Pioneer

Workmen s Examiners. (Continued). BY "SCRANTON." I SOME OBJECTIONS MET. It has been demonstrated conclusively, I think, that the old-fashioned method of selecting colliery workmen's examiners spasmodically, from amongst the workmen at a colliery is effete, and obsolete. That it is wasteful, unfair, inefficient, and crude. It has also been established equally con- clusively, that where you have part-time examiners chosen from amongst the men, to operate for a given period, say for 12 months, you have a better method, and one which will in all probability give better re- sults. But notwithstanding this, the latter system does not fulfil the requirements of the case, insofar as it does not attract the best men. As has been already demon- strated there is one method that eliminates all these disadvantages, and has advantages peculiar to itself; this is the permanent full- time examiners. Sufficient has already been 1 said in reference to the comparisons of the various kinds of examiners, and the pre- ponderance of the evidence has been en- tirely in favour of the last discussed. I have heard of no objection to this, the only objection that I have encountered hitherto is that it is hardly worth while, on account of the imminence of Nationalisa- tion of Mines, or alternatively of the dual- control of the industry. I shall now set out myself to deal with this objection, and as a preliminary will quote a few extracts from various papers bearing upon the subject. RooF-F.%LL VICTIM .—Five men Buried in Pit at Treherbert. The Bute Colliery, Treherbert was on Wednesday the scene of a huge fall of roof which resulted in the death of William Llew Davies, of Mount Lebanon, Treherbert. Four other men were seriously injured."—Western Mail," (Oct. 16th, 1919). FATAL PIT ROOF FALL.—Coroner's cri- ticism of Timbering. Wlliiam Henry, the manager, admitted that the place was not timbered all along at this place as there appeared to he such a strong rock top. The parting was used daily. The Coroner The place was evidently not timbered throughout as it should have been. We arc quite satisfied in saving this man lost his life through an accidental fall of roof,' yet it is a pity the timbering rule was not fully carried out. I don't say this would have prevented the fatality, as I can quite imagine this place being timbered from end to end, and then a sudden crush knocking it all out, but you would have had the satisfaction of knowing you had done all you could."—Western Mail (Octo- ber isth, 1919). Y- & d FIVE MINERS SLAIN EVERY DAY.- Scathing Comments -Little Else-on Ne- glect. 12,473 less men employed in 1018 than 1917, but 31 more deaths from acci- dents. III June, 1918, a mine manager, who pleaded guilty to some 40 to So contra- ventions of the act (contraventions which included failure to support a roof properly and failure to fence exposed machinery) was fined— £ 8 "—Daily Herald (October 18th, 1919). :¡: V In all parts of a roadway in which sets or trains consisting of three or more tubs are coupled or uncoupled, the roof and sides shall be systematically and adequate- ly supported, and in such parts and in all other parts of the roadway the roof and sides of which require to be supported, if props or bars are used as supports, such supports shall be set at such regular inter- vals and in-such manner as may be specified in the notice hereinafter mentioned. -Coa; Mines Act, 1911, Section 49, Sub-Section 3. :1. "SUPPORT OF ROOF AND SIDES.-illr. Walker has been much impressed by the system of support which is in force at Vic- toria Pit, Newbattle colliery. The roof and sides of all the roads from the pit bottoms to within a short distance of the working- faces are supported by arched steel girders set at regular distances apart. Between the webs of the girders 011 the main roads be- tween the pit bottom and the face, brick- work is built in, the side-roads being sup- ported by arched girders without brick- work. At the working face the roof is sup- ported by steel props set in a systematic manner and recovered as the face advanced. During the fi vc years ended December 31st, 1918, there has been no fatal accident due to fnlls of roof or side in this pit, whilst over one million an 1 a half tons of coal has been gotten. The depth of cover at the

Labour Interrogates the Foreign Secretary. In the name of the Executive Committee of the Labour Party which discussed at its meeting last week the present Russian situation, the following searching questions have been addressed to the Government in a letter sent to Mr. Arthur Balfour, the Foreign SecretirN (T) Is the withdrawal of British troops from Archangel accurately described as an evacuation by the British forces? or (2) Arc there still a number of British troops, including volunteer detachments and technical instructors, still remaining in the territories formerly included in the Russian Empire, with the exception of Trans-Caucasia ? (3) To what extent is assistance being ren- dered to Koltchak and Denikin, by way of money, supplies, and military equip- ment ? (4) Upon what date is it proposed that mili- tary action in Russia, in this or any other form, shall cease? (5) Whether the Government is placing any obstacles in the way of the Peace negotia- tions in progress between the Baltic State Governments and the Soviet Govern- ment ? (6) What restrictions, if any, are still being placed by British naval forces upon mari- time trade between Russia and neutral countries via the Baltic ? This last query is suggested by the re- ported statement by the Swedish Govern- ment, in reply to an inquiry from the Swedish Metal Workers' Union, that it cannot afford protection to Swedish vessels carrying medical supplies to Petrograd, owing to the possibility that this might lead to war betw een Sweden and the Allied Gov- ernments. The letter asks the Foreign Secretary to give these questions his early consideration.

i pressed by the extremists on both sides. The bitterness provoked by the starvation policy of the Allies was strengthening hoth the militarists on one hand, and the extreme re- volutionaries on the other hand. Miss Eg- lantyne Jebb (lion, secretary of the Save the Children Fund) appealed to Sir John Brad- bury that every effort should be made to save the children whose lives are in danger Those who had it in their power to save them had an unparalleled opportunity of rendering a service which would earn the lasting gratitude of mankind. The deputa- tion were courteously received by Sir John Bradbury, and an interview was granted to some of its members by Mons. Loucheur. the French Representative on the Repara- tion Commission (and Chairman), Colonel Theunis, the Belgian representative, and Mr. Dresel, the American representative.

Eric Geddes. Moreover, while the old teachers arc under no such obligation. Re- presentations have been made again and again to the Treasury to alleviate the lot of these poor annuitants, but the Treasury merely replies that it dare not raise their pensions lest other Civil servants might ask for a rise also. It is pleasing to learn that the National Union of Teachers has raised the voluntary fund to help the old teachers, but it is a scandal that a Government pour- ing out millions of money like water should not lie able to afford a few hundred thou- sands to keep the teachers from the work- house.

deepest point is 4ro, and at the shaft 270 fathoms.. The colliery has been visited by a great many colliery managers during the time the system has been in vogue, so it is well known. "Science and Art of Mining (October 18th, 1919. The above extract is a portion of a sum- mary dealing with extracts from the Mines Inspectors reports for 1918, and should be read in conjunction with the concluding re- marks of my last article on this subject. Well, to return to the objection advanced against the appointment of permanent ex- aminers, on the score that it is not worth while oil accoilt of the imminence of the Nationalisation of the industry, or the dual- control thereof. What would we say of a colliery owner who treated the matter in this way. What if a colliery owner said to his managers thus We shall probably have the mines nationalised in a few months, or in a year or two at the outside It is not worth while for us to spend any more money in buying better safety lamps, timbering the roadways, making refuge holes, or opening out the airways. Get all the coal you can, keep everybody off the repairs, leave the airways as they are, and don't engage any more repairers. It is not worth while for us to trouble about the safety of the mines. The mines will not be ours for long. Let us get all the coal we can, as cheap as we can, while there is yet time, and so be in a more favourable position to bargain when the time comes for thew to be taken over." We should probably call him a callous money-grabbing murderer. Again, suppose there is a man and boy working together as they often do, and they have a tram partly filled. The roof is band and a support is required. But the man, knowing the danger exists is anxious to fill the tram before dealing with it, and says to the boy Never mind the post now, we will put one up as soon as we fill this tram. Pull a bit of coal to fill this tram, I don't expect it will come down for a bit, I want to have the tram ready for the haulier." What would you think of a man who would risl. his own life for n tram of coal ? You wfcmld think him a fool. What would you think of a man who would risk a boy's life, whether his own or somebody else's, for a tram of coal ? You would think him a cold-blooded murderer. Now apply this test of the colliery-owner and the collier to the agent, or check- weigher or collier who opposes the appoint- ment of permanent examiners, on the illu- sory grounds above-mentioned. Can they staud the the test?

Surrender of 140,600 Milcti Guvs Under Peace Treaty. MONEY ALTERNATIVE SUGGESTED A party of eight representative English women now in Paris have presented to Sir John Bradbury, the English Representative on the Reparation Commission two memor- ials relating to the cession of milch cows by Germany and Austria under the Peacé I Treaty, and urging that the reparation in question shall be carried out on such lines as may not entail a vastly increased mor- tality amongst children. Mrs. CreightoH (widow of the late Bishop of London and ex-president of the International Council of Women) presented a memorial signed by Lord Robert Cecil, Lords Crewe, Morley, Selborne, and Lansdowne, Adeline, Duchess of Bedford, the Arqhbishops of Canterbury and York, Cardinal Bourne, Dr. Clifford, the Cliief Rabbi, several eminent doctor? and business men, Right Hon. Arthur Hen- derson (secretary of the Labour Party), Sir Horace Plunkett, and other notable mefl and women. The memorial shows by quotations from the British White Paper (Cmd. 280) on Food Conditions in Germany, that the defi- ciency in the milk supply in that country is already causing terrible suffering among children and will become more serious stilt in the winter. One of the authors of this official report, Professor Starling, has since stated that, fof every litre of milk per day lost, a baby will die; while another, Mr. A. P. McDougall* Chief Live Stock Commissioner, for Scot- land, says It is difficult to see how Ger- many can avoid a milk famine which wiIl endanger the lives of children and mothers to an extent one hardly dare contemplate. In combating the white plague, the memorial proceeds, milk is a prime neceS- sit v. In the interests of Europe and of ths world we feel that the German people should not be further hampered in their at- tempt to limit its ravages." It must be the universal desire of the civilised world to prevent any unnecessary extension of the infant death-roll, whid* has already resulted from the war." The memorial presses upon the attention of the Reparation Commission the alterna' tive to the cession of cows which Mr. Mc Dougall suggests and Professor Starling supports, viz. that Germany should be al' lowed to pay for cows to be imported frottl ¡ abroad into France and Belgium; and pointS j out that some 60,000 milch cows are at prt" sent being imported into France frof" America. Mrs. Creighton called attention to tbe names of representative religious and polt- tical leaders who have signed it. The post- ponement of the cession of the cows might, she hoped, avert the increase of despair and revolutionary feelings which would be cotl- sequent on the death of German children- The well-known educationalist, Miss Mar- garet McMillan, L.C .C. urged the import' ance of an international movement for child conservation. As the custodians of powerv the Allies bore great responsibilities, airli- the saving of children, including those 9 -ij enemv countries, lav at the basis of all work I of real reconstruction, 3 The second memorial, presented by -N,fr5- C. R. Buxton, had originated with the Figk the Famine Council, and was signed by otlo hundred men and women well known Iff political, literary, and religious life. M? Buxton quoted the evidence of the Briti**1 White Paper (Cmd. 280), as to <he prob? bility in the winter of a milk famine in G man)'. and a terrible increase of the morta'* ity among children which the existi? shortage had already created. In the large towns of Austria there was the risk tlhvit practically the whole child popnlatiQ might perish. Miss Edith Pyc (Friend Emergency and War Victims' Relief CoIll- mittee) who has been awarded the Legioft [ of Honour in recognition of her work f°t mothers and children in the devastatea areas in France, spoke with feeling of the conditions which had prevailed in Lille at1 other parts, and said that we were faCc now with a wide extension of similar coildi- tions throughout Central Europe. Jtl, Vienna especially, the conditions stilpisse all others in horror. Dr. Ethel Beiltlillill (member of the Executive Committee of tile Labour Party) urged that in the interests 0 all countries the standard of child healt. should not be allowed anywhere to fall tOO low. She spoke of the likelihood of Eurol". as a whole being swept by diseases as tfrc result of the enfeebled condition of the peO" pie in Central Europe. She held a letter from Mr. Arthur Henderson expressing thc support of the Labour Party. The opiniD of English working women was voiced b Mrs. Hood, the delegate of the Women* Co-operative Guild and, other women's iJ1 dustrial organisations with a membership of half a million. It was their desire, shc said, that reparation should be exacted froo Germany without the punishment falling ott 'I the children. The working women of Eng" land did not want the children of any natio? to starve. Miss Catherin Marshall spoke of her c?' periences during a recent stay of tw? months in Germany, which went to sho? that a concession at this moment on thCl part of the Allies would strengthen the most hopeful and truly progressive elements i01 German political life, who were very hard kcontinned at foot of preceding column).