226 Original Articles. [April, 



Mr. Edwin Chadwick said, twenty-one years ago, speaking of 

 Dolcoath, one of the oldest and greatest mines — " Care is taken of 

 the miners on quitting the mines ; hence, instead of issuing on the 

 bleak hillside, and receiving beer in a shed to prevent chill and ex- 

 haustion, they issue from their underground labour into a warm room, 

 where well-dried clothes are ready for them, and warm water and even 

 baths are supplied from the steam furnace ; and, in the instance of 

 this mine, a provision of hot beef-soup instead of beer is ready for 

 them in another room.* The honour of having made this change 

 is said to be due to the Eight Honourable Lady Bassett, on the 

 suggestion of Dr. Carlyon. " The ventilation is particularly good, 

 and the men healthier than in most other mines." 



Cornwall does not seem to be far advanced in the knowledge 

 of sick clubs. Mr. Tidd Pratt has given a code of laws for them, 

 appended to the Commissioners' Eeport. The Eeport recommends a 

 system that would give help in sickness, as well as in cases of acci- 

 dent. With a population evidently disposed to carefulness, much 

 is to be done by a good organization. 



The Commissioners recommend that boys under fourteen years of 

 age should not go down the mine. 



Abandoned shafts have the care of the Commissioners ; and cer- 

 tainly there are districts where the surface is covered with such pit- 

 falls, which stand ready to hide unnumbered crimes. 



Eeturning to the question of ventilation, the Commissioners are 

 fully aware that there may be a diversity of plans used ; they say — 

 " In small mines, and in certain parts of large mines, a good supply 

 of air may be provided by means of contrivances which cannot be 

 economically supplied on a large scale, such as different descriptions 

 of air-pumps, water-blasts, and fans." 



The Commissi oners recommend " the rarefaction of the air in one 

 of the shafts by the heat of a furnace." " A system of Trunk ventila- 

 tion being thus established, the pure air may be guided to any part of 

 the mine," as in coal pits. 



The ventilation is sometimes naturally very good, that is, the foul 

 air goes up one shaft and fresh air down another ; but this is not so 

 in all mines, nor in every state of the weather. This cannot happen 

 when there is only one shaft, or an insufficient communication by 

 winzes, and a neglect in the guidance of the air. To these points the 

 recommendations are directed. 



The amount of air driven through coal pits is enormous ; but in 

 metal mines such an amount is not required, and smaller fires would 

 be sufficient for the purpose. In coal pits the carbonic acid and car- 

 buretted hydrogen issuing from the coal, render great currents of air 

 necessary, not merely for breathing, but for preventing explosions. 



Among miners some, of course, are highly advanced, but according 

 to the evidence given before the Commissioners, there are to be found 

 men who work in dangerous places knowing the dangers ; agents 

 who refuse to supply air to the men, or delay it too long ; men so 



* The soup is not continued we believe. 



