1865.] Smith on Meted Alining. 65 



hour and a half to ascend 260, as elsewhere said, it would show that 

 after the first half-hour the progress is nearly three times slower. 

 260 — 150=110, which ought to be ascended in twenty -two minutes, 

 whereas it takes sixty. The old men, it is added, would sooner work 

 half a day than climb that depth. 



The chairman of the Commission, Lord Kinnaird, says,* " It has been 

 suggested that there would be a difficulty in sending down a sufficient 

 number of men by a single skip ; but if you could send such a 

 carriage containing nine or ten men, as in coal mines, would not that 

 surmount the difficulty '?" " Yes ; but our shafts are not so large," 

 says Capt. Pascoe ; " and therefore we could not have a platform 

 large enough." Lord Kinnaird says, " Could not the men stand one 

 over the other, in tiers *? " " Yes, it might be done very nicely, I 

 think." A skip for stuff brings up at present about 15 cwt., which 

 is equal to ten men. 



At South Frances, forty men go up and down in one hour. Six 

 go in the skip at a time ; it takes half an hour for all. Some have to 

 wait ; but they would only gain their fatigue if they went before, as 

 they would not arrive sooner, The skip is a most convenient mode 

 of raising up wounded men, and the rapidity of assistance may often 

 save their lives. There must, however, always be a ladder-way, in case 

 of accident either to man-engine or skip 



Chains. — We may inquire whether we should go down by a rope or 

 by a chain. M. T. E. Forster, Newcastle, says, " I would never go 

 down upon a chain." He always uses wire rope, and changes it as soon 

 as the outer wires are worn. He has it examined two or three times 

 a day, and throws it away three months before he considers it to be 

 done. He thinks it better not to depend on safety-catches, as by such 

 dependence men feel less the importance of attending to the machinery. 

 He uses cages, and in seventeen years no accident has happened in 

 going up and down. We can desire no more than this. There may 

 be more difficulty in metal mines, but the problem of entering mines 

 safely seems to be solved, and the question is, " By what means shall the 

 method be brought into universal practice ? " 



Shall we leave so much to men ? It is said, and truly, that after 

 all the genius of our engineers has done its part, our lives are left at 

 last to a pointsman. He certainly is the most wonderful of machines. 

 The real truth lies on both sides. We must see that the machinery is 

 right, and then trust to the men ; but finally we shall find that we 

 must trust to men to see that the machinery is right, and the men also 

 right : in other words, the more intelligent and trustworthy the over- 

 sight is, the greater is the security, and we come again to the old 

 subject of education. 



Care in Miners. — We went to a mine (not in Cornwall), and 

 although only a bucket could be had, we wished to go down. It was 

 needful, we were told, to wait a little, as " the usual man is not here." 

 " Where is he ? " " In bed." " What is wrong? " " He fell down. 



* P. 32. 



VOL. IL F 



