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256 The Leader and Saturday Analyst. (Ma...
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STATE OF THE MINING AND COLLIEBY LAW. [g...
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*' See levst Papei" on Tnvnenotlona, 185...
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. FEMALE SCHOOL OP ART AND DESIGNS (~*i ...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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A Lectuke By Ta11aday. Fphere Are Few ¦ ...
durin * the lifetime Of the Professor the beacon towers on the coasts oimknylandHwiUbe converted into iamm 6 xxs monuments to llls genius and bis fame .
256 The Leader And Saturday Analyst. (Ma...
256 The Leader and Saturday Analyst . ( March ^ 17 , I 860 .
State Of The Mining And Collieby Law. [G...
STATE OF THE MINING AND COLLIEBY LAW . [ gommtjnicated . ] 1 T is a fact ( more the pity ) that political economists have not-yet JL settled what is the true function or province of law . ¦ A terrible outcrv was made against the Factory Act , as a breach of all orthodox re ulations ; and Miss Martineau still protests against the law compelling masters properly to fence off machinery . It seems that the province of law is to protect the lives and health of the people , and to promote the happiness and well-being of the greatest number . Ifc matters not in what direction its operations , work , or what form
they may take , the province of } aw is what we have stated , though its operation may change as society may require . It seems also the dutv of those who make the law to enforce every regulation for improvement which private enterprise has either overlooked or neglected Holding these views , we chronicle a few facts which have an immediate bearing upon the colliers' question , Lhese facts , which are undisputed , are , first , that the avocation of the miner is excessively daiigerous and unhealthy . We have more than four per cent , killed , and a fearful number maimed , by accidents ; while the workinn life of miners does not average one ^ half of that ot men ot
other trades . . . .. By Government returns the average life of the miner is bat twenty-seven years , that of the agricultural labourer is forty-three , and the general average is thirty-four , Now , taking this time ot working to be from twelve years of a e , the miner has but fifteen years to work and to maintain his family in . The general working average of the miner is twentv-two years , while the agricultural labourer mav work- thirty-one years ; and while his average sickness irs of the
is but twenty-five weeks from twenty to sixty ye . ag . e , miner ' s average sickness is ninety-five weeks , to be taken from tne period of iirs * working years . These figures speak for themselves , and later investigations tend to show , they do not tell the whole truth- and tli at the evils of which the miner , has to . complain are considerably worse than are here stated by the local registrar ' s return for live years together ( see "Social . Science Almanack , " p . 59 . ) In some places it has been found that the miners do but average twenty-one years , and at one place but seventeen years .- ^ . . and misery and
Second , this deplorable mortality ' consequent immorality are not the absolute consequence of their employment , but of the want of necessary care and attention . The great evils to which the miner is liable are , explosions , falling of roofs , breaking of chains , machinery , & c ; and to prevent all these , the practical applications of science may be called into use . 1 . H . lior . t-ANi * , [ Esq ., at the Bradford Social Science Meeting , * declared that an efficient amount . of ventilation can be constantly produced , so as to dilute , ami to render hannless all noxious gases ; and which might thus render all working places in collieries ,- under ordinary circumstances , free from danger . The Act of 185-5 requires this to be lected
done , while all explosions show this Act is either neg or most wilfully violated . . Relative to the falling of roofs , shafts , and the breaking of machinery—the returns of accidents in Durham and Northumberland , compared with thuse of Yorkshire , Lancashire , ¦ Stafford , and Wales , show that in consequence of their superior arrangement !) , nearly throe-fourths of the average deaths from these causes have Latin actually reduced . These are facts which none can gainsay ; and wo think also it . cannot be denied that private enteryriso and unregulated competitions have not provided oflk-iont remedies , or oven all that they might do , to preserve the lives and promote the . health and well-being of ; the working miners . All and to
competent authorities affirm , that , the Act to mspect wines , enforce- regulations has done much to reduce the dangers and evils connected with them , and that it could d ' much more , if properly rimingod and efficiently worked ; but tho point disputed is , whether it U the right and duty of Government to enforce any Huch regulations at all , 'and , if so , to what extent ? This question leaves to tho proposed Act now ponding . Deputations of associutiona of n . iners , both men and masters , are now urging upon Parliament their separate , and divided Opinions , or rather interests . Tlio men admit tho proposocl Bill is an improvement upon tho pant , inasmuch as it enforces education , in better regulations rolating to niaohinery , and
by definitions and notices making old clauses better to work by . Bub they say it ia defective' in not providing any moans or scheme of education , which is still required as aconditiouof working , betwixt tlio ages of seven , ten ^ nmi twelve . N (» r does the Hill fix any limit to tlio hours of working ibr those under fourteen , which in desirable . Against , this tho nuwtors strongly protest na " impracticable and oppressive ; " and tjioy say that the su ^ joqsod ovila lmve proved veal blossin"'S in practice .- Tlio men uslc for u clause to secure the proper weight of their work . It scorns monstrous that the very necessity for such a chmao should bo requisite ; but so notoriously necessary is , it , that masters , it ia said , are willjng to aonoodo tliat boon of justice to the men . . But , us time political economist * ,, they are now claiming live , hundredweight aa ft standard of weight * whereas fonrandu-h . aU' hundredweight haa been the continued custom por tloxon _
, . Aa tho proposocl penal clauses stand , for neglect or wilful violation of the law anil rogtiUUions , a " master , agent , ov viewer may bo fined
£ 5 and not more than £ 10 , for each offence ; " while a working man for ' a similar offence may be fined £ 2 , or be imprisoned with or without hard labour for three months . Against this partiality tlie men protest Such a small fine to rich men is a paltry punishment for a criminal neglect which may cost the lives of hundreds of miners ; while , at the same time , such a law mig-ht be twisted into a monstrous oppression against the operative when administered by magistrates who are either coal-owners or interested therein . It 13 master and inspector who make legal all special regulations—the men have no voice in them , even where they are the agents and sufferers alone . Of course such onesided legislation is but possible in a State where the legislation is itself partial and one-sided ; and yet the men are told not to oppose t / ris clause for fear oi losing their rights in others . Again : the men wish the inspectors . to be themselves inspected . At present , there is no regulation hud down to enforce any efficient inspection .
The officer may inspect if lie likes , or he may " live at home at ease , " and seldom stir abroad unless some terrible accident occur . jLfter a calamity , we hear of the inspector inquiring ; and as the inspectors have hitherto been appointed because they have been themselves coal proprietors , so , if we look to the reports of accidents , we see they have been dreadfully severe upon the men , and most gentle and ' lenient to the coal owner . In short , by reports we hear that fatal accidents only occur in the " best of all possibly " regulated , mines . The men could tell a different tale—of their informations bein 0 " placed by the inspector before their masters , and disr
charges following—of inspectors never visiting pits for years together , or of sending ample notice of their coming—of packed juries at inquests , and of coroners ( appointed by masters ) suppressing all searching inquiry , when it tended to involve the wealthy owners . Indeed , if the men dared but speak out , things now going quietly bn in England would be so exposed , that it would . make thei humane sob again , if it were but told truthfully . Many a verdict , of " accidental death " ought to have been " vile miirder , " or ' ? wilful manslaughter " done in mines ; and yet this is going on , producing death at the rate of three and a quarter lives per day ' s working * ,
the whole year round . . _ Is it , then , not time something should be done to save and defend the suffering miner ? True economists . would show , that by saving life , and improving the health and-the social and intellectual condition of the people , would in the end be a blessing to the capitalist as well as to the labourer ..
*' See Levst Papei" On Tnvnenotlona, 185...
* ' See levst Papei" on Tnvnenotlona , 1850 ,
. Female School Op Art And Designs (~*I ...
. FEMALE SCHOOL OP ART AND DESIGNS (~* i OLDSMETH , in one of his charming essays , lias said that he * JT who- bust knows how to keep his necessities private , is . the most likely person to have them redressed ; and that the true use of speech is not so much to express our wants as to conceal them . Nicely as this is expressed , and great as is our ad miration-of Goldsmith :, we must dissent from him in the present instance . We are at a loss to know how necessities that are kept private can be redressed ; of course the best way to conceal our wants is not to use speech-at all , to be dumb about them , and then if nothing else reveals them they must be concealed . Our object in taking notice of this saying of Goldsmith is not that we may have air excuse , for we think there is none required , for bringing before our readers theprogress and condition of a certain good institution , but that we may show that if its present necessities be kept unknown ^ it is more than probable that , the institution inay decline and break up before the public know anything at all about it .
In dower Street , W . C ., there is a " Female School of Art and Design , " which was established at Somerset House in 18 'i 2 , and transferred in 1852 to the premises now occupied by it . The object at first in establishing this school was to enable young women of the middle class to obtain an honourable and profitable employment , and to improve ornamental design . in manufactures , by cultivating 1 the tante of tho designer . During * ^ the last eight years , thaC is > since the removal or the school from the Strand to Gower Street , about seve . n hundred students have entered themselves at tho school , and tho number there at tho present time is one hundred and oightoen , of whom , seventy-seven are studying with the view of ultimately maintaining themselves . The daughters of clergymen and medical men are among the
students at this school , some of whom have , through the Instruction . and assistance received here , obtained godd appoinfcrnonta / and are enabled to live independently by means of privatp teaching . Tlmro can be no doubt as to the usefulness and success of tho school . The Itoport showa that during the last three years , the students have tulcon an " annual average of twenty local , and three national medals ; and , at tho last annual examination , nix of ' thorn obtained Free Studentships . " Others have gained , their living by designing aud painting in various purta of the country , and others by teaching in schools belonging to tho department of science and art .
Such is a briof account of tho good which has been dono by the Female School of Art nnd Design since its establishment . This good it haa been achieving silently , and almost without the knoAylodge of tho public . And no one , we are- sure , can rend of tlio benevolent object and tho eminent success of tho school without gnitiUoation . But , wo regret to way , the useful operation of the tlio school Booma likely to bo brought to auond . Its present promising 1 position and beuuhoiul powers are destined to bo destroyed , if not speedily relieved and supported by public generosity or otherwise . Tiio OommiUtiu of Ouuucil on Education have hithqrto nsaistod tho school to tho ftmemnt of ; 500 nor annum . They uro jm > w , it npponrs .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 17, 1860, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_17031860/page/12/
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