8G8 



iiKroUT — 1884. 



9. Oil the rclatice Divii/ers of Coal mul }M<d M'^lnq in tin'. Unitiul 

 Kluijiloni. Ill/ C. Le Ni:vk Fostku, B.A., . >>., F.(j.S. 



IlefmTinjr to a sfalistionl taldo piililif-lictl in ilio rcpovtg of tlic inspoftors of 

 mines for the year IHS.'l, tlic author pointed out tliaf the "jrnrea ^riven lor t In- 

 unnMiil (h'tith-nites from nccidonlH at mines uiuler the ( 'oul .Mines lleirnliition Act 

 and .Metaiiiferoiis .Mines Ife^rulatioii Act, viz., ■J-j:\ ami I'tfJ jier l.tHMJ^espectivdv. 

 do not convey a correct idea of tim relative <hin^>-('rH of tlie two ehisse.s of miiie,-! 

 hecauso the projiortion of tlie snrfiu e vvorliers with a small risk is twice asjrrent in 

 the metalliferous mines as iu the coal mine>. A true estimate can only he I'onind 

 l)y comparin;,' tlio ileath.s iVom accidents anmn^,' the unileri:roiin<l worker.^, 'i'lio 

 avera<,'e annual mortality from accidents Inr tho ton years 1M7 I to I HH.'i then lie- 

 comes 'JT)') per l.OOO at mines under the ( 'oal .Minew .\ct and l''.")S nt mines under 

 tho Metalliferous .Mines Act ; couse((iiently the relativo daiifj'ers are expressed hv 

 tile ratio HI to 47, insteail of .'1 to 2, as appears to be tho case when t he surliuv 

 hands and accidents are included. 



The author also showed that thoufrh the Coal Mines I'eMnlntinn Ai't inchidi'- 

 mines worked for ironstone, slate, and lirecday, tho fjreneral conclnsimi would nm 

 he vitiated because the largest ironstone mines, tliose in theCleveland district, Ihim' 

 a deatli-ratt! which is hiirlier than the average of tho mines under this .\ct. His 

 P'Ueral conclusions were that an averap* coiil mine is very little more <lani;vrniH 

 than an avera^'t! metal mine, and that certain mines worked for motids, such ii< 

 tho.se in the Cleveland district, and the tin and copper mines of Cornwall, are cirni- 

 paratively more destructive of life than collieries. 



WEILXESDA r, SF.PTEMlunt :!. 

 The followiiifT I'apcrs wire read : — 



1. Tlic Ijankimj System of Caiiuda. Hi/ H. J. H.vguI' 



2. Pronpectire Prices in Eurojic, America, and Asia. 

 Bij Hyde Clarke, V.P.S.S. 



The author objected to artiiicial avernfjes of prices as calculated to mislead, ana 

 stated that tho ell'ect of prices was rather to bo gauged by great au<l poverniiiir 

 commodities, such ns corn, which supplies tho food of labour, and stetd (iron), 

 ■which furnishes its instruments and machines. AVitli regard to vegetable and 

 animal commodities, and oven to man, the primary intluenco was due to the 

 pliysical phenomena of the univer.se, and their cycles and fluctuations. Ho was 

 the first to point out, in 1847, the periodical lawsatl'ecting natural production, and 

 thereby, as the consequences, panics and crises. This, now dt>alt with as the smi- 

 spot period, had been worked out by Professor Jevons, but Mr. {,'larko still advo- 

 cated the terms of his original jiropositions as most practically meeting the 

 requirements of economical science. Steel, leduced by tin; improvements of 

 Heath, Bessemer, and Siemens, and jiot by currency variations, from GO/, a ton. 

 and so to 40/., and now to 4/. or 5/. a ton for rails, had become a factor of prices 

 under new conditions. Corn raised on prairie lands of uncropped fertility, and 

 moved by cheap transport on land and sea, nuist also be regarded as produced i 

 under another economical standard. Therefore, so far as these elements were con- j 

 cerned, in their vast field of influence they contributed to the fall in prices and j 

 depression now witnessed. There was, however, a great economical event in I 

 progress, and needful for contem])lation, and that is the change of condition audi 

 prices now going on in India, China, and Indo-China, embracing populations of 

 .')00,000,000. In India within our own time ])rices and wages had enhanced double, 

 treble, and fourfold under the operation of railways, and this mn.st go on. If tliej 

 United States with 60,000,000 had Indian prices, her trade would be a few millions 



Tl.e( 

 and has 



