Whatever might be said as to large proprietors in other parts of the country being only too willing to subject their properties to mining operations, it had been shown that it was not so in their immediate district.

It had been urged that the question was a very large one, involving a large amount of investigation, but this labour should not present itself as an obstacle to the enquiry. He was aware that there would be active opposition from mineral landlords, but old ideas must give place to new, and private interests to national interests. The authority he would suggest would be a group of experts, men whose opinion the land-owners would respect, and to whom they could refer with confidence; and a landsurveyor would be a useful member. He thought that his suggestion was not an unreasonable proposition nor a harsh one. The fact that there would be areas of coal left unworked under the present system would be one of the strongest arguments that the working-classes could advance for the nationalization of mines.

Mr. W. F. CLARK said that the subject of Mr. Jones' paper was an important one, but he should require much more definite evidence to prove the necessity for the creation of such an authority as that suggested by Mr. Jones. He had not, in his experience, come across, or heard of, any large area of coal that was likely to be lost.

Prof. R. A. S. REDMAYNE read the following paper on "The Training of a Mining-engineer" :--

THE TRAINING OF A MINING-ENGINEER.

BY R. A. S. REDMAYNE.

It is interesting to compare the present status of collierymanagers with the position and requirements of those in the early history of the coal-trade.

Retrospective. In that quaint little volume, perhaps the earliest treatise on colliery-management in the English language -The Compleat Collier: Or, The Whole Art of Sinking, Getting, and Working, Coal-Mines, &c. As Is now used in the Northern Parts, Especially about Sunderland and New-Castle, by J. C., and printed for G. Conyers, at the Ring in Little-Brittain, 1708-the writer says that a viewer "ought to be well skill'd in this great Concern he takes in his Hand, he ought to know Lineing, and Levelling well, as also the Method of Coal-Working, together with the Knowledge of the Nature of the Coal; for there is very great Occasion for all these four Qualifications," and adds that "it behoves the Viewers and Over-Men to be experienc'd in guiding the Air to good Purpose, as also to Order well and Prudently for Styth, which I before spoke of, doth Destroy the Ignorant and Unwary."t

The charge of a colliery-manager in those days was not an excessive one, seeing that, though he might have a number of mines under his control, in no case would any one of these extend His wage was correbeyond a radius of 600 feet from the shaft.

spondingly small, he having "evidenc'd both his Care and Parts in the Respects I have mention'd, and well deserved his 15s. or 20s. per week, or more, as he has Pits to look after."‡

Mr. J. B. Simpson, writing of the term "viewer," says:-The first mention I can find of the old name is in 1356, in a lease from Bishop Hatfield to one Thomas Gray, Knight. One clause states that the lessee had to work the mine as far as it could be wrought by five barrowmen according to the view and oath of the chief forester and of the Viewer, spelt Veiour.' '§

*

Page 35.

+ Page 39.

Page 38.

§ Rise and Progress of Coal-mining: An Address delivered to the Newcastle-uponTyne Association of Students of The Institution of Civil Engineers, 1896, page 7.

And again, in 1699, in a letter in Mr. J. B. Simpson's possession from the Hon. Charles Montagu (who was an owner of Benwell and other collieries) to his land-agent, he says:-" Viewers' opinion, which I look upon to be like a consult of Physicians, never used but in desperate cases and to no purpose.

it gives some satisfaction then.'

However,

To refer again to our friend, The Compleat Collier, he says "both the Officers and poor Miners, are in dayly Peril and Hazard of their Lives, for a poor Livelyhood, and that they may be easily Destroyed by Ignorant and Unskilful Managers, from which sudden and sad Misfortunes, I heartily Pray, Libera nos Domine.Ӡ

Coming down to a much later date, we find in an "opinion. hitherto unpublished, written by Mr. John Buddle, senior, a viewer of great note in the latter half of the eighteenth century, the following definition of the duties and salaries of an agent and viewer respectively. On March 22nd, 1830, Messrs. Donkin and Stable write to Mr. Buddle, to the effect that the owners of a Seasale colliery upon the Tyne, of considerable magnitude (the basis of its vend for 1828 being between 22,000 and 25,000 tons)" are about to make a change in the agency of the colliery, and are desirous of having his opinion with regard to the system which he deems most advisable to be pursued in the management of such a colliery; and the number of agents he would recommend to be employed, their duties, etc. Mr. Buddle answers that he is of the opinion" that the affairs of the colliery would be best conducted by one principal agent or manager, and one principal viewer, with the aid of subordinate assistants in their respective -departments." The agent is to have the management of the fittings (sales) and all cash transactions of the concern, purchases, etc. The viewer or manager to have the sole management and direction of the colliery in all its several departments, embracing the machinery, etc., from the hewing of the coals to their delivery into the ships." He adds, at a later date (April 5th, 1830), that for an agent "a salary of £250 or £300 a year, with house and fire, and a cow kept, would be fair and ample as to the viewer, if not resident, I think a clear annual salary of £200 a year fair and reasonable, without any perquisites whatever except his flannels."

* Rise and Progress of Coal-mining: An Address delivered to the Newcastleupon-Tyne Association of Students of The Institution of Civil Engineers, 1896, page 7. + Page 39.

In 1835, the position of a colliery-manager is thus described in The History and Description of Fossil Fuel, the Collieries and Coal Trade of Great Britain:-" The general direction of a large colliery, as to the scale and description of its workings, and also with regard to whatever requires a profound theoretical as well as a complete practical knowledge of obtaining the coal economically and safely is in the North confined to persons called viewers.' Not a bad epitome of what is looked for in a colliery-manager of the present day.

And in the Minutes of the Committee on Education, 1840-1841, "latterly the work of a viewer has been regarded as a profession requiring regular training, and the grades of society are becoming more strongly marked."

Even so late as the year 1854 we find that the largest collieries were comparatively small affairs, the output from the largest amounting only to about some 200 to 300 tons daily, although they were equal to drawing "from 400 to 500 tons daily at each pit."* The number of the workmen and the nature of their employment at two large pits at this period are shown in the Appendix. It is interesting to compare this statement with the establishment of a large modern colliery, and the comparison illustrates, as well as anything, the great extension that has taken place since the middle of the last century.

The Present Day.--The object of the writer in thus briefly reviewing the past, is to emphasize the developments that have taken place; to show that, parallel with the expansion of mining and consequent increase in the responsibilities and obligations of those to whom the management of mines is entrusted, there has been an ever growing necessity for further scientific education of the latter. "The old order changeth, yielding place to new," and the law of evolution is at work in the domain of mining, as in all else; and if there is not progression, there is retrogression. There can be no such thing as standing still.

What are the qualifications demanded of the colliery-manager of the present day? This question cannot be better answered than in the words of Mr. T. E. Forster Brown, who, speaking to the

*

"The Extent and Probable Duration of the Northern Coal-field; with Remarks on the Coal Trade in Northumberland and Durham," by Mr. T. Y. Hall. Trans. N.E. Inst., 1854, second edition, vol. ii., page 196.

VOL. XXIV.-1902-1903.

17

members of the National Association of Colliery Managers, said: The colliery-manager of to-day has to grapple with very different problems from those which he had to grapple with in those days [1860]. We have to deal with the working of coal at very great depths, and we have to deal with labour under very serious. and stringent legislative enactments. Colliery-managers now require to be first-rate organizers, not only with regard to labour, but in other matters; and, in fact, the successful colliery-manager of the present day is an entirely different person from what he was 30 or 40 years ago. The ideal colliery-manager ought to be a scientific philosopher, with a thoroughly practical knowledge of mining and of men, and of applied mechanics. He ought to have great firmness of purpose, great perseverance, and . . he ought to have a good digestion."*

A large modern colliery with its extensive equipment, including the varied appliances for getting coal and bringing it to the surface, for the transmission of power over long distances, especially underground, for causing vast volumes of air to flow through miles of confined passages, for draining large areas of underground workings and raising the water to the surface, for screening, cleaning and washing the coal, presents, as has been well said, "one of the most remarkable specimens of human activity and its triumph over matter."

It will be everywhere acknowledged that more scientific knowledge is now requisite to deal with the larger issues at stake at the present time or looming ahead of us. Briefly summarized, the necessity for this increased and increasingly higher education of our mining managers may be stated as being due to the following facts: (1) The mines are deeper, the more easily worked seams and shallow mineral deposits are rapidly approaching exhaustion; and (2) deeper and more difficult mining, as well as developments in engineering, has led to the introduction of more elaborate machinery, necessitating a wider knowledge of the principles underlying its construction, application and management. Especially notable under this category is, of late years, the application of electricity to many mining operations. (3) Foreign competition, which growing in keenness, necessitates, wherever possible, the introduction of labour-saving appliances, and of anything that tends to cheapen production. (4) Stringent State regulations imposed * Transactions of the National Association of Colliery Managers, 1894, vol.

vi., page 311.