FRENCH EXHIBITION. 



841 



machines arc exhibited at, Paris which deserve 



.] notice. MesM--. .Ion.-.- and l.cvick 



i Uritainj have constructed a \cry port- 



-ovablo altiii^ rails by a hand- 



whecl, and mounting a pick at any required 



la-ight in the seam, so carried in a revolving 



! that, in-trad of only striking hori- 



'!y, as in most of tho earlier inventions, 



it may be applied to any angle of inclination in 



which the scam lies. 



The machine of MC-H'S. Carrel t, Marshall 

 and Co. i(!ivat I'.ritain) consists of a strong 

 liar, armed \\ilh three cutters or scoops, 

 and forced by hydraulic pressure against the 

 ci>a! in such wise as to form the undercut by a 

 sort of planing action oblique to the face. In- 

 stead of pas>inir three times along the front of 

 tho coal, as do the pick-machines, in order to 

 ' : ! ward to the required depth, this con- 

 trivance completes the full depth at once, and 

 wit liout percussive action, or making dust and 

 noi-e ; it moreover cuts through iron pyrites 

 and band-stone with facility. 



Coal-fiit /'"ittiiii/x. Pit-ropes are exhibited 

 of various forms and material. The heavy flat 

 ropes of aloe-fibre are much employed in the 

 north of France and in Belgium, where some 

 of tho shafts are of great depth. 



Ever since the Great Exhibition of 1851 nu- 

 merous inventors have turned their attention 

 to tho subject of providing the cages with 

 safety-catches, intended to grip the guides in 

 case of the breakage of the rope. In 1855 and 

 18G2, a long list of contrivances had to be re- 

 ported upon ; but, even up to the present day, 

 the opinions of those most conversant with pit 

 machinery are divided on the question of which 

 of them, if any, is preferable to simply doing 

 without them, if only due caution be exercised 

 in employing the very best material and fre- 

 quently overhauling the rope. 



Among safety lamps several of the known 

 modifications of the Davy are exhibited, and sun- 

 dry contrivances for more eifectually locking 

 them. A new one is that of M. Arnonld, of 

 Mons, who so inserts an iron pin that the lamp 

 can only be unlocked by placing it in a proper 

 position over the poles of a powerful magnet. 



For the ventilation of mines nothing new has 

 been proposed since 1862. 



The New Prize at Paris. The general pro- 

 gramme of the Paris Exhibition contains a 

 paragraph stating that a new kind of prize will 

 be awarded u to those persons, establishments, 

 or communities who, by means of special ar- 

 rangements or institutions, have improved the 

 mutual good understanding between all the 

 different parties who cooperate in the execution 

 of work, and to all those who have succeeded 

 in ameliorating the material, moral, or intel- 

 lectual condition of tho working population." 

 Tho facts drawn forth by this inquiry seem to 

 show that this question, which in England has 

 been allowed to adjust itself by purely acci- 

 dental agencies, has been the subject of the 

 most careful study and attention, and of con- 



tinned HIP! in^ labor, on tho part of 



many manufacturers on (lie Continent; t 

 many in.-tance-, the-, i-if.,rt- !. .11 on- 



(|iialilied sneer arc two pri: 



clearly discernible in the pant and p: 

 duct of those manufacturers who have been 

 most suci -sful in that direction, viz., the pay- 

 ment |,y piecework or quantity pnluc,-d, mid 

 the cooperation between masters and men in 

 the establishment of such providential institu- 

 tions as are requisite to meet the ledd 

 cases of difficulty and distress amongst a work- 

 ing population. In respect to the education 

 of workmen, tho manufacturers throughout 

 France and Germany have made extraordinary 

 efforts. The great establishments tare created 

 schools of their own for the children of their 

 workmen, and some engineering works have 

 erected special workshops wherein their ap- 

 prentices may go through a course of combined 

 theoretical and practical study before they en- 

 ter into tho regular service of the works. 

 Messrs. Schneider and Co., at Creusot, employ 

 9,950 workmen at their works, and the total 

 amount of wages paid by them per annum is 

 nearly 400,000. Average of wages paid during 

 the past year, viz., was to miners, 3.33 francs 

 per day ; smiths, 3.83 francs ; engineers, 8.40 

 francs; colliers, 3.25 francs; blast-furnace ser- 

 vice, 2.95 francs. The highest wages given to 

 mechanics in the engineering workshops at 

 Creusot are eight francs per day ; and in the 

 forge, from ten to eleven francs per day are the 

 maximum earnings for a skilled workman. The 

 number of working hours per day is eleven in 

 the workshops and twelve in the mines, but 

 the latter includes some interruptions for meals. 

 The foremen and clerks are the only employes 

 paid by the day all workmen being paid by 

 piece-work given to them under a contract, the 

 prices being regulated by experience, the more 

 skilful or more industrious workman getting a 

 better return than those who are inferior in 

 any way. Each pnddler, for instance, has t la- 

 weight of coal and pig-iron portioned out to 

 him, and noted on a table accessible to all. Tho 

 raw materials are placed to his debit, and his 

 production set off against that to his credit. 

 Although wages are considerably lower than 

 those paid in the manufacturing districts in 

 England, Messrs. Schneider and Co. furnish a 

 list, showing that five hundred of their work- 

 men have become proprietors of houses (which, 

 in France, includes the freehold of the land 

 tfuilt upon) within the last six years. The 

 working-people are well housed ; the rate of 

 mortality is small and the increase of the popu- 

 lation is four times as great as that of France 

 in general. The schools erected at Creusot 

 have 4,000 pupils ; the boys attend school from 

 their seventh up to their sixteenth year. Tho 

 proportion of the inhabitants unable to read 

 and to write is only 9 per cent., and there are 

 many of the sons of workmen in N- 

 Schneider's establishment who have pa>sed the 

 Government schools for engineering at Paris, 



