Penny Newsman (Newspaper) - November 8, 1863, London, Middlesex THE PENNY AND SUNDAY MOENING MAIL AND NOVEMBER SOU TRANS MISSION ABROAD iV ACHIEVEMENTS OP MECHANICAL SCIENCE BELIEF OF TOB THE COLLIERS AND BT OP tlie chief occupations of the labouring which I havo hud occasion to of and of miners are beset with evil conditions which appeared to be the most difficult of any to reduce or to The miners pation is one of perpetual conflict with unwholesome wibh explosive with excessive heat and engendering and other painful and fatal diseases The violent deaths which occur amongst the mining population o more than double the average of deaths from the mortality in the twenty years war in which this country was last en In the groups of cases which I was enabled to examine in and I found that the nge of death of the working miners was no more than thirty and a that one out of every four died a violent death tint that nearly ono nut of every three died of disease of the re In Cornwall the average age of even after was no more than In one the average age of death by sanitary brought up to four in where the average at death of the adults the basis of mining in the sanitary condition of the mining has been painful to me to Tho boat applications of sanitary science have only mitigated sotno of the evils of the colliers and the minors the wages earned have generally appeared to me to be inadequate to the severe and waste of life which the miners labour Tho great remedy which I have anticipated ia by now applica tions of which shall relievo the miner and the collier of the most severe bodily wear and tear of underground as it may yet I havo had occasion to show that laboursaving machinery creates The extended con sumption of the commodity from reduced price creates a demand and a far increased Tho history of the prin cipal classes of machines proves that in their eventual operation they raise the average rate of whilst they reduce the bodily There are many occupations for which such by may be confidently We may be as a mechanical that all continuous repetitions of the same metions now performed by hand will eventually be performed by More than a quarter of a century ago I expressed a confident anticipation that sewing would be done by of and In a speech on the patent lawa I stated that there were some which wo well knew to be attainable by but for which the labour of invention too great for individual and for which large national re wards ought to be to the attainment of what were really largo national Of these I cited the relief of the minors by machinery as a prominent I am for the sake of the mining that private enterprise of itself now gives promise of the attainment of the I take from the tions of the Society of Arts the following account of a new applica tion of machinery to coal read by Samuel at the recent meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of held at Numerous efforts havo been during the last 50 to cutting in mines under the influence of mechanical in no I except at tho West Ardsley has any continuous operation survived tho experimental do nob expect that the introduction of machinery into for the purposes would materially diminish tho number of persons but rather that tho effect would be to meet the increasing That increase may safely be at two millions of tons per and to supply thia would require an annual increase of labourers amounting to about Thus there will not be any displacement of engine has a 20inch and tho 18 The air is worked at a pressure of about 50 to the The air is conducted down the shaft in iron pipes of finches and thence to the workings about 800 yards gas and down tho face by piping of ono ch which is connected to the The machine is moved on iron rails laid on cross iron and is propelled each blow of tho by the io machine is passed three times over tho face of the each a longer to gain tho requisite depth for taking Tho firat cut being IS to 20 the second U to 11 and tho third from G to 8 inches 36 inches being the depth aimed at and Tho actual quantity of work in six consecutive days of eight hours by ono man one was or about 800 tons of man is attended by two who clean out the and tho coal thrown out by tho In tho West a man will average yards of coal a so that if tho iuo were worked by shifts of eight three men and would do work of and the severe and trying work in the It must bo under that at West tho Beam is somewhat favourable Cor tho Ib is 4 feet having a good roof and and K on tho longwall with a somewhat soft bareing about 12 inches above tho and in this tho pick with is fairly h work in tho same part of the Tho machine thus far put to but tho proprietors JHu LO effect by a different arrangement of the The and all other work of the ia untouched by this The airpower works admirably and its use gives a cool and refreshing stream of pure air to tho which issues from the cylinder at a temperature very little above freezing It will not be necessary to say here that the airpower is acquired by a much larger measure of steam but thia is not a material item at a where so much engine coal ia almost I am nob prepared with the exact commercial results or saving in but at West Ardsley this part of the question eminently I havo been informed that some experiments have been within the last few at the Hetton by tho West Ardsley machine and although the seam ia of a hard the was done three feet deep with a groove of three inches at the fabe and two inches at the giving an average cut of 2 high whereas the average height of in the same seam ia about 11 This saving of good coal from destruction is equal to an average of ninepence per ton upon tho whole yield of the Another machine of a different prin ciplo has been invented at West and promises to bo a moat useful It ia on the with a to from a cylinder mounted transversely upon tno regulated in a similar manner to tho pick This invention has not advanced so far as the but some recent experiments havo given most satisfactory The complete success of this machine will be of great aa it will bo more effective and than the In I may express the confi dent opinion afc no distant every branch of mining will be accomplished by machinery and if we look at those results from a humane point of the sooner they are realised the better it will be for all and especially for the working I know nothing of the machinery nor of the inven beyond the information contained in the above and some information I havo received that competent members of the mechanical section of the Association were of opinion that the machinery ia at all events in ita present particular It may be imagined that the principle will be re quired to be applied to a variety of conditions to which one form of machinery will be An increase of production with the present number of mining labourers of equivalent to a redaction of the most and conditions o labour to which the working classes of the country are Tho success of the machinery which gives this increased at the same sends a refreshing of pure air to the far distant and thus protects the health ol tho and reduces the danger of the explosions by which thousands of lives are annually ia a success against evil conditions in an and sympa thising when tho attention is properly directed to to be received with more rejoicing than foreign conquests and victories in Only consider the extent of its application to an improved and beneficent direction of the labour which forms tho greater part of a sum of upwards of tho estimated value of our mineral products at tho pits tt ia a victory of mechanical which economical for tho avoidance of the waste of which sanitary science for the prevention of disease and human would require to have vigorously followed A and rightminded public interest in it would call for bulletins and special corres reports of ita In corroboration of the news of this mechanical and of the conclusion which the writer of the paper for the relief of tho general mining I may state that a boring machino worked by condensed air has long been in successful for tho excavation of tho great tunnel through Mount I am also glad to observe the announcement of a Steam Boring of which personally I know but which ms tho names of and other practical men of who state in their prospectus that tho object of the company is tc cheapen the cost of mining explorations and works This it proposes to do by entering into contracts o bora through rocks and stratified deposits with horizontal and vortical machines worked by steam They state that the numerous class of persona engaged in mining well searching for mineral proving tun will by thia means have and money materially from the heavy expense of steam cannot avail themselves very generally of ita it naturally falls within tho province of a public company to undertake the work for which such machinery is By tho use of steam machines the cost of boring may bo reduced one half that it is found when adjusted and at a steam boring machine bores through shale ac the rato of ono inch per through sandstone at the rato of haltan inch per and through at the rato of a quarter of an inch par in four fathoms of hard rock per at considerable are actually bored that it ia many excellent mining enterprises aro neglected from natural timidity of capitalists in incurring the cost of a trial by tho expensive process of manual In other instances works are commenced borings being and nob they result in serious The ployment of steam power at a very reduced rate of expense will prevent these In cases where additional capital has to bo raised from private or public tho lenders will not aa a inako advances without previous borings being Tho losses from misdirected mining enterprises wore stated to mo by Sir do la Beohe to be not loss than ono million per Wo may expect that the special attention of Sir Roderick Mur and of Eobert of tho School of and of the Government Inspector of the School of as well as of Lord Kinnaird and the other commissioners for inquiring into the present condition of mining will bo directed to the actual performances and promise of these Intelligent colliers and miners may look forward to them hopefully for their relief and New machinery requires new new and imposes new responsibilities on their for which they are to and in due extra THE RECENT FEARFUL DISASTERS AT LOSS OF A STEAMER AND ALL The fearful gale set in from tho southwest on and has continued with but little intermission up to tho present has proved most disastrous to the fleet of steamships which are employed in tho cattle trade between the several foreign ports of tho north of Europe and In one instance wo regret to announce that the most serious apprehensions aro entertained for the safely of the steamer from and it is feared that sho has been overwhelmed in the storm and has foundered with all on A fleet of some ten or twelve steamers left tho above port in the course of and on making their way across the North Sea they encountered the dreadful gale which has swept the coast with so much Tho captains of tho vessels which have reached tho river report the weather to have been such as they had seldom the wind blowing in terrific gusts with tho force of a Tho which came up the river early on was on and remained it is for nearly a quarter of an with a heavy seav breaking over At ono moment it waa feared she would not When sho did it was found that a number of her cattle had been washed Tho from lost nearly tho whole of her living She had on board between 600 and 700 and upwards of them are reported to have been drowned or suffocated in the It is stated that she had a most difficult task to reach the so tremendous was the sea that swept over Tho storm having some way the crew to get at tho dead pigs and throw them Tho from also lost a number of her Her nonarrival for a time created much bnt it has been ascertained that sho is The Tonning am City of which loft on the 29th have it is between them about 300 head of They experienced tho full fury of the and being to make any way for London they ran for and succeeded in getting into that on Tho Blenheim cattle at has also suffered from tho A telegram from t announces that tho Roland steamer reached that port on Tuesday from and that tho captain was and several of tho horses which she had shipped on board had been killed and Tho fate of the Germania much Sho left Tonning on the 29th with a full complement cuttle on and nothing 1m been heard of her It was hoped that some tidings would have been heard of her putting back to or some other bub nothing can be gleaned and tho worst fears are now fur her It is thau she may havo been driven to an extreme northern although it is strange that somo news of her has not been com through the A long list of wrecks during the gales has been A very sad catastrophe happened off the Lincolnshire On Saturday while tho smack Questor was proceeding towards the Hum with the shipwrecked crew of tho brig of on which had boon rescued from the they fell in with the brig Jane of apparently fast settling The 10 in were on tho and making heartrending cries but the sea running high ill was impossible to render them the least and during tho fearful night there is doubt but what tho whole of tho poor fellows The from the bound to the is reported to have sunk in the Gat near and only the master and one man havo been tho courso of Sunday a large Austrian called the from Buenos Ayres for loaded with was totally lost on tho Girdler Sands in making her way to the The crew are reported to have been saved The storm appears to have told with most disastrous effect upon tho shipping off tho Dutch and Danish and many wrecks are somo of them being English SOCIAL SCIENCE meeting of tho general com was held on in tho Council to ho reports by tho secretary and From tho treasurers statement it appeared that there was a balance of upwards of in favour of tho and in tho local fund there was a of more than A CELLAR DWELLING all our experience of London destitution and awful wo have seen nothing so harrowing as what there met the Through tho narrow space of the window that is left open there came a glimmering which fell upon two on a broken seemingly with the of some black rags which passed across the middle of tho odies but tho greater part of the small as it waa in otal In this profound depth our sagacious thought that there were moro figures visible and on asking f any were a female voice hero aro two of is out and as the eye became accustomed to tho two other figures were to be lying in a corner Upon was between 12 and 1 oclock in the Wo word not disposed o look further into their mystery but it was evident that one of tho was resting close to tho damp Neither nor drawing can convey a complete idea of this den and its dense and Instead of this place being filled with pure which is needful for human it seemed oc by something tangible which might bo moved and height of the all of which is below tho is not The window would not Tho ceiling was ready to and the so far as the light were damn and The inmates hero were a widow and her four children one i girl 20 years of another girl of a boy of and a boy of wo is to become of those unhappy reared in he dark and and of tho multitude who in this metropolis are dragged up under similar circumstances For four such rooms as we have attempted to describe there ore paid on the whole 12s a that per
