176 REPORT— 1873. 



When the severe nature of the employment of manual labour for the 

 " hewing of coal " and the great dangers which beset that occupation are 

 taken into thoughtful consideration, it is not surprising that much sympathy 

 should have been always excited in favour of the coal- working class. All 

 men who have thought upon the subject have felt a strong desire that some 

 mechanical invention might be made to amehorate the severe conditions 

 of that occupation. 



The statistics of the comparative longevity of the working classes show 

 that the duration of the lives of colliers (apart from special accidents) is 

 lamentably low ; and as respects the " hewers" or "pickmen," whose work is 

 the most exhausting, they must especially, and in a large degree, contribute 

 to, and account for, much of that average shortness of hfe. 



The really hard work of a colliery faUs upon the " hewers ; " and the effect 

 is very often to stamp the men with the mark of their trade, and (through 

 the constrained position of their daUj' toil) to alter and distort many of the 

 more delicately formed persons ; and it is due to these men as a class, that 

 their weaknesses should be mUdly judged, having regard to the scanty oppor- 

 tunities hitherto afforded to them for intellectual culture, and the unequal 

 sacrifices which press so heavily upon them in the most valuable and im- 

 portant branch of all our indusbries. 



In 1862 some experiments were commenced at West Ardsley, by the em- 

 ployment of compressed air, to devise a cutting-instrument in the form of a 

 pick. It was to be moved on the face of the coal, strildug in a line and with 

 such force as would cut a groove deep enough to admit of its being easily 

 taken out. In the early stages there were many and serious discouraging 

 symptoms discovered, but on the whole we were well satisfied that they could 

 be overcome by perseverance. We set about to improve the defects, and 

 battle with the difficulties as they presented themselves ; and after some 

 years we were in possession of a coal- getting machine, in combination with 

 air-power, more suitable for the performance of the work which we had 

 undertaken than we ever anticipated. 



Much surprise has been expressed at our slow progress during the ten 

 years which have elapsed since the time when we believed that we had 

 reached success ; but when the peculiar circumstances which surround the 

 work, and the nature of the work to be done, are taken fairly into account, 

 the delay need not excite any astonishment. It was in many respects a 

 new field to be broken up, and accompanied by numerous uncertainties. 

 It has been more or less so with most of the important inventions which 

 have gone before it ; indeed the steam-engine, whose origin cannot be 

 traced back, was known as a prime mover nearly two centuries before it was 

 sufficiently developed to be recognized as a valuable machine. 



We found, however, that we had to contend against much jirejudice and 

 resistance. Those who were the most likely to be benefited by it were 

 either openly hostile or manifested an unfriendly disposition towards the 

 machine ; and, added to these embarrassments, we failed to obtain any 

 general encouragement from those who exerted the greatest influence over 

 the coal-mining interests of the country ; but through the recent deai-ness 

 of coal, the attention of the country has been drawn to the subject, the 

 public mind has been powerfully impressed with the necessity for some 

 improved means of working the mines, and coal-cutting machinery is now 

 universally looked to as the principal source from which rehef is to come. 



Erom the altered fecHngs of the miners as to the number of hours which 

 they consider to be sufficient for their labour, and with the new restrictions 



