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Mr. Baker's Report.

REPORT On the INSPECTION of MINES in the SOUTH STAFFORDSHIRE AND WORCESTER-
SHIRE DISTRICT, for the Year ended the 31st December 1873.-By
J. P. BAKER, Esq.

SIR,
As the Inspector of Mines for this District, I have the honour to transmit my
Annual Report for the year 1873. It is most satisfactory that there was no unusual
catastrophe during the year, and that the total of accidents and deaths is much lower
than in any previous year since coal mines were placed under Government inspection.
During the year 65 separate accidents resulted in the loss of 71 lives.

Tettenhall, near Wolverhampton, 14th April 1874.

In 1872 the totals were 32 accidents, and 109 lives, showing a diminution in the loss of life in 1873 of 38. The death list of 1872, was swelled by an unusual accident at the Pelsall Hall Colliery, which involved the loss of 22 lives, but, deducting this number from the total of the year in which it occurred, there still remains a reduction of 16, which is remarkable, considering that the returns show a considerable increase in the amount of coal raised and in the number of men employed. The results of a single year in a matter so fluctuating as mining accidents, cannot be depended upon; but the steady and striking decrease in the loss of life in this district during the whole period in which protective legislation has been applied to coal mines cannot but be regarded as a most gratifying result of the measures taken to diminish the hazard of the miner's occupation.

In no year during that long interval have so few lives been lost in this coal-field as in Great 1873, and the average has been steadily declining. For the first 10 years of inspection diminution the average was 162, and for the next 10 years, ending 1870, it was 107, whilst for the in the loss three subsequent years it is only 88.

In no mining district was the interference of the Legislature more needed than in South Staffordshire; and in none has it proved more beneficial, and facts given above clearly show that by proper care the working of mines may be rendered far less dangerous to life, and give good ground to hope that further improvement may be secured. In spite of the comparatively favourable results 1873 shows, I am satisfied that the death-rate would have been still lower had the mining operations been in all cases directed with even an ordinary amount of skill and care. I shall have occasion to refer to some instances in which these conditions cannot be said to have been fulfilled.

of life.

life through

Of the 71 deaths, four were the result of explosions of fire-damp, 31 through falls, 12 in Great shafts, 19 miscellaneous underground, and five on the surface. The steady diminution diminution in the deaths from falls is most gratifying. In the first five years of the period of in the loss of inspection, 1851-55, the average annual loss of life from this cause was 106; in the second falls in the five years, 1856-60, it fell to 87; in the next five, 1861-65, it was 62; thence it declined mine. in the period 1866-70, to 56. The average of the last three years is only 39, and the number thus killed in 1873 is 31. These results are no doubt mainly due to the more liberal and judicious use of timber, and I hope the 16th General Rule in the Act of 1872, and the improved code of Special Rules thereunder will materially help to maintain this improvement. The number of deaths from this cause was for many years the opprobrium of South Staffordshire, and has been alluded to as a blot upon its mining enterprise. It is now, however, happily reduced within what may be termed more moderate limits, especially considering the great number employed.

A large decrease has also taken place in all other classes of accidents except the miscellaneous underground, which, though much less than in 1872, when they were increased by one specially disastrous accident which destroyed 22 persons, unfortunately show a tendency to augmentation through the carelessness of the men and boys employed.

The returns forwarded to me by the colliery proprietors enable me to state that, during the year 1873, in the face of a declining trade, allowing for waste, colliery consumption, and colliers' allowance coal, and adding 16 per cent. for the difference between statute weight and the customary weight of the district, 11,100,000 tons of coal were raised, showing an increase in the output of 550,000 tons as compared with the previous year.

Working of the New Acts.

The Coal Mines Inspection Act of 1872 having been in operation only during the year, I am scarcely able at present to give any very decided opinion as to its working in the district generally. If I were, however, to judge from the determined opposition manifested during the last 12 months by certain persons who have been summoned for violations of its provisions, I should at once conclude that the law in its present shape is by no means acceptable and does not command that submission to which it is entitled but how far their proceedings may influence the other portion of the trade remains to be seen. I am glad, however, to be able to state that, such a disposition does not generally pervail, and I have reason to believe that, notwithstanding the difficulties and ambiguities which some persons complain of, its requirements are daily becoming better understood, and will, I hope, be fully observed.

Penalties have been imposed on the following persons, viz.:

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William Deeley, for violation of General Rule 14. - 0 John R. Norris, for violation of General Rule 23. Thomas Latham, for violation of General Rule 1. William Spruce, for violation of General Rule 8. William Spruce, for violation of General Rule 29. Thomas Brettlel, for violation of General Rule 1. Elijah Page, for violation of General Rule 24. It will be observed in the above list of penalties that in the first cases sixpence only and frivolous was imposed, one on Mr. William Deeley, and the other on his manager, Mr. John R. penalties. Norris. The first of these was for an infringement of the 14th General Rule, which requires "the top and all entrances between the top and bottom of every working or pumping shaft shall be properly fenced, &c."

Inadequate

The sad

result of a

disregarded provision of

the statute.

Proceedings under the

lation Act,

O and the costs.

The banksman at this shaft, owing to the absence of a fence, pushed the tub into the pit and followed it, driving a scaffold before them into the "sump," in which there was fortunately very little water at the time, otherwise the man would in all probability have been drowned. How he escaped a terrible death, considering that he fell thus a distance of about 80 or 90 feet, nobody knows; and, strange to say, that, except a dreadful shaking of the nervous system and a few bruises, he escaped unhurt, and has long since been restored to his usual health.

The rules requiring the fencing of the entrances to pit-shafts, whether working or out of use, &c., are, in my opinion, two of the best regulations in the whole statute.

The imposition of a fine of sixpence and the costs for a violation thereof serves little or no useful purpose, and seems to me a waste of time and public money.

The second of these cases was brought against Mr. John R. Norris, the manager of the colliery, for an infraction of General Rule 23. This regulation is a most important Mines Regu- one. Nevertheless, after the expenditure of much time and money, the result of the hearing was similar to that in the case against the owner, Mr. Deeley, namely, a penalty of sixpence and the costs. The institution and carrying on of proceedings under the Mines Regulation Act is very costly; and, with such results as these, very unsatisfactory.

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ignorance or neglect of

the requirements of the

law.

The Bench has power in such cases to inflict any penalty not exceeding 201. But sixpenny fines do not, I fear, tend to bring about either a due observance of, or respect for, the law. It may be added that all the above cases, except the one against Elijah Page, were heard before the Stipendiary Magistrate.

Explosions of Fire-damp.

Four persons lost their lives from this cause, but in the case of two of these, No. 33 in the list, the explosion cannot be regarded as of an accidental character; and therefore I consider it incumbent upon me to bring this in a special manner under your notice. The explosion occurred at the Denbigh Hall Colliery on the 29th May, in a newly sunk portion of one of the pit shafts. The two deceased.men were engaged in bricking, or what is termed walling the shaft; for which purpose they were supported upon a scaffold of nearly the same diameter as the shaft itself. Several feet under this scaffold a second, or what is termed a catch-scaffold, had been constructed. The two men had just come on to their shift to relieve two other workmen, who also most narrowly escaped, for whilst they were ascending the shaft the explosion occurred, blowing up both scaffolds, and precipitating the two unfortunate men to the bottom, a depth of about 17 yards, where they fell into water about three feet deep.

As the only persons present were dead there was no direct evidence to show how the gas was fired. The sinking operations had been extended from a Heathen coal headway.

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SKETCH OF NO 2 PIT SHAFTS AT THE DENBICH HALL COLLIERY, SHEWING THE
VENTILATING ARRANGEMENTS AT THE TIME OF THE EXPLOSION IN MAY LAST.

Working Scaffold

Catch Scaffold

SURFACE

187 Yards

Upcast Shaft

shaft was

ventilated.

In order to ventilate the sinking of the shaft a dam was constructed in this headway How the through which the air current passed by two air-pipes, ten inches in diameter-one sinking pit conveying the air in the direction of the sinking operations below, and the other direct into the upcast or open shaft. The ventilation of the sinking was, unfortunately, only carried about 28 feet below the headway, leaving about 20 yards unventilated; and indeed, when the explosion happened, the end of the lower air-pipe was seven feet six inches above the upper scaffold.

Had the air-pipe been carried through the scaffolds to the bottom of the shaft, and an adequate current of air sent through it, and also proper means adopted for its exit, this lamentable accident would, in my opinion, never have been heard of.

The Act requires that an adequate amount of ventilation shall be constantly produced Provision for in every mine to dilute and render harmless noxious gases to such an extent that the ventilation working places of the shafts, &c., &c. shall be in a fit state for working and passing General Rule

therein.

in the first

of the Mines

It was proved at the inquest that more or less gas was emitted at intervals during Regulation these sinking operations, which, one of the witnesses stated, was known to Mr. Latham, Act, 1872. the manager, who was down the shaft a few hours before the explosion, measuring up the work upon a scaffold then only six feet from the bottom; yet it does not appear that he gave any instructions for more complete and efficient ventilation.

Proceedings were taken by the direction of the then Secretary of State for a violation of the provision quoted above; conviction followed, and the defendant was fined 5. and costs.

It is scarcely credible that any colliery manager of the present day could have imagined that the provision for ventilation in this case met the requirements of the law, or the manifest obligations imposed by a regard for the lives of those employed; and yet another mine agent came forward on his behalf, and entirely justified the course adopted. The accompanying sketch shows the means adopted for ventilating the shaft. See diagrams. I had reason to think that the mining intelligence of the district was really advancing; but such cases as these seem to blight one's hopes of that progress in scientific mining to which we must look for a further diminution of the accidents so painfully frequent in this district. This and several other cases which have occurred during the year seem to show that we have not got clear of the ignorant rule-of-thumb system of a bygone time.

Falls.

Of the 31 deaths from falls of coal or roof it is only necessary to notice Accident No. 15, by which three lives were lost. It took place at the Moorlands Colliery in a thick coal mine.

I found on inspection of the mine a very extensive slip or dislocation of unusual smoothness, which had not been previously discovered by the workmen; nor was there anything in the roof of the place, to suggest the existence of such a source of danger. Many seams of coal are subject to these "slips," but the ten-yard coal of this district is so much so that it requires the greatest care and caution on the part of those working in it to avoid similar falls, and no possible precautions can entirely prevent their occurrence, as many of them are brought about by a sudden subsidence of the superincumbent strata (technically called a bump) over which the workmen have no control.

Accidents in Pit Shafts.

The accidents under this head are by no means so numerous now as formerly. The lives of 12 persons were lost from this class of fatalities. Of these, three were caused by pushing the tub or skip into the pit shafts, which, with ordinary care, might all have been avoided. Three happened to persons whilst improperly standing in the pit bottom whilst the skip or cage was ascending. These two were equally the result of reckless disregard of evident danger.. It is only necessary to make special mention of one more Loss of life case, 36 in the list, which occurred in the Cannock Chase Collieries, through a rope then through bad in use on a windlass breaking. Several workmen (sinkers) were about to do some repairs discipline in an air-shaft, and whilst one of their number was being lowered the rope suddenly rope. snapped, precipitating him to the bottom, and killing him on the spot.

The rope was, on the evidence of the ropemaker himself, manufactured for a blockrope, and not for ordinary colliery purposes; and therefore not adapted for the use to which it was put. It had been employed for sinking a shaft or jacket pit in the mine underground, where it was left for a considerable time before it was taken up and placed in the storeroom.

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