COMMISSIONS OF ENQUIRY The history of ameliorative legislation in respect of the coal mines and miners of Great Britain may be said to date from the year 1778, when a law was passed which enacted that the state of life-slavery to which the miners of Scotland were subjected should come to an end, for at that time they were working under laws by which they were practically slaves. Able-bodied men were paid ten pence a day for hewing coal ; their womenkind, acting as bear ers in carrying the coal out from the workings and up the shafts, receiving but threepence a day. The workers forming part and parcel of the concern, passed from owner to owner with the col liery as so many chattels. The emancipation was to be gradual and it was not until 1799, when another act was passed, that com plete freedom was granted to the Scottish miners. The pay and conditions of employment of mine workers in other parts of Bri tain were, however, at that time in advance of those of Scotland.
Repeated disasters in the coal pits led to the formation in Sun derland, in 1813, of a Society for the Prevention of Accidents in Coal Mines, and it was the members of this society who were instrumental in engaging the services of Sir Humphrey Davy in the investigations which culminated in 1815 in the invention of the safety lamp.
About the middle of the last century may be regarded as the time when great advances were made in mining methods and in the conditions and social status of the mine workers, the latter being due in part to the action of the miners themselves and in part to the general advance in public conscience. Colliery bonds (yearly bonds binding the miners to work on certain terms) of 1763 show that combinations of the miners were prohibited at that time. Combinations of the coal owners in the north of England for the purpose of regulating the vend of coals, and so securing higher selling prices, had been in operation off and on for two centuries before the workmen combined among themselves (1825) with a view to restricting production and obtaining better terms for their labour. The Association of Colliers on the Rivers Tyne and Wear, consisting of 4,000 - persons (Fossil Fuel, p. note), was formed in 1826 immediately after the repeal of the Combination laws by act of parliament (5 Geo: IV. c. 95).
Committees of the House of Commons had been appointed in the year 1 Soo to enquire into the state of the coal trade and their reports were published in 1829, in which year, and again in 183o and 1836, the Lords appointed a select committee "to enquire into the coal trade." Though these sumptuous volumes of evidence and reports constitute a mine of wealth as to the conditions preva lent in the industry at this time, it remained for that great pro tagonist in the battle for fair conditions for labour, Lord Ashley, afterwards Earl of Shaftesbury (as the outcome of the report of the commissioners for enquiring into the conditions of children employed in mines), to bring in a bill which became law in 1842. This bill prohibited the employment below ground of women and girls and of boys below the age of ten years. Social inspection also opened the way for mine inspection, which was introduced under the Coal Mines Regulation Act of 1850. This was followed by the Regulation Acts of 1855, 1860, 1872, 1887, 1894, 1905 and 1908, the Mines Accidents (Rescue and Award) Act, 191o, and, finally, the Coal Mines Act of 1911, which is still in force. The Act of 1911 deals with such matters as the qualifications of man agers and other officials, ventilation, safety lamps, shafts and winding, travelling roads and haulage below ground, support of roof and sides, signalling, machinery, electricity, explosives, pre vention of coal dust, inspection as to safety, withdrawal of work men, surveys and plans, safety measures against inundation, weighing of coal and payment of workers, hours of employment, provisions as to health, notices of accidents, reports, investigations and inquests, penalties, rescue and ambulances.
In addition to the Mines Regulation Acts, there have been passed various Factory and Workshop Acts, which affect such parts of the surface arrangements at mines as, for example, coke ovens, while the Education Acts enforce certain conditions bearing on the education of children and impose penalties for employing a child in contravention of those acts. The Workmen's Compensation Acts of 1897 and 1906 render the employer liable to the workmen for injuries received whilst at work. Among these various meas ures may be mentioned the Elementary Education Acts of 187o, 1876, 1880, 1891; the School Attendance Acts 1893, 1899; Em ployment of Children Act, 1903 ; Employment of Women Act, 1907; Employers' Liability Act, 188o; Factory and Workshop Acts, 1878, 1883, 1888, 1891, 1895, 1901 ; Fatal Accidents Inquiry (Scotland), 1895; Notice of Accidents Act, 1894, 1906; Truck Act, 1831, 1887, 1896; and the Minimum Wage Act, 1911. In 1865-67, resulting from a petition to the House of Commons from the Miners' National Association urging certain reforms, a select committee was set up to enquire into the working of the law in connection with coal mines and recommended, amongst other things, certifications of competency by examination of colliery managers. Hence the act of 1872.
In 1886 an agitation against royalty rents by both colliery own ers and workmen led to a memorial of 6o members of parliament characterizing the system as a "gross hindrance to the mining industry." In 1890 a royal commission on mining royalties was set up with Lord Northbrook as chairman. This commission re ported in 1893. Amongst other conclusions come to was that "the system of royalties has not interfered with the general devel opment of the mineral resources of the United Kingdom," and they dismissed the question of nationalization.
In the year 1901, the then chancellor of the exchequer, Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, in order to make his budget meet, put a tax of rd. per ton on export coal, an action which raised much indig nation on the part of colliery owners, miners and economists, and eventually induced the Government to set up a commission to re view the matters which had come before the 1871 commission. This commission, which was under the chairmanship of Lord Allerton, reported in 1905. The report is still a very valuable work of reference. Of their many conclusions two of considerable interest are worth recording. They foresaw a great development in the use of the steam turbine, powdered fuel and gas stoves. They did not believe there was any "real substitute" for coal as a source of power. They hoped for the establishment of great cen tral electrical generating stations, and were sceptical—in this they were in error—as to the substitution of oil for coal in the Navy. They disapproved of the tax on coal, which was repealed by the Liberal Government in 1906.
In 1906 the miners' eight-hour day committee was appointed, reporting in 1907, and in 1908 an act regulating the hours of em ployment of miners was passed, which has come to be known as the Miners' Eight-Hour Act.
The period 1896-191I was one of intense activity as to inves tigation into the health and safety of miners, for during that period there were set up and reported the explosives testing committee (1897), the first electricity in mines committee (1902), the sec ond electricity in mines committee (191 I) and the committee on bobinito (1907) . In 1906 a royal commission on mines was ap pointed under the chairmanship of Lord Monkswell to deal with questions of health and safety and reported in 1909. The outcome of this report was the appointment of a chief inspector of mines, of which Mr. (now Sir) Richard Redmayne was the first occupant, a reorganization of the mines inspectorate, and the passing of the 191I Mines Act, to which reference has been made already. The mines (rescue and aid) committee, set up in 191o, reported in the succeeding year on the training of rescue corps and maintenance of rescue stations, while the explosions in mines committee, sitting from 191 o to 1914, issued a series of reports giving the result of their experiments carried out at the Home Office research station at Eskmeals in Cumberland. This station is now transferred to Buxton, where it is under the safety in mines research board of the Mines Department. The short Mines Act of 1914 was passed in order to remedy a few oversights in the comprehensive act of 1911.
During the period intervening between the passage of the 191I act and the outbreak of the World War, several depart mental committees were set up to enquire into various subjects connected with coal mining, such as the committee on washing and drying accommodation in mines 0913), dealing with pit-head baths, as a result of which certain regulations were made in re gard to the matters reported on ; the committee on spontaneous combustion in coal mines (1912-21), which made recommenda tions to which effect has been given, while the report of the mines rescue apparatus research committee formed the basis of part 3 of the General Regulations of July 20, 1920. The Coal Mines (Minimum Wage) Act was passed in 1912. Though its duration was to be for three years, it is still in existence, having been maintained by Expiring Laws Continuance Acts.
During the period of the World War special legislation affecting the coal mines of Great Britain was passed, the character and object of which are dealt with under Section XI. of this article. But there were certain committees which sat during part of the war period, unconnected with war conditions, which were of far reaching importance, such as the committee on the coal trade after the war and the coal conservation committee. This last named committee became on the establishment of the Ministry of Reconstruction a committee of that department, and among its results were the setting up of the Fuel Research Board, and proposals as to the establishment of an electric power scheme for Great Britain, which is now in course of being carried into effect.
An important committee, too, was the acquisition and valua tion of land committee, which amongst other matters dealt largely with the question of mine royalties, and as a result of whose report (1919) the Mines (Working Facilities and Support) Act was passed in 1923, giving power to the railway and canal commission to override the rights of owners of land and minerals so as to secure the effective working of coal, and dealing also with ques tions relating to support.
The Sankey Commission.—Since the war several important acts have been passed as the result of the findings of other com missions and committees. The most important of these was the coal industry commission which, under an act of parliament passed for the purpose, was clothed with statutory powers for en quiring into the position of, and the conditions prevailing in, the coal industry. This, perhaps the most important royal commis sion. on coal that has sat, was presided over by an eminent judge of the high court, Sir John Sankey, G.B.E. The commission took within its purview many matters connected with the coal industry, such as health, safety, costs, profits, hours of work and conditions of employment generally. It considered alternative methods for the future conduct of the industry, as, for instance, the existing system of private ownership and control, nationalization, and, as an alternative to nationalization, a system of aggregation of col liery interests and co-partnership.
Three divergent interim reports were presented on March 2o, 1919. The chairman and the three Government nominees (of the six persons selected because of their economic knowledge) recom mended a "seven-hour" working day instead of the existing eight hours, "and, subject to the economic position of the industry at the end of 192o," a six-hour day; an increase of two shillings per shift in the wage of those "classes of colliery workers, employed in coal mines or at the pit-heads of coal mines, whose wages have in the past been regulated by colliery sliding scales," and, in the case of workers under 16 years of age, an advance of one shilling a day. There was included in this report a paragraph which caused much stir in mining circles. It ran, "Even upon the evidence already given, the present system of ownership and working in the coal industry stands condemned, and some other system must be substituted for it, either nation alization or a method of unification by national purchase and/or joint control." The report stated that it was "a matter for careful considera tion whether id. per ton should not be at once collected on coal raised and applied to improve the housing and amenities of each particular colliery district." On the output then being procured this meant about f I,000,000 a year.
The three miners' representatives and the three nominees of the miners (of the six persons noted for their economic knowledge) signed another report which was somewhat longer than the first mentioned, and whilst advocating an advance of 3o% in wages and a six-hour working day, constituted also a closely reasoned argument in favour of the complete nationalization of the coal mining industry.
The three colliery owners' representatives, on the other hand, in a somewhat brief report, took up the attitude that they had not to decide the question as to "what amount we would desire colliery workers to receive to enable them to attain a higher standard of living, but the amount to which their existing wages ought to be increased, regard being had to a reasonable standard of living amongst the colliery workers and the effect of any in crease of their wages on the development of the coal industry and the economic life of the country." They also opposed any de crease in the working hours. As regarded nationalization or uni fication of ownership of collieries, they stated that "such evidence as has been placed before us is insufficient to enable us to pro nounce any judgment." The Government accepted the majority (the chairman's) in terim or first stage report "in the letter and the spirit," as a result of which the Seven Hours Act and the Mining Industry Act of 192o were passed.
On June 20 of the same year the commissioners made four divergent final reports, one by the chairman, another by Sir Arthur Duckham (one of the six gentlemen eminent in economic knowledge), another by the miners' representatives and their three nominees (of the six "economic" members of the commis sion) and a fourth by the colliery owners' representatives and two of the Government's nominees of the six economic members.
The chairman reported in favour of acquiring the coal royalties and mines by purchase for the State. Sir A. Duckham advocated, amongst other things, State ownership of the minerals (royalties) by purchase, a system of unification in areas under private enter prise, the setting up of pit committees, and the multiple shift system. The miners' representatives advocated State organization and ownership (see subsequent Section X.). The fourth report of the colliery owners and two of the economic members stated, amongst much other matter, "that the evidence submitted to the commission afforded no ground for belief that nationalization would have the effect of reducing the price of coal, in fact it pointed the other way, and that they believed in any form it would be detrimental to the development of the industry and the eco nomic life of the country; nor would it lead to peace." They favoured purchase by the Government of the coal royalties and recommended the setting up of pit committees and district and national councils.
The Government practically accepted none of the reports in their entirety and brought in a bill for setting up pit committees, district and national councils, but the leaders of the miners de clined to accept it as a settlement. A national stoppage of the miners was, however, averted.
The coal trade remained in a very disturbed state, and in 1924 a court of enquiry under Lord Buckmaster was set up, and an other in 1925 under the well-known Counsel Mr. MacMillan, dealing with certain aspects of the industry. In 1925 the Mining Industry (Welfare Fund) Act was passed prolonging the Wel fare Fund for another five years. There was a state of world wide depression in the coal mining industry, production being in excess of demand. In July 1925 the British Government decided to make to the coal industry a financial subvention as from Aug. 1 of that year to April 3o, 1926, by which wages would continue to be paid at the current rate. By March 31, 1926, this subsidy had reached £ 19,000,000.
The commission, besides hearing fresh evidence, made a close study of the evidence which had been given before the Sankey commission. The following is a very brief and condensed sum mary of the findings and recommendations of the commission:— They condemned the principle of a subsidy. They could not agree with the view of the coal owners that little can be done to improve the organization of the industry, and that the only practicable course was to lengthen hours and lower wages. They considered the problem as divisible under two heads—the per manent and the temporary aspect. The immediate problem to be faced included the fact that, excluding the subsidy, 73% of the coal was produced at a loss and the commission arrived at the opinion that, "If the present hours are to be retained, we think a revision of the `minimum percentage addition to standard rates of wages' fixed in 1924 at a time of temporary prosperity, is in dispensable." They hoped that no increase in hours would be necessary. They deemed it essential that there should be, as heretofore, considerable variation as between districts in the rates of wages, but at the same time advocated the continuance of na tional "wage agreements" and recommended that the representa tives of the employers and employed should meet together, first nationally and then in districts, in order to arrive at a settle ment. The revision of the minimum percentage would save the industry from immediate collapse, but it was inevitable that a number of collieries would have to be closed ; consequently it might be necessary to arrange for the transference of labour on a considerable scale, in which case the Government should provide funds for the purpose.
With regard to the permanent aspect of the problem, the com mission advocated the acquirement by purchase by the State of the royalties ; the amalgamation of the collieries into larger groups which the State, as owner of the minerals, would be able to promote; the promotion of a closer connection of mining with the allied industries, e.g., "the development of electrical supply under the new proposals of the Government should be closely co-ordinated with the generation of electricity at the mines." They suggested the setting up of a national fuel and power committee with advisory powers. They regarded research into the methods of both winning and using coal as being back ward. The State should give financial support to the further ex periments on a commercial scale which are necessary in the case of low-temperature carbonization. The matter of distribution of coal left much to be desired; large financial advantages might be gained by the formation of co-operative selling agencies— they were especially needed in the export trade. The Government should consider the establishment of an official system for the sampling and analysis of coal so as to encourage selling on a specification and guarantee. Local authorities should be empow ered to engage in the retail coal trade. Larger mineral wagons should be used and a greater concentration of ownership thereof effected, and a standing joint committee of the Ministry of Trans port and the Mines Department be formed to promote these measures. Whilst the standard length of the working day, which averaged 71 hr. underground, should remain unaltered, "the optional re-distribution of hours within the present weekly total, over a week of five days instead of six, should be considered," and the multiple shift system should be extended. Joint pit com mittees should be established generally. Payment of men should be on such a basis, where possible, as to give them a direct interest in output. They advocated a family allowance system and profit sharing. For all new collieries a proper provision of houses for the workers should be a condition of the lease. The general establishment of pit-head baths was necessary and when pros perity returns to the industry they considered that annual holidays with pay should be established. The industry should be continued under private enterprise.
Although the owners, under pressure, accepted the report in principle, it was rejected by the miners, and on Saturday, April 29, 1926, the men ceased work. To support them a general strike was ordered (see GENERAL STRIKE), but in a few days this was abandoned. The miners, however, remained idle throughout May and June and the attempts made by the prime minister and others to bring about a settlement of the dispute were unavailing. In June the Government introduced legislation into parliament to carry out the recommendations of the Samuel commission, and (1) the Coal Mines Act 1926, which permitted of increasing the time below ground of workmen by one hour, and (2) the Mining Industry Act, 1926, which gave effect with two important excep tions to the recommendations of the Samuel commission, were passed.
Space does not permit of a description of the very important provisions contained in the latter act, e.g., those for facilitating amalgamations of collieries, the extending of the Mines (Working Facilities and Support) Act, levy on royalties for purposes of erecting pit head baths, limitation of recruitment of labour in the industry for facilitating profit-sharing schemes, pit committees, etc. A number of committees were also set up as the outcome of the report of the Samuel commission to deal with matters re ferred to therein, e.g., the fuel and power council, the mineral transport committee, the committee of co-operative selling in the coal mining industry; the latter has reported already.
During the last 6o years there have been in connection with the British coal mining industry nine royal commissions, over 3o committees of enquiry, and 26 acts of parliament. Perhaps no branch of industry has been subjected to so much and such strin gent state regulation as that of coal mining in Great Britain, with a view, in a great measure, to the protection of the miners. Socially, morally and financially the status of the workers has greatly advanced since 185o, and coal mining has developed into a branch of engineering requiring the most skilled engineers. This high degree of skill is essential because the richer and more accessible coal deposits were largely worked out in the earlier periods of coal mining in England.