Newcastle System of working Coal.

41

are, in fact, several mines with more than 20 miles of passages. Near Whitehaven, coal mining has been conducted more than 1,000 yards under the sea, and about 600 feet below its bottom.

The plan of working coal in all the mines of this district is the same, and is well known amongst miners as the Newcastle system. It may be verbally described as working the pit by a set of panels. The whole area of the mine is divided into quadrangular panels, each panel containing an area of from eight to twelve acres in extent; and around each panel of this extent is left a solid wall of coal of from forty to fifty yards thick. Through these thick coal walls, roads and air-courses are driven, and thus the whole is brought into working order. Each panel or district has a particular name, and is so designated on the plan of the mine. All these panels are connected together by roads, and thus united to the shaft, as the principal locality. The reader can form some idea of the plan of such a mine, if he will suppose four ordinary windows to be laid flat upon the ground, side by side, forming one large square, but a little apart, so that the space between them may represent the main highways of the pit. The wooden framings of the windows may stand for the minor passages, and the glass itself for the pillars of coal left to support the roof of the mine. Such would be a ground-plan of the mine. Of course, in practice, the galleries and mainways are not quite so regularly laid out; but a general order of this kind is observed, and a general rectangular character is assumed and preserved throughout the entire range of excavations. In some respects the great coal mine is like a great city; and the passenger along the Strand in London, or down Lower Regent Street, might imagine the main street to be the main way of the pit, and the side streets the side passages; while St. James's Square might serve as one great panel, Pall-Mall as the great cross mainway, and the Duke of York's Column as the shaft of the pit. The whole is worked upon system; and the manager ought to be in circumstances to have pointed out to him on the working plan of the pit, what is going forward in any portion of the area below.

From each of the panels thus laid out, the coal is extracted. They commonly begin with the panel farthest from the shaft, and work the others successively towards the shaft. Pillars of coal are left to support the roof, and these vary in dimensions in proportion to the depth from the surface. At a depth of 100 fathoms, or 600 feet, the pillars left must be 22 yards by 9 yards, in which case the proportion of coal left in each such pillar is as 59 compared with the whole. At 200 fathoms, or 1,200 feet, the pillars are 26 yards by 16 yards, and the proportion of coal left is 71. At 300 fathoms, or 1,800 feet, the pillars would be 30 yards by 24 yards, and as much coal would be left in them as '82 of the whole. In the very deep Monkwearmouth pit, we found that the pillars contained about six-sevenths of

the coal; so that the whole enormous expense of 80,000 or £100,000 was incurred simply in the removal of one seventh of the coal reached,-at least at present.

But nearly the whole of the coal in the panels may eventually be obtained; for when the "whole coal," or that between the pillars, is excavated, then the pillars themselves may be attacked; and this is termed working "in the broken." Much mining skill is required in removing the pillars safely; and the work is gradually and cautiously conducted. Wooden props in great numbers are introduced, and the shattered and shaky roof is supported as well as possible. Finally, even these props are thought too valuable to be left in the mine, and the dangerous work of "drawing the props" commences. We were in the Heaton pit while props were drawn in one portion; and we confess we were not very easy as we watched two men slowly knocking out and down the only supports of the roof above our heads. So soon as they knocked down a prop, we all ran back some distance, awaiting a fall of the roof: if that did not occur, we ventured forward again; and another and another prop was withdrawn. The amount of timber used in mines is considerable, and as much of it as possible must be saved. One or two props are left here and there after the bulk is withdrawn; and then, day after day, fresh masses of the roof fall, with thundering noise, and the whole is considered as "waste," into which only the wasteman enters with a Davylamp and great precaution. If the whole falls in, the buried mass is termed a goaf;" and these goafs often become immense natural gasometers, where the gases, exuding freely from the liberated masses, seethe and ferment and generate explosive power, sufficient to explode and shatter the whole mine, if once they are inflamed by contact with a candle or naked light.

A large coal mine is curious on all accounts, as well social as natural. We have glanced at some matters of interest, in relation to the place and the mode of enlarging it; let us now bestow a few more thoughts on the human beings who labour here, and on those who superintend them. In the largest collieries, like those of Hetton* and Seaton Delaval, for example, there may be as many as 1,000 persons employed. At the South Hetton colliery we found the number to be 528, of which number 212 were employed above ground, and 316 under ground. Of the underground labourers, 140 were hewers, and the same number "putters," of coal. It must be one of the largest collieries that employs so many as 500 persons and upwards. As may be at once conceived, such a colliery requires a very strict system of discipline. In the district of Northumberland and Durham we can now number about 150 collieries, and about

* It was recently reported that about 800 pitmen belonging to the Hetton collieries were on strike."

300 pits in all, where coal is daily being wrought. In 1843, we reckoned 192 pits on the three rivers, the Tyne, the Wear, and the Tees; and in that whole district we found the number of persons (men and boys) employed, to be 25,770. These raised 6,506,371 tons of coal in the year. The steam-engine power in use at the above collieries was equal to no less than 19,397 horses. In a business of such magnitude, a plan of discipline and management has gradually been brought into a thoroughly effective system. There is not more order in a man-of-war, than in a Newcastle coal pit. The numbers are fluctuating from year to year with the trade itself, but the system is now never greatly altered. Over the thousands of men employed, there are officers for each department of labour. The highest is the superintending engineer, or manager, always termed in the North "the viewer:" then follow, in succession, the resident viewer, the under viewer, the overman, the back overman, the deputy, the head wasteman, and some subordinates. The number of these officers or functionaries, at present on the Tyne and Wear, may be estimated as follows: there are about 20 superintending viewers, gentlemen of the highest mining qualifications, and generally receiving high emoluments: we have heard the emoluments of some of them conjectured at from £1,500 to £2,000 per annum.

Then there

are about 120 resident viewers, 100 under viewers, 300 overmen, and 500 back overmen, (who take the duty of the overmen in the after-part of the day,) about 1,500 deputies, 150 head wastemen, and 150 foremen wastemen, to which we add 1,200 other ordinary wastemen. Thus, altogether, about 4,000 persons are employed hereabouts in the superintendence of the operations of collieries, exclusively of the engineers and mechanics employed above ground. None of these 4,000 men work the coal, but they are all engaged in the supervision of those who do; and especially they supervise the ventilation of the pit, and the security of the whole. Above ground there is an officer who always stands in attendance at the mouth of the shaft, an important personage in that position, and called the "banksman :" such men take charge of all the live and dead stock descending and ascending the mine; and of these there may be about 800 in this whole district. We cannot tarry to describe the respective duties of these several mining officers in detail; but their very names and number indicate a high degree of order and arrangement, and a complete subdivision of official duties.

The superintending viewer has the general charge of the pit, but may have several other pits under his charge; and therefore the resident viewer becomes the chief practical authority, calling in and consulting the superintending viewer in particular exigencies. The under viewer has the general charge of the mining operations under the resident. He is generally a young or middle-aged man, thoroughly acquainted with the theory and practice of ordinary

mining, and, like the curate in a parish, performs much of the duty of routine; but he is always subject to, and acts under, the resident. He is supposed to examine the mine every day, to inspect the waste, the state of the air-courses, the amount of air passing through the mine in the different passages, and the freedom from destructive gases; and, in addition to his own personal examinations, he receives a daily report from the overmen and master wasteman, as to the result of their inspections. In connexion with all these observations, he must take all needful measures for correcting irregularities, and for obviating all discoverable sources of danger. The overmen have the charge of the working of the mine, and more especially of the general safety and duty of the working men and boys; hence their name of "overmen." They are aided by the back overmen, and by deputy overmen, called, in one word, "deputies." The first duty of these persons is to enter the pit every morning, one hour before the hewers, and to examine every working place in the pit, and to report as to its being in safe working condition. Then, returning to an underground cabin, they examine all the safety lamps, if such are used in the mine, and lock them, so that the men cannot tamper with them. Several explosions have been occasioned by careless men opening the top of a safety lamp, to light a pipe, or increase the light. No lamps should be delivered unlocked, and none received in return after work without examination. The culpable neglect of some pitmen, chiefly in other districts, is proverbial. Now we come to speak of the lowest grades of mining officers. The wastemen and their deputies examine the waste parts of the pit and the goaves. The deputies of the overmen lay down and maintain the tramways, secure the workings by timbers, and look to the wooden doors, the stoppings, the brattices, or divisions, and thus generally preserve the working places in good working order.

It is desirable that the reader should understand how complete and systematic is the superintendence and the precautionary inspection by the regular officers in a large Northern pit. Whenever you pass through the pit, and especially if in the earlier hours of the morning, you will meet with overmen and their deputies, and perambulating wastemen and their deputies; and you will find them busily engaged, or passing you every here and there with a polite pit salutation. Of nearly the whole of these men we noticed one characteristic habit, namely, their sober demeanour and grave taciturnity. They are men of much work and few words, at least, to strangers. They will answer proper questions, but with brevity, and in their pit patois, which to a complete stranger renders the answer useless. Many months must be spent in this locality in frequent conversation with pit folk, before it will be possible for the stranger to arrive at any thing like a perfect understanding of their replies.

From what we have observed it will be seen that there is no greater mistake than to suppose that accidents happen in the Newcastle mines from want of supervision: that may not be perfect, but it is certainly systematic. Here are the most experienced colliery officers and workmen to be found in the world: though many of the subordinates are uneducated, and most of them may cherish prejudices, yet, in any thing that concerns a coal pit, the Newcastle men are thoroughly at home. Little may be known among them of the theory of science, but much of its practice is daily exhibited. It is remarkable, too, that amongst the subordinates, and even the common hewers, a taste for mathematics has long existed. The celebrated George Stephenson was a subordinate at Killingworth pit near Newcastle; and a living mathematician connected with King's College, author of several esteemed works, has risen from the pits, and glories, we believe, in his rise and origin from the regions of darkness.

We now proceed to speak of, perhaps, the most important of all the subjects connected with the safety and comfort of the pit,

-VENTILATION.

The ventilation of large, deep, and fiery, or gaseous, coal mines, is a matter of practical science, which demands far more minute and anxious study than would be generally supposed; for upon efficient ventilation depends the comfort of all the miners, and, eventually, the remuneration of the proprietors. The worst economy is to disregard due ventilation; and this observation applies equally to manufactories and mines. In mines where the ventilation is insufficient, the miners labour with the greatest difficulty. If they have occasion to "fire a shot," that is, to blast a portion of the coal or rock by gunpowder, the smoke arising from the blast hangs densely and long about the face of the workings, lessening the light of the lamps, and filling the lungs of the men. Frequently in summer, when the ventilation stagnates or is reversed, the pit candles will not burn unless held sideways, and parts of the mine must be abandoned for days, until better air can be commanded. One of the most telling instances of the actual saving in money effected by good ventilation, is mentioned by Mr. Mackworth with reference to the United Mines in Cornwall. In a certain part of those mines, the temperature was so remarkably and oppressively high as 105°; and in that part three sets of men were employed in driving a "level," or gallery, at a cost of £17 per fathom. So great was their exhaustion, that the poor miners were changed every five minutes, and it was said that to remain twenty minutes in that place would have occasioned total prostration, and probably death. Mr. Mackworth pointed out how a quantity of air might be introduced, sufficient to reduce the temperature to 70°, or less. Subsequently, the