Ixxxiv PROCEEDINGS. 



arrived a few years ago, has passed, not without failures, until he has 

 been appointed a manager of a coal mine. This instance, perhaps the 

 most extreme, illustrates the fact that the advantages offered by this 

 scanty system of education are well received by the more ambitious and 

 intelligent of our miners. In the end the lodges at the different 

 collieries have profited as well as the mines, for I am informed no small 

 percentage of their officials and leading men are holders of certificates. 

 The fact that the miners recognize the fitness of such men to be their 

 guides and advisors is a strong argument that moderation and wisdom 

 will mark their deliberations. 



As you know, at nearly all of our coal mines the men are raised 

 from and lowered to the scene of their work by machinery. The drivers 

 of these engines are always selected with much care, as they require to 

 be reliable and steady men. It was decided that, in order to increase 

 the margin of safety, these men should undergo examination as to their 

 knowledge of boilers, machinery, etc. A Board of three mechanical 

 engineers was appointed representing, as in the case of the Board I have 

 already referred to, the three principal coal districts. The examinations 

 are conducted in a similar manner, and already 74 certificates have been 

 issued, including those certificates of service granted those engineers 

 found worthily filling their positions at the time the law was parsed. 

 Whenever a class of candidates offers, mechanical instructors are 

 appointed on the principle described already. 



I may mention that the work of the instructors and boards has 

 been facilitated by the provision made by law for the establishment of 

 night schools in mining and other districts. Many candidates, as might 

 be expected, however good their practical knowledge and experience may 

 be, are deficient in the exact grounding required for examination. They 

 can remedy this by attending the night schools, and the mining instruc- 

 tors are thus relieved of much drudgery and able to teach the essentially 

 mining subjects with greater detail. 



As is well known, the strength of a chain is precisely that of the 

 weakest of the links composing it. In mining, however careful the 

 overmen and watchmen may be, one ignorant or careless workman may 

 nullify all their efforts and precautions, and in a moment lose his own 

 or another's life, cause an explosion, or a fire. In order, therefore, that 

 there might as far as possible be no lack of endeavor to make all safe, it 



