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REPORTS OF ASSISTANT INSPECTORS UNDER THE METALLIFEROUS MINES REGULATION ACT

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Mr. W. Walker's Report.

Report on the Inspection of Mines and Quarries in the Yorkshire and Lincolnshire District, for the year ending 31st December 1906.-By W. Walker.

SIR,

Doncaster,

7th March, 1907.

In pursuance of Section 43 of the Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1887, and Section 20 of the Metalliferous Mines Act, 1872, I have the honour to submit my Report upon the Inspection of Mines and Quarries in the Yorkshire and Lincolnshire District for the year ending 31st December, 1906.

INTRODUCTION.

During the year I have had the able and willing assistance of Mr. Mellors and Mr. Wilson, who have carried out their duties to my complete satisfaction.

The work of inspection, owing to the rapid development of the District, continues to grow, and the present staff, to cope with the work and maintain the standard hitherto kept up, are compelled to sacrifice much of what, strictly speaking, should be leisure time, and in this and also in undertaking any work to further the interests and welfare of the District they have both readily responded to the many calls I have been compelled to make upon them.

Their formal reports under the Metalliferous Mines Act are appended to this report. All the mines at work under the Coal Mines Acts, with the exception of nineteen, have had at least one underground inspection made at them, and the larger and more important mines have, in the majority of cases, been visited underground as many as seven and eight times. Those not so visited are for the most part small mines employing very few men, where naked lights are used, and from which no accidents of any kind have been reported. Some of them have already been inspected during the current year.

The whole of the clerical work, preparation of statistics, returns, &c., has passed through my hands. This has entailed much work, principally in the evening after inspections have been made at the mines and quarries during the day.

The following table shows the work done, but the many meetings, consultations and other duties are not included, as they are too numerous to classify:

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During the year in West Yorkshire the coal trade generally has been much better than in 1905, although short time was worked at many of the collieries during the summer months. In the early and latter part of the year the demand for coal was greater, and work in consequence more regular and plentiful than it has been in recent

In South Yorkshire there has been a steady demand for coal throughout the year, and the pits have worked regularly and well.

There were no variations of wages during the year, but an advance of 5 per cent. has recently been made by the owners.

The Hemsworth Collieries, owing to the dispute as to wages, referred to in my report for 1905, have not worked during the year, the ownership has, however, changed hands and they now belong to the South Kirkby, Featherstone, and Hemsworth Collieries, Ltd., of Ropergate, l'ontefract. Meetings have taken place between the new owners and representatives of the men with a view to arranging terms on which the working of the colliery could be resumed but, unfortunately, up to the present, without success.

Thrybergh Collieries, after being idle owing to the same cause, have been re-opened, and now afford employment to 670 persons, although no agreement was made between the owners and the men who were working when the dispute originated.

The various sinkings in the district have made satisfactory progress. At Brodsworth Main Colliery, the shafts have reached a depth of 200 yards and 187 yards respectively. The magnesian limestone has been proved to be of less thickness than was anticipated, and the sinking in the coal measures has proceeded at a rapid rate.

At Bentley Colliery, the difficulties met within a few feet of the surface in a bed of quicksand 100 feet thick, permeated with fairly large feeders of water, have been successfully overcome, both shafts now being a considerable distance below it.

Dinnington Main and Frickley Collieries are being gradually developed, and during the year 891 and 411 persons were employed at them respectively. The Parkgate Seam at Elsecar Main Colliery has been reached, and proved to be of satisfactory thickness and quality; a second shaft is being sunk to it, and it is expected that this will take about 9 months when the seam will be developed, and in a short time add very considerably to the mineral output of the district.

The sinking at Wrenthorpe Colliery has also reached the Silkstone Seam, and a connection in that seam is being driven to Low Laithes Colliery, owned by the same Company, and when this is completed full work will begin. The seam which has been sunk at Middleton Colliery, near Leeds, has also been reached, and arrangements are being made to work it. When all these new mines are fully developed the output of the district will be considerably increased, and employment afforded to an increased number of men. The Report is divided into three parts, viz. :—

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And there are three Appendices-(I.) a list of Fatal Accidents, and (II.) a list of Prosecutions, and (III) a list of the plans of Abandoned Mines, under the Coal and Metalliferous Mines Acts deposited at the Home Office during the year.

Part 1.-Coal Mines.

SECTION I.

PERSONS EMPLOYED.

The total number of persons employed in and about the mines, under the Coal Mines Acts was 115,597, being an increase of 2,886 as compared with 1905. In Lincolnshire there was a decrease of three, but in the West Riding of Yorkshire there was an increase of 2,889. Underground workers showed an increase of

1,849 persons; the boys between the ages of 13 and 14 years decreased by 65, but of those between 14 and 16 years of age 225 more were employed, and in the persons above 16 years of age there was an increase of 1,689. Above ground the boys between the ages of 12 and 14 decreased by 73, but those between 14 and 16 and the persons above 16 years of age show an increase of 125 and 965 respectively, leaving the net increase of all persons employed above ground 1,017. As in former years no females were employed.

The decrease of boys below the age of 14 years is due to many owners not employing them owing to the Employment of Children Act, 1903, making it illegal to employ them between the hours of 9 o'clock at night and 6 o'clock in the morning.

The number of mines at work was 384, or an increase of nine as compared with the previous year.

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The total output for the year was 33,104,560 tons, or an increase of no less than 2,614,561 tons as compared with the previous year. Large as this increase is it would have been even greater if the railway and dock companies had been able to deal more expeditiously with the traffic.

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Of this increase West Yorkshire claims 985,420, South Yorkshire 1,623,465, and Lincolnshire 5,676 tons. The large increase in the output of coal and other mineral as shown by the comparatively small increase in the persons employed, is due to the development of the new, and the more regular working of all the other mines in the district.

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The output of mineral per person employed during the year was (a) below ground 363 statute tons, and (b) below and above ground 286 statute tons. The figures for the previous year were 341 and 270 respectively.

Coal Cutting by Machinery.

From the table below it will be seen that another considerable increase in the quantity of coal obtained by means of coal cutting machines has to be recorded, but that the number of machines and collieries using them, has not increased at the same rate as they did in 1905. But for the fact that the Crigglestone Collieries, which had them in use in 1905, were idle during the whole of the year, the number of machines would have been greater.

The increase in the number of collieries is five, in machines five, and the output from them no less than 436,702 tons.

The number of machines worked by electricity was 94, and by compressed air 158, being a decrease of 2 driven by the former, and an increase of 7 by the latter power.

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The total number of separate fatal accidents was 122, or one less than in 1905, and the deaths resulting from them numbered 124, or exactly the same as in the previous year. This, taking into consideration the largely increased output, is a satisfactory record, although I am by no means satisfied that, with ordinary care, often on the part of the unfortunate persons who were the victims of the accidents, and, in some instances, on the part of others, the number would not have been less.

Total.

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