Petition to the House of Commons

Taken from "The Miners of Northumberland and Durham" by Richard Fynes, published in 1873, republished in 1986 - ISBN 0 946865 05 1

This petition was sent to Mr. T. S. Duncombe M.P. for presentation to the House of Commons in April 1847

To The Honourable The House Of Commons Of Great Britain And Ireland, In Parliament Assembled.

The Humble Petition of the Colliers whose names are hereunto subscribed ;

HUMBLY SHEWETH,—That your Petitioners are COLLIERS, working in the Coal Mines in the Coal Districts of England, Wales, and Scotland.

That they have seen and heard with great satisfaction that several laws have been passed of late years to better the condition of working men in different trades, and for their own and their children’s protection and safety from injury and accident, and to assist in the improvement of their minds and habits. And your petitioners with great confidence submit to your Honourable House that the colliers have at no time in no wise been behind hand in honesty, peaceful conduct, and loyalty, and they therefore approach your Honourable House in the full hope that they will receive from your Honourable House consideration and attention. Your petitioners believe that much may be done by JudiciousLaws for the benefit of your petitioners and the colliers in general, without wrong or injury to any one.

Your petitioners desire to direct the attention of your Honourable House to the many deaths continually happening from bad ventilation in the mines, and also to the distressing accidents which still more frequently occur from the same cause, and from which your petitioners are put to heavy expenses and lose their work for long periods of time but which accidents unfortunately for your petitioners do not come before the public, unless they occasion death. In many mines the air courses are not made with sufficient care, nor attended to with sufficient vigilance and caution; in many the air has to travel too long a distance from the down-cast shaft to the up-cast shaft; in many there is great neglect by the underlookers and others whose duty it is to look after the mines and colliers; air doors are broken where they ought to be perfect—open when they ought to be shut—in some cases sheets have been hung up instead of doors—and many other neglects occur from over confidence caused by previous freedom from accident. Your petitioners admit that many of your petitioners have been neglectful and over confident; but they are many of them very poor, and their position with their masters does not often allow them to speak freely of facts as they really are.

That your petitioners have heard, and many of them know it to be true, that great good has been effected in cotton factories from the appointment of Inspectors, and by the provisions for railing off machinery, and to prevent neglect and accidents, and they submit that some similar plan for the miners would do much in guarding against danger and accident.

Your petitioners submit to your Honourable House that Inspectors should be appointed to visit all the mines, and that some of these Inspectors should be men practically acquainted with colliery work; that such Inspector should see that accurate maps are made of all the workings in the mines; that these Inspectors should grant licences to mines where they consider that due provision and care have been used to prevent accidents and ensure good ventilation; and that without such Licenee no mine should be permitted to work. That penalties of One Hundred Pounds at the least, shou]d be inflicted in case of any deviation from the orders of such Inspector, and that such penalties should be paid half by the landlord, and half by the tenant of the mine, and should form a fund for the support of the families of those who die from explosions or other accidents in the mines. Your petitioners submit that small fines in these cases are not felt and are no use whatever.

Your petitioners submit to your Honourable House that the appointment of Inspectors would not only ensure a better system of ventilation, but would also remove or lessen many other causes of death—such as roofs falling—water rushing in—defective chains, and engines. These and many other instances of want of due caution would become much less frequent if proper Inspectors were appointed to visit the mines, and were invested with sufficient power to enforce a compliance with their directions ; such Inspectors giving no notice of their intention to visit the mines, and at all times going there when they were not expected.

Your petitioners have heard that the Government of the country have been and are endeavouring to discover some plan by which accidents from bad air may be altogether prevented in mines. But your petitioners fear that such discovery will be very difficult and distant, if not altogether beyond the power of man. And your petitioners are well aware, and they submit to your Honourable House, that accident from sudden and unlooked for accumulations of bad air are not so frequent as has been represented, but that in almost in all cases it would appear on inquiry that it was known for some time before that there was bad air and that there was danger. And your petitioners believe from long observation that for every one accident which could not be foreseen nor guarded against, fifty at least happen which might have been prevented by proper precaution. And your petitioners believe that no laws or rules that your Honourable House could make would ensure good ventilation or proper care, unless Inspectors were appointed to see such Rules and Laws attended to.

Your petitioners have observed with much satisfaction the laws compelling the masters in factories to provide some amount of education for the children who work there, and your petitioners submit to your Honourable House that a similar plan would be of great use to the children of colliers. Unless your Honourable House assist your petitioners in carrying out this wish, that their children may be educated, not one in a hundred of the generation of colliers now growing up will be able to write or read. As the colliers are placed— and your Honourable House will, on consideration, see the truth of this assertion—the difficulty of obtaining education for their children is much greater than ever it was for the parents of factory children.

Your petitioners inform your Honourable House that many accidents occur in the mines from persons being entrusted with the care of the engines who have served no regular apprenticeship and are incompetent for the work. Your petitioners submit that no person ought to be so entrusted until he has served a regular apprenticeship of at least three years, and is twenty-one years of age, and has been examined by an Inspector and received a certificate of his been fully qualified—many valuable lives would be saved if a law were made to that effect.

Your petitioners submit to your Honourable House that a Public Registry should be kept of the owners and tenants of mines, and that before a mine is licensed, such owners and tenants should sign a declaration that they would do all in their power to enforce the laws for the good management of their mines, and the protection of the lives of the colliers; and that they would attend at all times and give evidence and information when required by the Inspectors or by magistrates. At present in cases of complaint it frequently happens that no one knows who is the proper and responsible person to apply to.

Your petitioners ask your Honourable House to inquire into the truck system, and the manner in which the law made for the purpose of putting down that system is evaded. Many colliers in Scotland and in other parts are, by various ingenious contrivances, compelled to submit to this system, and cannot protect themselves from it. And your petitioners submit that a person offending against the laws for the abolition of truck ought to be tried as a criminal, and punished with a degrading punishment; and not suffered to be discharged on paying a fine.

Your petitioners submit to your Honourable House that much misery and loss is occasioned by the system of paying colliers’ wages at long intervals ; one consequence is that the collier is obliged to purchase his goods from the truck shop. Your petitioners ask your Honourable House to make a law that wages should be paid every week,, or at not greater intervals than once a fortnight. Your petitioners gratefully acknowledge the good effected by the law against payment of wages in beershops; and the law which they now ask for, would, they assure your Honourable House, be equally beneficial in its operation. And your petitioners assure your Honourable House that such a law would go further than any other remedy to do away with the truck system.

Your petitioners also ask your Honourable House to make a law that the colliers shall be paid for their work by weight and not by measure. It has been found most satisfactory to coal masters and the public to sell and buy their coals by weight and not by measure; and your petitioners assure your Honourable House that payment by weight is much more fair for all parties than by measure. And your petitioners also ask your Honourable House to enact in the same laws that coals may be weighed by beams and scales, as that mode of weighing is less likely to be wrong, and would give more satisfaction.

Your petitioners humbly pray your Honourable House to take the matters of this petition into your consideration, and to pass such laws as to your Honourable House shall seem just and proper to carry into effect the wishes of your petitioners. And your petitioners will ever pray, &c.