inrush of Water.—Three Miners drowned." No. 4.—" Three Miners Entombed." Perhaps it is a. coincidence that these instances should illustrate three different dangers—explosions, entombing, and drowning—to which the miner is subjected every minute he is underground. Accidents' Nos 1 and 2.—Accidents innumerable occur during the process of winning coal, but of all the accidents possible, an explosion of firedamp is by far the most disastrous to human life and Hie underground workings. Permit me to quote part of a lecture delivered some years ago by Mr James Barrowmnn, .Secretary for the Mining Institute of Scotland : —"ln former times the air of the working was so sluggish in its course and so befouled with carbonic acid gas from the coal, and from the breath of men and horses, that when an explosion o f firedamp did occur, its force was comparatively feeble, and tho area of its destructive effects limited. But now, large quantities of pure air are swept at a high velocity through the mine, and should it happen that a large accession of gas took place where a naked light is exposed, a violent explosion is the result, the destructive effects of which may bo felt ; n every part of the mine." "There are," he said, "three acts in the dreadful drama o f a great explosion, and tihey follow each other in quick succes sion. From some cause seldom accurately known —for those who know it seldom survive to tell the tale—there comes into touch for an instant an exposed light and nr. explosive mixture and with conceivable suddenness there is a blaze! a crash' and in that awful moment every living being near is scorched and dashed against the nearest wall. Fire and a whirlwind of dust hurl along with resistless impetuosity, darting into every branching way, and' staying not till they have swept the mine. 'Then, with a tremendous shock and shudder there comes an inrush of air by every available avenue to fill the vacuum' caused by the devouring flame, which returns again and again on its tumultuous track.'and, as it grows feebler, lingers in side chambers in sheets of blue flame next the roof, licking up every remnant of life-sustaining oxygen in the air; and then, as tho llame expires the second act closes in the darkness and stillness of death. It is possible that the force of the blast may have spent, itself in one part of the pit, leaving another untouched and the miners in that other part may have heard the sound of the blast, or felt th> rush of the returning air and have but time to thank God that they have escaped an awful death, when they realise that tin- afterdamp is upon them, creeping insidiously along unseen and claiming victims at" its will. Bewildered, because ignorant of the direction whence the danger comes, they flee, it may be to a place o safety but most likely into the middle ol the deadly vapour, where they fall to rise no'more; Of what avail is mortal man to help in such a moment? Good is it tor those in that extremity who _ have made the eternal God their refuge." Such then is the nature of an explosion of firedamp according to one of the cleverest mining experts of his day. Accident No 3 is caused by an inrush of wat»r This is another source of dan«rn< not quite fo great as the explosion. Geological theories have been upset again on tlhis point, and in many instances when iv) real" danger was apparent or anticipated, the miner while picking the coal has tapped an underground dam, which, once released, carries everything before it, often resulting in many deaths, narrow escapes, flooding and wreckage ol 1110

mine. ~ .... . Accident No. 4 instances the falling ol t,h> roof Upon this I need not dwell. The memory of the late fatal accident at a West Coast mine is a regretablc example of what may happen any instant to anyone working underground. In Britain the average loss of lite in mines, duo to accidents and explosions, averages about 1000 per annum, and in 1906/ out of 4110 persons killed by accidents in thti course of their employment, 1029 were miners and 141 surface workers in connection with mines Hence, in tie deaths from accidents in the whole ot the trades in Great Britain the mines were responsible for more than a third ot the

whole. , ~ Passing from the dangerous to ilie un'eonccniaf nature of the miner's work, it would indeed b 6 difficult to find one whose task is more so than Ins. In a sleeveless flannel singlet and dungaree trousers he toils in the deep, damp, dark dangerous and dungeon-like bowels of the earth breathing air which at all times is impregnated with some obnoxious or poisonous gas, and with an amount of earth above his head, the weight of which would baffle the greatest mathematician to calculate—liable to collapse at any time and crush to death every living soul beneath I it. ~ ,

\ckl to tins the mwiy suu« m »«"-" } io is compelled to take his mid-day meal. I ask those of my readers who are not miners to compare their own lot (when they sit down to lunch) with that of the miner. You, dear reader, when you go home at mid-day may be met at your door by a laughing, tottering, golden curlyhaired gem of nature, whilst inside your wife greets you with a smile, and before sitting down to your lunch at a table covered with a snow white tablecloth, in a room brilliantly lighted up with sunshine, you cleanse your hands with some antiseptic soap, pick up your morning paper but the announcement of a Mining Disaster seldom disturbs the even tenor of your way. At this moment think of the miner. When the cry "tucker time" passes through the mine he immediately ceases work, puts on his damp dust-covered coat, and . seating himself within a few yards of his working place, he proceeds to take his lunch and cold tea, witli his ears, eyes, nostrils and mouth smeared with coal dust, and his hands in a positively filthy condition. When his day's work is finished, he "homewards plods his weary way" in a condition winch boggiiM description, and which entail* unto!*) mvh ml worry to ■|lla. WNV- •• •!•,••<,:• •*»!■:*.. a -■■. ■■'

Lastly, I come to the hard work of the miner. The average hewing rato for coal in the solid, minus the cost of powder, fuse, and the upkeep of tools is 2s Ad per ton, weighed on the surface, and no one I am sure will consider that too much. Such is the changeable nature of carboniferous formations that the wage earner is almost reduced to a stroke of luck every three months, at which times the different places in the mine arc ballotted for But at any time the work of the miner is very hard, his lot may indeed be termed "The Tragedy of Toil," and anyone who is not by nature endowed with a robust constitution need never enter a mine with the idea that he will prove equal to the task of working underground for any length of time. I have now briefly cited four cardinal points of difference between the everyday life of a miner and his more fortunate brethren, namely, a Dangerous, Uncongenial, Unhealthy and Dirty. Now, I submit that anyone working under such conditions as I have referred to, would, in a well-ordered State, have special consideration either in the form of shorter hours or increased wages. But what are the actual facts? In the mines on the West Const the wage for shift men (day men) is 10/6 per day, while an outside- unskilled labourer sots 10/- per day, and a trucker in the mine (who may be any age over 21 years) gets 9/6 a day at the State Mine and 9/- per day at Blackball.

And one of these same truckers I have known to push bis last truck of the shift 'over the brow of the jib' (technical), and walk across the square space occupied by bin- in the bending to get bis coat (I am trying to keep clear of technicalities), but lie never reached his coat, poor fellow. No! A fall of rock pinned him to the earth, and wo had to break it up on top of him before we could extricate him—dead. During tbe last twelve months T know of three young men who have lost the sight of an eye through coal flying from the point of the pick, while in some parts of the mines the men have frequently to wear steel gauzes to protect the eyes from more frequent injury. No one is responsible for these accidents; they are concomitant with the production of coal, ami I merely mention them as evidence for the establishment of my plea, for special legislation for the miner. Yet, to get an advance in the hewing rate, the miner has rot to prove that it costs him more than tilie outside labourer to exist, for after all he only gets a living ivnge. In extenuation. I claim that the hazardous nature of the toil in an atmosphere ] aw.syam always, more or less, impregnated/ with gases so dangerous to human life and the ever present danger of sudden death or dismemberment, ought to weigh in the miner's favour, when nnv judicial body is sitting in judgment on his request for an advance in wages. I have not worked in mines all my life, but I have worked lone: enough in the gold and coal mines of New Zealand, the gold mines of Africa, and the coal mines of Canada to know that as far as the physica' comforts of the miners arc concerned, New Zealand is very far behind. Tn both Africa and Canada, the mine owners aio compelled to provide bathing accommodation and double lockers for the men, and at a minimum of cost to the Company the miner returns to his home in Ihe same clean condition that he left it in'the morning. Tin's fact alone ought to occupy the minds of our legislators, and make them endeavour to bring about some change *of o practical and beneficial nature to the miner. Pie the Coal Mines Act and the proposed amendment last year by Mr Guinness, which was lost, I will write again, but for tbe present I am finished, and I again submit that anything short of special and immediate attention by Parliament to the men who are carrying on the industry, which, according to the Governor's opening address, is the second most important in the dominion, is nothing short of criminal neglect.