GLOSSARY. 403 



Crush. The breaking-lip of coal, and the rock overhead, when 

 pillars or timber give way. 



Cundy or conduct. The passage under a roadway into which an 

 endless rope passes out of the way at the end of its track. 



Curb or crib. A ring made up of segments or wood or iron used 

 in connection with the lining of shafts. Walling or wedging curbs, 

 wedged tightly in position, are used as a foundation on which to start 

 brick lining or tubbing. A capping or holding-down curb is the top 

 curb of a section of tubbing. 



Curtain. A piece of brattice cloth placed across a roadway, so as 

 to dissect the air current. 



Cut-through. A connection between bords, used for ventilation 

 and travelling purposes. 



Dag. A system whereby the earnings of members of the Coal- 

 miners' Federation are practically eqiialised. 



Dant. A fine film of carbonaceous matter found on the joints of 

 coal, sometimes called "Mother of coal." 



Damp. Gaseous mixtures in a colliery. 



Dead rope. See Buffer rope. 



Declared selling price. The nominal selling price of coal declared 

 *by the mine-owners in the Newcastle district, N.S.W., every Septem- 

 ber, on which the payment to miners is based. 



Deficient place. A working place in which men cannot make fair 

 .average wages, and for which they are given extra pay. 



Deputy. An underground official who is in charge of a certain 

 area in a colliery. 



Devil. An automatic arrangement for detaching a set of skips from 

 i.he main and tail rope system on their arrival at the kip. 



Diamond A pointed wooden or iron arrangement placed between 

 rails, just before a curve, where skips are liable to be derailed, so as to 

 enable them to mount the rails again. If the skips are travelling in 

 one direction only, the diamond is pointed at one end, if travelling 

 'backwards and forwards on the same rails both end? are pointed. 



Dip. Working to the dip is when one works on a down grade. 



Disintegrator. A machine for breaking up coal into powder, prior 

 -to converting it into coke. 



District. A certain area of a coal mine into which it is found 

 advisable to divide a colliery for convenience in working. 



District rope. A rope used for hauling skips in a district or sec- 

 tion of a colliery. 



Division rope. See "Buffer rope." 



Dog. See "Dragbar.' 3 



Dog-clip. See "Clip." 



Dog-watch. The night shift in a colliery. 



Down-cast. A shaft through which fresh air enters a mine. 



Dragbar or back stay. An iron bar fastened to the back of a skip 

 -to prevent the latter running backwards down hill in case the hauling 

 rope breaks. 



Draw. To draw a pillar is to extract the pillar when working in 

 -the broken. 



Driver. A boy in charge of a horse and set of skips on a main 

 roadway. 



Dropping pillars and top coal. The second working, consisting of 

 drawing the pillars, and in thick seams fetching down the upper por- 

 tion of the seam that was left temporarily in position. 



Drop-sheet. See "Curtain." 



Drum sheave. A cylindrical drum placed vertically on the inside 

 of a curve, against which the main rope of a main and tail rope system 

 moves when rounding the curve. 



Dry coal. Coals wanting in oily constituents. 



