AN INFERNO

Grey River Argus, 17 April 1925, Page 2

AN INFERNO

“DUSKY DIAMOND'’ DIGGING The following remarkable article on the miner’s lot is from Hie Hamilton (Scot land) “ Advertiser’*: — A strike may irritate the prosperous business man Io a. temporary interest in colliers and coal—or the lack of it. Newsboys, in a busy street, proclaiming a contents bill—“ Terrible Mining Disaster” — may sadden tho town dweller to a realisation of the sudden immediate dangers of a collier's life, ns compared to the advantages of his own unexciting employment. And still, apart from these upheaval? the partisans or the sentimentalist. may be ignorant of other factors in the human equation, besides wages and dividends, which demand a considered study, if a satisfactory solution of the ever present coal problem is to ho arrived at. Broken Lives. So long as coal is a vital need, Nature will exact a yearly retribution I J broken lives from the despoilers of her mineral stores, and the war !o' -»i i rit ion <ho wages against the ’ .o:k- ; ■■i 1 | onfinno. though the ■isualtic- er appear in a. “stop rcss.” •• ■ ver, other records keep proving tlm. "» 'matter how djose ' the not of legislation is drawn, the artificial working conditions of the mines are responsible for an enormous wastage, not the result of accidents, but as a consequence of the disease and disability produced by tho conditions. Respiratory Disease. Consider the cramped, constrained attitude of the miner digging in a damp, “ill ventilated place,*’ and the hampering effect of it on tho action of the heart and lungs. Is it. any wonder he falls an easy prey to all forms of respiratory •disease? Especially as happens so often, ho comes to the surface with wot clothes clinging to a perspiring body, and his vitality lowered by fatigue. Inhaling Dirt. Thon there is tho irritating dust inhaled during blasting and boring operations, which causes a lung disease"—Anthricosis — non-tuhcreular it first, but an unsuspecting sufferer may continue at work, and so expose himself to accidental infection by allowing tho tubercle bacillus an opportunity of grafting itself on to the primary disease, and thus convert it into one of a phthisical nature. In a “Fire-y” IMpine. “Nystagmus,” a frequent ground for a Compensation Court award is '•Tdu.nd jamfcmgslt men /working - in a. “fire-y’ mine where the safety lamp is used. Tt is a peculiar, oscilaltory unsteadiness of the eyeballs, accompanied by headache and dizziness, due primarily to fatigue of the eye-ball muscles, when the eyes are directed upwards in an oblique direction in the dim light provided by the lamp. Fortunately, the chance of tho purulent eye disease —Trachoma— being introduced into Hie British mines can only arise through infection from alien, immigrant workers. Minor Maladies. “Beat-hand” and “bent-knee’ might bo called minor maladies. Tn grasping the pick, tho hand becomes calloused or “horny” and under the thickened skin a painful suppuration occurs, which necessitates rest from, work for a considerable time. The knee or the elbow may bo affected in. the same as the hand, by rubbing or pressing against a gritty surface. Miners suffer common iy, too, from a troublesome dyspepsia, the direct result of the irregularity of their meal times on alternate night and day shifts. Miners’ Anaemia. But more menacing than any of those is the drei*d “ Anldostomiasis”

—miners anaemia. If it is remembered that the parasite causing this disease thrives in the dirty environmont of the pit, invades tho body of the miner, drawing its nourishment from tho blood vessels of the intestine, the disorders of digestion, the increasing bloodlessness, wasting and dropsy are easily understood. Such a catalogue should give pause to unthinking, uninformed p'ople who talk glibly of cheaper coal for themselves, and lower wages for the minors.