39. No person not now employed as a coal or ironstone getter shall be allowed to work alone as a coal or ironstone getter in the face of the workings until he has had two years' experience of such work under the supervision of skilled workmen, or unless he shall have been previously employed for two years in or about the face of the workings of a mine. Penalty on with rules.— Every person who contravenes or does not comply with any of these general rules will be guilty of an offence against the Act ; and in the event of any contravention of or non-compliance with any of the said general rules in the case of any mine to which the Act applies, by any person whomsoever, the owner, agent, or manager shall each be guilty of a similar offence unless he proves that he bad taken all reasonable means, by publishing and to the best of his power enforcing the said rules as regulations for the working of the mine, to prevent such contravention or non-compliance.
right to coin and issue money in this country belongs exclusively to the Crown as a part of the royal prerogative. A mint is a place where money is coined. At as rly period of our history there were a number of mints established throughout the country controlled by moneyers and authorised and privileged by royal charter. Later it bee-arne the custom to temporarily establish mints at the various places at which the King from time to time resided, but the King's moneyers of London were always able to retain their privileges and obtain successive charters of confirmation thereof. The London Mint, which now coins for the whole of the United Kingdom as well as to a large extent for the Colonies, was, until 1850, the legitimate successor and representative of those moneyers of London. In that year, however, the Mint came under the complete control of the government. Its duties are primarily the conversion of bullion into money. Four distinct branches of its operations may be distinguished. In the first place it coins gold pieces in accordance with the provisions of the Coinage Act. In connection with this the Mint necessarily works at a loss, for it is required by statute to assay and coin gold bullion, and deliver it " without any charge for such assay or coinage, or for waste in coinage." In the second place it must coin and issue, frosn bullion purchased on account of the government, all the silver and bronze pieces the public require. Here the Mint makes a large profit, for our silver and bronze coinage is merely a token money. A shilling does not by any means represent the intrinsic value of the twentieth part of a sovereign ; nor does a penny represent the two hundred and fortieth part. Because this is so the legislature has limited the amount of silver and bronze which, in any particular case, may constitute a legal tender. An account of the work of the Mint during a typical year, say 1901, will be interesting. The weight of silver bullion purchased by the Mint during that year for the manu facture of sterling silver coin amounted to 3,391,234.99 standard ounces, for which the price paid was 1)394,936, 16s. 8d., at the rate of 2711-d. per ounce. And 815,733.85 standard ounces of worn silver coin, sshich must be purchased by the Mint at its nominal value W243,075, is.), were withdrawn from circulation during the same period. A total weight of 4,206,968.84 standard ounces of silver was therefore purchased for .e638,012, 3s. 8d., from which
X1,156,916, 8s. 6d. was produced in coin, showing a gross profit of .,e518,904, 4s. 10d., or 81.33 per cent. During the same period the Mint iissued nearly 49 millions of pence, halfpence, and farthings, weighing alto gether 283 tons% and of the nominal value of .L3120,280. And its bronze coinage account for the year shows a net profit of .e103,049, 4s. 8d. Calcu lated over the last forty years, up to 1910, the net annual profits on the whole operation of the Mint amount to .V278,580. In the third place the Mint must execute such coinage for the British colonies and dependencies as they may require. No loss should be made in respect of this, a.s in every case a charge is made therefor calculated upon the cost price of the work. But the wants of the Colonies are not allowed to hinder the supply of the Imperial needs,- and consequently when the Mint is unable to undertake this Colonial work it is handed over to a Birmingham firm, who do it under the control of the government. And lastly, the Mint is required to manu facture naval and military and certain other medals. In 1901, for instance, it executed three medals—" China, 1900 " ; " Ashanti, 1900 " ; and " Cape General Service." But the greater part of this medal work was carried out by contractors in London and Birmingham. In consequence of the decrease in the requirements of the IVar Office there has been, up to 1910, a great reduction in the amount of medal work. Incidental to the above duties of the Mint are sonic others of considerable importance. It has an assay department, the chief work of which is directly connected with the coinage. But samples of gold and silver wares are also forwarded to this department for its examination from the assay offices at Birmingham, Sheffield, and Chester. As a consequence of this some idea can be formed of the condition of the trade in gold and silver ware, and it is satisfactory to know that taking aggregate results the manufacture of gold and silver ware in this country has been steadily increasing during recent years. The increase in the production of silver ware is probably mainly due to the depreciation in the price of silver. In 1870 the average price per standard ounce in the London market was 60d., but since then it has fallen, at the rate of more than Id. per year, to 2410. in 1910. In December 1902 it had fallen to so low a price as "spot and two months forward, 220." In 1905 it rose to 27444., and in 1908 it had fallen to 24d. The Mint has also a duty with regard to prosecutions for coinage offences, and, fortunately for the this duty appears to be less onerous than formerly. In 1892 it obtained 128 convictions ; in 1893 there were 158 ; but since the latter year they declined to 50 in 1901, and have increased to 122 in 1905, 105 in 1908, and 181 in 1910. During the year 1901 sonic cases were brought to the notice of the Director of Public Prosecutions in which copper coins or tokens, apparently intended to represent current coins, had been manu factured for and sold by street hawkers in the metropolis and elsewhere. The manufacturers were warned that they appeared to be offending against the Counterfeit Medals Act, 1883, and gave an undertaking not to make similar articles in future. The Trial of the PYX (q.v.) is also connected with the duties of the Mint. And see COINS ; ISSUE DEPARTMENT.