

NEW WINNING OR SEA PIT. 28& 



The inch bands are known as "penny bands." The morgan 

 and jerry are carbonaceous shales. The roadways and bords 

 are driven in the middle coal, marked I., which is first taken 

 out. The second work consists of taking up the jerry, and 

 putting that on one side, then the bottom coal is lifted. 

 Finally, the top coal, which stands better than the rock roof,, 

 is taken down. The morgan and jerry are left in the bords, 

 and the men stand on this so as to reach the top coal, but if 

 there is not sufficient to enable the men to get near enough to- 

 their work, they stand on old grease barrels, which are easily 

 rolled about from one place to another. They also use short 

 ladders to stand on sometimes, but these are more easily 

 damaged than the barrels. When removing the pillars, the- 

 bottom coal is left unworked. 



In 1850, the A. A. Co. commenced shipping coal to South 

 America. The miners went on strike in 1861, and having 

 been successful struck again in 1862, but on this occasion their 

 places were filled by men brought from Melbourne. 



Several shafts have been worked by this company. At 

 present the Sea Pit, which was sunk in 1888, is the main one. 

 Mr. R. Thomas has been manager of it for the past seven years. 



The headings are driven parallel with the facings, and 

 are placed 70 yards apart. The different headings are known 

 by the names of the men who started them. The bords are 

 turned off at right angles to the facings, and are made 6 yards 

 wide; the length or bord course is 33 yards, as cut throughs 

 parallel to the headings are driven half-way between neigh- 

 bouring headings so as to shorten the distance necessary to con- 

 vey the coal to the main roadways. The cut-throughs are driven 

 after the bords, as that gives a slight advantage in their cost, 

 since that portion in the bord has been made in wide instead of 

 narrow work, the latter having to be paid for at yardage rates. 

 The pillars between the bords are 12 yards wide, the miners get 

 paid at a higher rate for the middle coal than for either the- 

 top or bottom coal. The top coal is paid for at 3 pence per 

 ton less than the middle coal, as it is already undercut, and 

 only has to be dropped. The bottom coal is paid 2 pence per 

 ton less than the middle coal, because in this case there is no 

 holing to be done, but as there is more dirt to be removed 

 than when dropping the top coal, the bottom coal fetches 1 

 penny a ton more. Sometimes small faults, say, 3ft. throw, 

 occur in the coal, but as the seam is about 16ft. thick, the coal 1 

 is not lost, and therefore does not require to be sought. 

 Where the throw is over 3in., the miners are allowed 1| penny 

 for each inch of throw. The miners are paid less for pillar 

 coal than bord coal, nevertheless the proprietors make less; 

 profit out of the former, on account of the timber that is lost 

 S 



