J. E. C. Munro

“ A little consideration will show that in calculating the average hours in a district it is necessary to have regard not merely to the variation of hours but to the number of men employed. If 10,000 men are employed for nine hours in one colliery and 1000 men in another colliery for ten hours, it would be very misleading to say that the average length of the day in the two collieries is nine and a half hours. ”

“ No industry is surrounded with a greater number of legal checks, yet these checks have only paved the way for economies that leave the cost of production practically where it was before.
If we turn from the causes affecting the productiveness of the mines open at the present time to consider the causes tending to the development of new coal-fields, it is evident that they are by no means exhausted. Apart from the clauses and stipulations usually inserted in mining leases, the leading factor in the development of a coal-field is a ready access to markets. ”

“ In conclusion, it may be pointed out that the miners themselves have the greatest possible interest in maintaining their individual output. Any rise in prices leads, as we have seen, to the development of new coal-fields, and if the miners by restricting production raise prices and increase the number of those employed, the depression that ensues when bad times arrive is intensified. One of the main causes of the low wages subsequent to 1876 was the impetus given to the coal industry in 1872 and 1873. Hence self-interest would impel the miner to endeavour to maintain production. ”

“ Apart from the question of wages, it is a well-known fact that, when physical exertion is necessary, the longer the day the slower the
worker. To ascertain the exact number of hours that a healthy man can work with the greatest possible advantage in the production of wealth—the effects of the toil on his physical frame being taken into account—would be a difficult though not impossible task. ”

“ Other underground men and surface men are paid by the day, mainly because the product of their labour is not capable of actual measurement. But it may be laid down as a general principle, at least in mines, that day wages follow piece wages. A rise in the wages of hewers is usually accompanied by a rise in the wages of day workers. For instance, the sliding scales formerly in use in Durham provided for a rise and fall in the wages of enginemen, mechanics, and banksmen, as well as the wages of hewers. We may therefore take the wages of hewers as typical of wages in coal mining. ”

“ But the fact is all-important in discussing the probability of a reduction in hours reducing production and raising the price of coal. Assmuing the demand to be unchanged, the increased output from the new coal-fields will tend to neutralize any reduction due to decreased hours. It may be said, however, that if hours are not reduced, the extra-production of new fields will cheapen coal, and therefore the consumer will gain more benefit than if hours were not reduced. ”

“ But the Durham miner may be taken as a proof that shorter hours of labour do not necessarily diminish production.
Not less important than the efficiency of the miner is the efficiency of the machinery available for bringing coal from the face to the surface. The effect of improvements in this respect may be illustrated by the fact communicated to me that in Lancashire one of the largest colliery proprietors in 1852 was only able to wind 600 tons per day from twelve pits, whereas now he can wind the same quantity in one day from a single pit. ”

“ But, whatever be the cause, it is clear that there is no difficulty under the stimulus of higher prices of increasing the production of coal in a single year by seven millions of tons, or over four per cent.
That industrial pressure leads to increased efficiency in production is a principle constantly exemplified, but often overlooked. It is true that many of the inventions that have benefited the race can be traced to a happy discovery or to a series of laborious experiments ”

“ The mine-owners, in their reply to the miners, dwelt upon the increased cost of production, upon foreign competition, and the rise in price to the manufacturer. All these points depend on the output. If the total output be maintained there will be no rise in price, and no disadvantage as regards the foreigner; if the output per miner be maintained there will be no increase in the cost of production. As regards wages, if the total output and the output per miner be maintained, wages will not be affected by the reduction in hours. ”

“ The usual practice in the midland counties, Lancashire and Cheshire, and North and South Wales, is to work a single shift. It is also the custom to wind coal from eight to ten hours. If every person employed underground is to be drawn out within eight hours of the time he goes down it is manifest that coal winding cannot be carried on for more than six and a half to seven hours, and in many instances even less than that, as at nearly all the large pits it occupies from one hour to two to lower and raise the men employed. ”

“ Prices not rising, he must, to gain the same wages in the shorter day, send as much coal to the surface as he did before, and hence he will have the strongest possible motive to save time from the hours allowed for meals, to use a faster stroke, to idle less, and even to increase if necessary the average number of days he works in the week in order to realize his standard. ”

“ Unfortunately, as I have pointed out, the statistics relating to the production of coal per man previous to the year 1872 have to be used with the greatest care, as the Coal Mines Regulation Act, which makes it compulsory on mine-owners to supply returns relating to the output and the number of persons employed, was not then in force. The great increase shown in the number of persons employed in the year 1872 is ascribed by the Inspectors of Mines partly to the more accurate returns received. ”

“ The 11,000 men work 100,000 hours in the day, which gives an average of 9·09 hours for each man. I propose to assume that the averages in this return are true averages. In the following Table A will be found a statement of the number of hours worked in each coal district, of the number of hours worked per week, and of the number of hours miners would work per week under an eight hours day assuming them to work the same number of days as they do at the present time. ”

“ The statement of the Miners' Federation is very valuable as regards specific information inasmuch as it gives particulars for each mine separately. Unfortunately all reference to the length of the working week is omitted, and no attempt has been made to arrive at averages for each district. The return of the Home Office is well arranged, the averages being given for each district and for each class of men. The value of the return would have been greatly increased had it stated on what principle the averages were calculated. A true average is as useful as a false one is misleading. ”

“ But the miner is unable to avail himself of such a method of increasing production. His only resource is to hew more coal by remaining longer hours in the mine. This then is the point at which an eight hours day may cease to be observed, unless the miners adopt the principle of the working men in Victoria, that no matter what reductions take place in wages, they will not depart from their standard day. ”

“ The return on the Hours of Labour shows that the greatest diversity exists in their hours as compared with the hours of hewers. In Yorkshire, North and East Lancashire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, part of Breconshire, Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire, there is no practical difference between their hours and the hours of hewers, but in the other coal districts their hours are longer. ”

“ The amount of coal a man can hew in a given time is entirely independent of the process by which such time is fixed, and the wages of a miner under an eight hours day will be the same whether the eight hours be a legal or a voluntary limit. ”

“ It is in winding rather than in coal-cutting that the chief advances have been made in the application of machinery to mines. Coal-cutting machines are not used to any large extent. The moving of machines from one seam to another, and the supply of motive power, raise ditliculties that cannot always be overcome. Apart from this, a coal-cutting machine is useful not so much for increasing the quantity produced as for cutting the coal so as to be more merchantahle than coal picked by the miner. ”

“ Concerted action on the part of the majority of miners would undoubtedly affect the production and the price of coal, but any large rise in prices at once sets in motion forces that tend to bring about a fall. ”

“ It was not to be expected that an agricultural labourer or a factory operative who had never handled a pick in his life could hew the same quantity of coal in a given time as a skilled miner, and some reduction per head was to be expected. ”

“ The result of a six and a half to seven hours winding day would be to reduce the output of coal from 20 to 25 per cent., and, as a very large number of all the persons employed underground are paid by the piece, this would very largely reduce the aggregate wages-fund, and consequently every pieceman would suffer in proportion. ”

“ It is apparent that a very small portion of the mining population outside South Wales, Durham, and Northumberland, whether hewers or other underground men, are actually engaged in work over forty·eight hours in the week. ”

“ The cotton-spinner has had to face a similar reduction in the rate of wages, but fortunately for him the use of improved machinery has enabled him to earn larger weekly wages at the reduced rate than he earned previously. ”

“ The average number of hours the hewers are at the face, and the average number of hours the winding machinery is in motion, in the leading coal districts, are as follows:—
It will be noticed from this table that in the three first-mentioned districts, where the miners work the shortest hours and yet hew the largest amount per man, the winding machinery and the methods of bringing coal to the surface are superior to those found in other districts. In the northern counties and in Staffordshire the coal can be brought to the surface in a shorter time than it takes to hew it ”

“ The Select Committee expressed the view that 'there is no doubt of the capacity of existing collieries to keep up the present supply of coal, and that with an adequate provision of suitable labour the supply could be largely increased ”