MINERS' DISEASE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26199, 9 July 1946, Page 5

MINERS' DISEASE

DUST ON THE LUNGS HIGH MORTALITY RATE (Special from C. R. Mentiplay, N.Z.P.A. Correspondent) (Rec. 7.30 p.m.) ' SYDNEY, July 8. A disease which is claiming high percentages of men who work in coalmines on the south coast of New South Wales is creating something akin to panic among miners, whose only livelihood threatens them with painful death in middle age. Stoppages of work in south coast mines are due to the problem, which is completely separate from the industrial ■ troubles which beset oher mining areas. There is nothing new about the disease. It is called nodular fibrosis or commonly “ dust on the lungs,” a

.progressive ailment for which apparently there is no cure. The cause of the presence of dust, which makes the south coast mines unhealthy and even dangerous, is believed to be the grinding of coal seams one against the other during centuries rather than the work of the miners themselves. Miners say that saturation of a coal seam by forcing water under pressure into holes bored in the coal face is the only solution. The system was tested by the British Ministry of Fuel and is now being employed in over 90 per cent, of mines in South Wales. The New South Wales owners, however, are inclined to discount the British tests and claim that the infusion of water brings other complications. Though water infusion is being used successfully in two Government-owned mines other owners say the expense would not justify it. The dust nuisance on the south coast is worse because south coast coal pulverises easily. It has been noticed, however, that seams near the surface are freer from dust than those as at Corrimal, which are five miles from the pithead. Men working in a perpetual cloud inhale dust, which settles as. a gritty coating in the air passages. In the final stages of the disease the lungs resemble pieces of coke. Some miners’ lungs were in such condition that after death they could be cut only with a hacksaw. It used to take 20 years for the dusted condition to develop, but now it often occurs after less than five years, and even men working above ground are not exempt. In the past 12 months 1500 miners were X-rayed at Wollongong and Bulli Hospitals—more than half the union membership. Men entitled to compensation receive two-thirds of their average weekly earnings before being classed as unfit. Fixed amounts for totally unfit men' are £3 10s a week, plus allowances for a wife and children to a total maximum of £6.

Though he may be in early middle age, a man “ on dust ” has received his death warrant. Three died last week and nobody knows who will be next. There is near panic in the Illawarra district, with dust the only topic of conversation. That is why miners are insisting that the State or Federal Government should come to their aid. The miners’ plea is that it must be paid for in human lives.