136 Mr. Moore's Report. REPORT of the INSPECTOR of MINES and COLLIERIES in the EASTERN DISTRICT OF SCOTLAND for the Year ended 31st December 1873. - By RALPH MOORE, Esq. SIR, Glasgow, 31st March 1874. I HAVE the honour to submit my annual report as Inspector of Mines for the year 1873. The Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1872, which came into operation on the 1st January 1873, led to many important changes in the previous regulations, and during the past year, these have been gradually getting into working order.: The existing codes of special rules had to be altered to meet the requirements of the new Act, and considerable difficulty was experienced in adjusting them, principally with regard to those for effecting compliance with the 16th General Rule. It had hitherto been the custom in Scotland to leave the working face under the care of the miner and although the special rules pointed to a surveillance by the overman, still there was no organized surveillance, and in many non-fiery collieries it was no unusual circumstance for days to elapse between inspections made on behalf of the owner. 66 66 66 The 16th General Rule stipulates, "The roof and sides of every travelling road and working place shall be made secure, and a person shall not, unless appointed for the purpose of exploring or repairing, travel or work in any such travelling road or working place which is not so made secure." As regards this Rule the Secretary of State instructed the Inspectors that "The owner, agent, or manager, may employ whomsoever they please to secure the roofs and "sides, but they cannot relieve themselves from the responsibility, in case the work is "not effectually done," and accordingly rules founded upon this definition were agreed upon by a Committee of coal owners for the whole of my district and duly sanctioned and established in terms of the statute. Those referring to propping were : 66 "Whether the operations shall be conducted by the long wall' or 'stoop and room' system, a sufficient number of suitable props shall be selected, cut, and set up by the miners, in those parts of the works where the roof, sides, and superincumbent strata "require to be supported and secured by them. These props and any necessary sprags or gibs shall be set up at such times, in such number, and at such points within the "working limits after mentioned as shall, from time to time, be necessary, a supply of 66 prop wood being always provided by the employer, at the place where the hutches are "delivered-for selection and use. 66 "But, besides being bound to prop and secure according to their own skill and ex"perience, miners are required to place props within their working limits, in such places "and in such manner as the fireman, or other person authorised to that effect, shall deem necessary and shall direct, for the safety of the workmen and the mine. "In the long wall system, where followed, miners shall be bound to prop and secure "the roof and sides at which they shall be employed, to the distance from the face of “twelve feet, and in the stoop and room,' system where followed, they shall be bound to prop and secure the roof and sides at least fifteen feet back from the face. When employed to return upon and remove stoops left in any seam, miners shall be bound "to prop and secure the roof and strata around each stoop before commencing to cut or remove the same." 66 66 66 66 The surveillance on the part of the owner being delegated to the fireman in the following rule." It shall be his duty to see that the miners are attending to the "security of the roofs and sides of the working places, and for that purpose to visit each working place at least three times each day at proper intervals; and in case of finding "that any miner is failing so to secure his working place, by propping the same or otherwise, to point out to such miner any such failure; and should such miner refuse or fail to perform such repairs as may be necessary to render the place secure, to "require him and his assistants to remove from such working place." 66 66 The miners were dissatisfied with this surveillance; they held that compliance with the 16th General Rule could only be effected by the owners adopting the Durham Special Rules on that point, which are :— "The deputies are responsible for having ready, and putting into every working place a sufficient quantity of timber, brattice, and other materials, and for setting sufficient |