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WORKMEN'S TOPICS. ..

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WORKMEN'S TOPICS. COAL MINES REGULATION ACT (1887) AMENDMENT. BY MABON, M.P. It is intended that this Bill, which we are pleased to observe- is the subject of nch witicism, favourable and otherwise, in the daily ress, shall be cited as the Coal ties Regula- tion Act, 1893, and to be construed as one with 4he Coat Mines Regulation Act, 1887, and both be cited together as the Coal Mines Regulation Aot, 1887 and 1893. It is intended also by and under some of the last clauses in this Act to constitute miners' and Snineowners' associations for the purposes sf the Act itself, especially the making and VJministering the special rules necessary for the protection of life and limb in the mines, as well as the protection of the miners them- selves. Provided that these associations be IIOnst ituted without any unnecessary delay, and It were possible to pass the Act this year, it is intended that the Act should come into operation 4n the first of next year, 1894. Clause 3 of the proposed Bill provides that no person under the age of 21 years shall be employed in or allowed to be for the purpose of employment in any mine below ground for more than eight hours during any consecutive twenty-four hours. This is a clause apparently to extend the nine-hours' protection clauses of the principal Act, of boys under 16 years of age, to 'oung persons up to 21 years under the new Act, ,ith a reduction of one hour to all persons forking under the latter age with, also, the addition that they cannot work more than one '.nft of eight hours in any one day of 24 hours. rhis, in ftact, is a proposal to apply the Eight flours' Bill to all young persons working n mines under 21 years of age. In this troposal we think that those making ■4 may have the co-operation of their Northern brethren to carry the same through parliament. If they are not precluded from fringing the one principle before the House in rwo Bills, evidently they mean to have two strings so their bow, especially with regard to the im- llOrtant question of reducing the hours of young persons to eight per day. Sub-section 2 of this clause provides that a %ook, to be called "The Hours of Work Book," Tihall be kept in the offices, in which the manager r4iall cause to be entered in such form as the Secretary of State may prescribe a record of the zime during which any person is employed fÐ the mine below ground. We have teen told that this will cause hundreds of pounds "additional cost each year, and that the thing is ,tone in a much b tter and in a more efficient way present. Well, if the thing is done already, ispeeially in an efficient way, one can hardly see therein the extra burden in cost is to come in. Clause 4, sub-uction 1, provides that no person »ho has not bben so employed before he has attained the age of 18 years shall be employed in, Or allowed to be for the purpose of employment, in any mine below ground. The object of %his clause is obviously plain, for if it passes there would be no impractical adults engaged under the Act. Our mines would soon become the hives of practical men, unskilled labour, with all its atttendant evils, having been swept away in a few years. However, what we are told by one of the pessimistic critics, that what would bappon wou!d not happen We think that Mr Overman tells us in the daily PN88 that the first thing that would happen after such an enactment would be to discharge all persons found in our mines under the age of eighteen. That cannot be, however, for nothing In the new Act can apply to persons who are already lawfully employed underground at present. It is not even proposed that the new Amendment Act should be retrospective. In section 8 of t q new Act it is proposed to amend section 15 of tne resent Act, by specify- ing that it shall be the duty of the inspector of weights and measures, after an inspection of any machines used on any pit bank or elsewhere for the purpose of determining the weight of minerals gotten by the workmen in the mine, to report the result of such in. spection in writing to the Secretary of State and to the clerk of the county council within the area of which the mine is situated. This has become necessary in conse- quence of the altered conditions under the County Government Act and the inspectors of weights and measures coming under the control of the county council. The obligation of reporting: is also a new one. Section 9 of the new Act also proposes to amend section 16 of the present Act by inserting the following words into sub-section 1 (a) thereof And where a seam extends formore than one mile there shall be at least two shafts or outlets in every mile of such seam for the time being in work." What we are told with regard to this accessary improvement is, not that it cannot be done, but simply that it will not be done. The employors will not bear the expense of doing it. We can well understand that few men of the present days' experience would care to say that such.. additional safeguards are not necessary as improved means of ventilation, when such distance is worked underground, and of means of escape in emergencies such as some of those that we have recently xperienced. In this case, then, it is not sufficient that mineowners should say we won't undertake he cost. Let the Legislature step in and tell hem "you will not be permitted to extend the workings of any one seam underground unless you will provide such workings with at least one -ibaft or outlet in every mile of the same." It is nigh time to put an end to the theory and secret belief that the cost sheets of any company is of greater value than the lives and the limbs of underground workmen, not forgetting, nor un- grateful for, the great and numerous improve- ments of recent years in the safety of underground working. Still, the mining communities of to-day are entitled to every additional improve- ment that science, knowledge, and practice can suggest in that direction. With this end in view it is suggested in section 10 of this new Bill that, with respect to the powers and duties of inspectors, it shall be the duty of the inspector making such inspection, examina- tion, or inquiry in any mine or part thereof, within six days, to enter in writing, in a book to be kept for the purpose in the mine, a report of such inspection, examination, or inquiry that had been made, so that all those interested may know the result thereof and profit thereby. It is with exactly the same object in view that iection 13 of the Bill provides that there shall be appointed in every mining district assisiant inspectors for every 10,000 persons em- ployed above or below ground in connec- tion with mines in the district; and also to making these appointments that preference ihall be given to persons having practical know- ledge of the working of mines, and especially to Juch of those that hold certificates of competency ander the present Act. It is proposed that these assistant inspectors should be generally under ihe control of the chief inspector of the district, and, so that the inspectorate may have the ad- 7antage of the theoretical and mechanical know- ledge of the one class combined with ihe practice and competency of the other, to that between them the distiict would have fuch a thorough staff of inspectors that it could lot be hurled against it in the future that it rrould be of no real value. We believe ourselves hat mineowners as well as the miners should hail the day when the inspectorate of any dis- trict were able to perform its duties to the entire satisfaction of all concerned.

The Household.

THE LATE DR. THOMAS.

LITTLE JOH NNlE;S--TREASU…

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AN INTERESTING OPERATION.

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MOTHER'S LIGHT.

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---------GLADSTONE AND TENNYSON,