The usual period for making new arrangements with the men is at the end of every two months, when, all previous bargains having expired, both parties are again perfectly free to regulate their contracts. Previously, then, to this day, every part of the mine is visited and inspected by the underground agents, who afterwards consult together, and determine their plan of operations for the next two months, registering in detail the work to be performed, and what they consider as a fair price to be paid for each separate item. On the day appointed for the "setting" or " survey," as it is termed, the men who usually work in the mine, together with others who may wish for employment there, assemble round the mine-office, upon a small covered platform, in front of which the agents, at the appointed time, make their appear ance with a book in which their previous examination has been registered. Every piece of work to be performed in the mine is then called out in succession, and accurately defined, and the men make at the time a proposition for working it on certain terms. The price thus offered is, in the first place, usually more than would be fair, or than the men themselves expect to get ; consequently, the moment a price has been named, another offer will be made somewhat lower, and so on till fair terms have been proposed, when the competition (except in rare cases) will cease, and the work or " bargain " is considered as taken by the last and lowest bidder, whose name is immediately registered opposite to its description in the setting-book. As each piece of work will require the labour not of one individual but of many, the transaction is still further simplified by the bargain being taken and the contract made with one person only, each gang of men accustomed to work together always selecting one of their number to represent and act for them on these occasions. It is evidently desirable that there (should become plan for binding the men to their engage ments, so that they should not be capriciously given up previous to the expiration of the term ; and this is the more necessary, as, owing to the frequent fluctuations of richness or of hardness incident to the vein or to the rock in which they may be working, they may find them selves unable to realise the amount of wages which they had antici pated : sometimes indeed the change may be so great, that it is not worth their while to go on with it at all. To meet these contingencies there is in most large mines a printed set of regulations to which all the miners working there must subscribe ; and by which fines are established for the non-fulfiment of contracts, sufficiently heavy to prevent them from beifig given up while any fair probability exists of their being completed at any reasonable rate of remuneration. In this manner the exertions of the working miner are called into action, and prompted to surmount many of the minor obstacles and fluctuations which often bailie his calculations. Although it may appear harsh to exact a fine when a losing piece of work is given up, it must be remem bered that, on the other hand, the vein will often improve in quality instead of deteriorating; and in that case the miner will be greatly benefited, as his labour will be employed upon rich ores at the same high rate of payment that was bargained for poorer ones ; and from this favourable change he may benefit as much as the exertions of himself and his co-partners will allow, till the fixed time for the renewal of the contracts again comes round. The set of regulations before alluded to prescribe such other rules and fines as are found neces sary for the proper management and conduct of the men ; and by means of this simple code, the results of mutual and acknowledged interests, it is found in practice that the necessary discipline can be kept up over the large bodies of men employed in our most extensive mines.
Superintendenec.—The mode of superintendence by which the fore going system is kept in due check is very simple : the principle of self interest which pervades the whole renders unnecessary much of that minute control which would otherwise be needed. The business of a mine naturally divides itself into several departments—the under ground operations, the pit-work and machinery, the dressing and surface-work, accounts and financial matters, and lastly, the general control. For each of these departments proper agents or superintend ents are appointed, all being subordinate to a general manager, who communicates and advises with the whole body of the shareholders or "adventurers" at stated periods, or more commonly only with a select committee chosen by them, the whole body meeting but once a year.
It may be observed that the agents of a mine are usually chosen from the most intelligent working-miners, who are peculiarly well qualified by their thorough practical knowledge both to form a sound judgment upon the state of the works, and to keep a check upon any frauds which might be attempted by the men, while this selection affords a powerful stimulus to good conduct among them, since it may be attended with such advancement. The general control of extensive mines is of course confided to men of superior education and ability, by whom scientific attainments are brought to the aid of the practical knowledge which superintends the inferior departments.
Education and Qualifications of Miners.—We may conclude this article by a few remarks on the education and qualifications of miners, and upon those institutions which have been established with a view to improvement in this respect. The business of the miner is essentially a practical one, and can only be acquired in the recesses of the mine, and amidst the busy operations carried on upon its surface. Though this obvious truth must be admitted to its full extent, it is impossible not to see that the results of science must, though uncon sciously to the miner, bo needed at every step. In the most costly, the most anxious, and at the same time the most precarious of all mining processes, the exploration of the ground for purposes of dis covery and trial, geology may be made of the highest value : in under standing the nature and value of the heterogeneous mineral bodies presented to our view in underground works, chemistry and mineralogy are essential, and it is entirely upon the former science that the whole art of metallurgy is established. Again, we have seen that machinery and mechanical contrivance are necessary at every step of the miner's , a circumatanee which renders a knowledge of mechanics indispensable ; and In pursuing the complicated operations of under ground slisoovery, loss and error can only be avoided by the aid of gresnctry and subterranean surveying.
Thus then wo may perceive that, in addition to practical knowledge in mining, there is & wide 'scope fur the application of scientific know ledge Mae; in feet it is continually in requisition, not merely in the general arrangements, hut in the details also, and ought therefore to be possessed, to a certain extent, by the mining classes. Among three nations of Europe by which raining is most successfully cultivated, the value and necessity of scientific knowledge among miners have long been perceived, and ample provisions have been made for its attainment, as may be seen in the utining-schoole of France and Germany. Although Great Britain pommies the richest and productive mines in the world, it is ronterkable that, till within the last thirty years, nothing was done iu this country to provide the means of instruction for these who are designed for the profession of mining. Thus both the working miner and the mine agent had, in this country, no knowledge whatever of the principles on which the success of their operations depends, but proceeded entirely upon the practical skill acquired in the course of their experience.
Alining Sehools.—When treating of the history of mining at the beginning of this article, the establishment of several institutions for the attainment of those acquirements which are needed iu the professions of civil engineering and mining was noticed as forming the most recent event connected with the subject, and in course of time the benefits thus derived will no doubt be strikingly apparent. The mining-school of Cornwall formerly placed iu operation by Sir Charles Lemon, might have supplied able miners well instructed in all that relates to the working of our tin, copper, and lend mines; while the university of Durham will, it is to be hoped, produce mining engineers whose qualifications will have a more especial reference to the working of coal and other minerals which occur in the stratified rocks of the north of England ; and the School of Mines at Jereayn Street, will tend to systematise and diffuse the kuowledge of the more general principles of mining. Thus by introducing a system of sound mining education, and by the continual progress of science, aided by the efforts which are now being made by government to supply desiderata which have long been required by the mining interest, we may hope still to maintain our mines in a flourishing condition, notwithstanding their depth, their heavy expenditure, and the increasing competition of other countries.
The total quantities of the metals raised from English mines, in 1858, was given by Mr. Hunt, as follows :—