136 Progress in Mechanics. [January, 



Tons. £ 



Arsenic ores 2,561 .. 11,464 



Gossans, ochres, &c. (returned) . . . . 709 . . 943 



,, ,, (estimated) . . . . 5,000 . . 4,000 



Wolfram and tunsgate of soda .... 25 . . 323 



Maganese 1,558 .. 7,897 



Barytes 5,987 .. 3,415 



Clays, fine and fire (estimated) . . . . i,20o,ogo . . 450,000 



Earthy minerals, various (estimated) . . — . . 670,000 



Salt 1,250,000 . . 687,500 



Total value of the minerals produced in the United) r 



Kingdom in 1869 J *>35,252,i20 



On the most careless comparison of these returns with the corresponding 

 summary of the previous year's productions,* one cannot fail to observe the 

 extraordinary increase in the amount of coal which has been raised — an 

 increase of considerably more than four millions of tons over the quantity quoted 

 last year. Let it not, however, be supposed that this advance can be referred 

 to any increased exportation of our coal. Mr. Hunt is indeed careful to point 

 out that the advance is due to our own home-consumption, and is mainly 

 referable to the renewed activity of many of our manufactures. Whatever 

 may be the cause, this additional evidence of the constantly-growing drain 

 upon the resources of our collieries, naturally leads us to look forward with 

 much anxiety to the forthcoming Report of the Royal Coal Commission — a 

 report which, if not actually presented at the commencement of next session, 

 will, we hope, be in a fair way towards completion. 



Of late considerable attention has been directed to the desirability of esta- 

 lishing mining schools in the more important mineral districts. It is to be 

 hoped that these efforts may be attended by a greater measure of success than 

 fell to the lot of the mining schools of Truro, Wigan, and Glasgow — which are 

 all now defunct — or even to the Bristol School, which is still lingering. And, 

 indeed, better results may fairly be anticipated ; for whatever may be the 

 working of " The Elementary Education Act," it cannot fail to be of great 

 benefit to the young miner, by putting him in possession of an amount of 

 primary education which will enable him the more readily to receive and 

 appreciate that higher technical education which it is the function of a mining 

 school to dispense. 



At the Meeting of the Social Science Congress at Newcastle, a paper " On the 

 Scientific Education of Miners," was read by the Very Rev. Dean of Durham. The 

 author argued strongly in favour of the establishment of a mining school in the 

 north of England, and suggested that the University of Durham might insti- 

 tute a department of practical science with especial reference to mining. 



At the same meeting, the Rev. W. A. Scott brought forward a communica- 

 tion " On the Education of Miners." This gentleman's information was 

 derived chiefly from an acquaintance with the collieries of Durham, and he was 

 led to complain bitterly of the long hours of work imposed upon boys working 

 in mines, — a single shift of boys working with two shifts of men, and conse- 

 quently each lad having to work from 12 to 14 hours daily. After the physical 

 exertion inevitably consequent upon this length of labour, it can hardly be 

 expected that a boy should avail himself of any means of instruction offered in 

 the evening. 



A paper " On Mining Schools," by Mr. T. Comber, was brought before the 

 South Wales Institute of Engineers, at their late meeting at Cardiff. Follow- 

 ing the plan of some of the continental establishments, the author suggests 

 the propriety of having two classes of schools — a higher and a lower grade — 

 and he believes that such schools, in order to be successful, must be self-sup- 

 porting, since experience has shown that, however freely subscriptions may at 

 first be given, it is futile to place reliance upon such a source of income for 

 continued support. 



t See Quarterly Journal of Science, January, 1870, p. 128. 



