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Uniform ^^- ^- ^- Mackie, M.P., Edmonton, is urging that 



Mining Act a Canadian Coal Mining Act be passed by the 



^^^^^ ^ Dominion, contingent upon the antecedent consent 



of all provinces, the operation of the Act being left to the provinces. 



Mr. Mackie has requested the Department of Labour to call 

 a conference of the Chief Inspectors of Mines of the various provinces. 

 Whether the provinces would consent or not, there can be no doubt 

 that, as pointed out by Mr. John T. Stirling, Chief Inspector of Mines 

 for Alberta, laws should be identical in, say, British Columbia, 

 Saskatchewan, and Alberta, with provision that the operation of all 

 coal mines in these provinces be under the supervision of persons hold- 

 ing certificates of competency, granted by the authorities of either 

 province. Similarly, this situation should obtain with reference to 

 Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. 



Mr. Stirling further states that there are nearly 300 

 Mining^Operations ^"^"^'^ '" operation in Alberta, about 60 per cent of 

 which is operated in such a small way that it is 

 impossible to make them a commercial success. All the coal that is 

 easily accessible, chiefly along the river banks, is mined by driving 

 in a gangway for a few hundred feet from the outcrop, and, owing 

 to the operator's inability, financially, to put in proper supports, these 

 gangways are allowed to cave in after two or three years' operation, 

 with the result that the larger bodies of coal lying beyond these 

 worked areas will require to be obtained in years to come by expensive 

 shaft sinking. 



In addition to this, the danger of driving into old workings which 

 are flooded with water is constantly increasing, so that the chances 

 of catastrophies are also very much increased. 



Reduction in '^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ price of anthracite has steadily 



Anthracite Prices increased during the past quarter of a century, and 

 " * ^ ^ the well established fact that, if consumption con- 



tinued at the present rate, the anthracite of the United Sates would 

 be exhausted in less than a century, demonstrate that the theory of 

 lower prices after the war is utterly fallacious. Even prior to the war, 

 the production of anthracite was decreasing at the rate of approxi- 

 mately one per cent per annum. The problem in Canada, therefore, 

 is: What can be done in the way of producing a fuel that approximates 

 to anthracite or toward the utilization of lignite under more advan- 

 tageous conditions? 



The Research Council has suggested that briquetting of car- 

 bonized lignite furnishes the solution, and the sum of $400,000 has 

 been appropriated for the erection of an experimental plant. Con- 

 struction of this plant has not yet been commenced. 



