COAL - Clpdigital.org

52 THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN.
tor issued forth on a mission that proved to be
intensely interesting and instructive. It brought
to light the fact that superintendents and mine
foremen, capable of unraveling the most complex
problems in ventilation, mechanics, mine chemistry,
etc.. could not guess within 150 pit wagons
the proper capacity of their tipples. Superintendents
and mine foremen were generally at
variance from 100 to 200 wagons when estimating
the ability of the same tipple. Also, it showed
that they were absolutely ignorant of the number
of rooms and ribs in active operation or the number
of places or of miners necessary to keep the
tipple actively employed for 8 hours, the percentages
of places to be kept in excess of the real
requirements to compensate for those likely to be
under water, in clay veins, horsebacks, slack vein,
etc. The following is a sample dialogue indulged
in by the inspector and many of the superintendents
and foremen designated by his mentor:
"John, what is the capacity of your tipples?"
"Well. I don't know exactly, they tell me they
have clumped 600 pit cars in 8 hours, averaging
1% tons run-of-mine. The best I've been able to
do is 450 and I don't think we could handle 600
if we could get them."
"What are you averaging?" "About 235 to 400."
"How many rooms have you going?" "I can't
say for sure."
"How many ribs?" "Can't tell you that, but if
you can wait until the fire bosses come out we
can reckon them up, or I could let you know by
mail tomorrow."
"What percentage of places are non-productive
owing to troubles of all descriptions?" "A good
many, I know, but I couldn't give the exact amount
just now."
"What proportion of your men are required on
rib work to keep close up to the rooms: ' "That
is something I've never bothered about. There
are now 20 engaged but should I start on ribs
that are now standing idle I could put on 30 more."
"Is it good practice to have ribs standing idle;
does not every day add to the ultimate cost of
mining them? In a snort time falls and water
accumulate, the room men steal the rails and
often confiscate a few of the road posts should
the drivers fail to supply the demand instanter."
"That is all true," is the rejoinder.
It is also a fact, by attacking a rib immediately
at the finishing of a room, the difficulties enumerated
above are not encountered, nor the loss of
posts, coal and the direct loss of money paid in
wages for relaying of rails, hauling water and
cleaning falls. The failure to attack a rib at the
proper time is one of the most common and most
fruitful sources of trouble and expense that has
come to my notice; ribs are neglected for months,
in one or more a large fall takes place, the mine
foreman decides it is too costly to remove and
cheaper to lose the coal. This decision conveys
more to the practical man than is apparent on
the surface. To lose coal, track and posts is serious
enough, yet, scarcely worth notice compared
to that which inevitably follows. The roof can't
collapse, it swings on the last stump and eventually
finding vent along the line of least resistance,
which is down the room, the posts bend before it.
This part is also lost as machine mining seldom
leaves a rib thick enough to skip, but this caving
is only partial, the mass of strata probably hundreds
of feet thick is yet bearing heavily upon
the next rib being worked. More falls follow,
more coal is lost, a creep ensues. The entries are
involved and hundreds of dollars worth of work
is lost. There is no experienced miner but can
testify to the truth of this.
All could have been avoided had the man in
charge estimated the amount of coal that must
of necessity come from the ribs to keep abreast
of the room work and see that the proper force
was constantly engaged to produce it. Not one
mine in 25 is in the desired condition, viewing
them from this standpoint.
This is the trouble witn the most of mines not
yielding the returns they can and will if the managers
have the right ideas backed with on adequate
force necessary to vigorously prosecute the
same.
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
CHINESE IN CANADIAN MINES.
Consul Dudley writes from Vancouver about the
employment of Asiatics in the mines of British
Columbia. He says:
"Some time ago the British Columbia parliament
enacted a law forbidding the employment of Chinamen
in mining underground. The Wellington
Colliery Co.. desiring to test this law, continued
to employ Chinamen in underground work, whereupon
an agreed case was submitted to the courts
and passed finally to the privy council in London,
England, the court of last resort. The judicial
committee of the privy council has handed down a
decision in favor of the colliery conipany. The
committee sustained the contention of the company
that it could send its employes to any portion
of its property. Similar acts, relating to
both Chinese and Japanese, have previously been
disallowed by the Dominion government; and in
one case Downing street decided against a law
very similar to the one just acted upon."