388 Inlclligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



prietois or agents exact profits from the supply of necessaries to 

 the workmen, is fortunately much exploded in most mining districts ; 

 and though it is continued and defended in some large establish- 

 ments, yet I venture to think, the good effects of a contrary practice 

 are well established, and admitted in most well conducted mines, and 

 evinced by the lower rate of wages and greater comparative comfort 

 of the labourer. Another improvement of our times may be es- 

 teemed the mode of purchase and supply of the various stores and 

 materials which mines require. Formerly, agents were dealers in 

 those articles, and their emolument was made more to depend on 

 the quantity of goods they sold, than on their attention to the true 

 interests of their employers. The very persons who ought to limit 

 consumption were thus encouraged to promote it, and all useful 

 check was destroyed. A great alteration has taken place in this 

 respect ; agents have gained much by it in character and respect- 

 ability, though it is fair to admit that I believe it has been detri- 

 mental to their pockets. We may observe, however, a more careful 

 attention to the purchase and the distribution of stores, an ccconomy 

 of first-rate importance to mines ; and as the undivided attention of 

 agents is directed to the success of the concerns from which they 

 derive their subsistence, so their zeal is excited and their efforts are 

 stimulated to promote it. — Among the modern improvements, I 

 may add the mode in which the accounts are kept, showing, in many 

 instances, a dissected and arranged statement of the application of 

 the funds to the varied demands of the concern. Nothing has con- 

 tributed to throw more light upon the subject, nothing has been 

 more useful, by giving the means of coming to a just conclusion: 

 and nothing is more dangerous than mining without clear and short 

 accounts of expenditure. Many of the improvements I have alluded 

 to are, or have for a long time been, common to many mining dis- 

 tricts, and I by no means intend to describe them as confined to 

 one in particular. They have been carried on, and matured by a 

 collision, from different parts; some have originated in one place 

 and some in another, and those who have desired to improve have 

 benefited by the general experience. More general means of in- 

 formation diffused through the ranks of those we employ, have been 

 turned to great account ; and we see that practical information on 

 many parts of geology, of mechanics, and hydrostatics, as well as 

 geometry and figures, has contributed to assist in the better ma- 

 nagement of mining affairs. I can recollect when a rude section of 

 a mine was a rare thing to be found, and at this time we rely upon 

 them, in many instances, as guides in our operations. The steam- 

 engine and the more complicated machine were understood for- 

 merly only by a select few ; and now they owe some of their most 

 important improvements to individuals whose attention has been 

 called to their use in our mines. 



If I were asked of what use are all these improvements in the 

 management of mines, if their profits be not increased, I must reply, 

 by inquiring, in what state mining in Great Britain would have been 

 without them. Our rich shallow mines have mostly been exhausted, 



and 



