to the wounded to celebrate disaster by a
holiday, there is little hope of the senseless
habit being abated.

"How did the first accident happen, and
where?"

"Why, in the pit you were down
yesterday. You'll remember asking what the
polished stone surface was above you, and
our explaining its danger, when you tapped it.
Well, sir, you have here a specimen of one of our
regular pit accidents in South Wales. They
don't make so much talk as explosions, but
they kill off more men every year than all the
fire-damp in the world; and the worst part of it is
that they might be easily reduced. It's an old
story now the difference between the system of
working coal here and in the north of England;
but its moral isn't enforced for all that, and
the consequence is that there's twice as much
risk and twice as much disaster for the men.
There's not a man who really understands the
subject who won't tell you that the way the
Welshmen persist in working carries off a
large percentage of them annually. To show you
how our people oppose all alteration on
principle, even when it does not affect their
comfort, I'll tell you how one of my neighbours
was served a few weeks ago. But, to
understand it, I must remind you of what you
saw yesterday. Long subterranean passages,
called ' headings,' sixty yards apart, running
parallel with each other, and other passages
from and to each cut every sixteen yards.
These minor passages are called stalls, and
are kept open until the coal is cleared out. The
space emptied is filled up with rubbish, and
other long passages with feeders cut so that
the face of the coal is progressively exhausted,
and only such approaches are maintained as
enable the men to get to and from their work,
and to convey their waggons to the shaft leading
to the pit's mouth. The stone above and about
there is brittle and unsafe, and is kept
unsupported by coal; hence the painful sight you saw
an hour ago. This neighbour of mine had, without
issuing any manifesto, or asking the men's
opinion, quietly set three of them to work at
some stalls, and was bringing coal out of
each with treble the rapidity in consequence.
The roof and sides were necessarily less tried,
for it stands to reason that the shorter time
heavy stones are left without support, the less
likely they are to fall. The men were perfectly
satisfied, and did not even grumble at their
enforced association in work, and the pit would
have been gradually remodelled on the new
system without fuss or stir, only, unfortunately,
discussions concerning the fifteen per cent
reduction of wages cropped up. A proprietor
offered to forego the reduction if his men would
agree to work three at a face; and directly
his offer got wind, presto! the agitators were
alarmed, and all compliance was forbidden.
What had been adopted as a matter of course,
was refused as a matter of principle, and my
friend's miners demanded that the method they
had abandoned should be restored. Understand
me, I don't blame the men. They simply
succumbed to the power to which statesmen and
potentates have to bow; and in yielding to the
public opinion of their district, sacrificed their
own interest as well as that of their employers.
You'll hear all sorts of reasons given by local
managers against changing the plan of working,
and the talkers and arbitrators of a lower grade
use their influence over their fellows to
persuade them that improvement is another
word for confiscation. The Welsh are a
soft-hearted simple race, who yield easily to the
gentle pressure of a countryman, though firm
as adamant against ' strangers' who seek to
effect reforms."

But a heavy responsibility rests upon their
teachers. Let us compare the return for 1866
of the inspectors appointed by the crown to
report annually upon coal-mines. Here we
have:

We see thus that when the men are
concentrated, and the “ working face” is pushed
on vigorously, one hundred and thirty thousand
tons of coal are raised for every life lost, and
there are only twenty per cent. of fatal accidents
from falls of stone or coal; but where the men
are scattered over a large area, and the “the face” is
moved slowly forward, they can only raise
seventy-eight thousand one hundred and thirty-seven
tons per life, and the fatal accidents from falls
are not less than forty-one per cent.  If writers
and thinkers on these subjects would but turn
their attention to this and cognate details, they
might help to effect changes which would
save far more human life than the fire-damp and
gas destroy.  But the worst of it is that when
a great explosion occurs, excitement and
perturbation follow to an extent which warps the
judgement and blinds people to other dangers
which are as imminent and destructive, but
which might be dealt with far more readily.
For example, people contend that in Wales there
is a much worse top than in the North, and
that if the system of the North were adopted,
it would be impossible to work the coal.  But
some of the most eminent authorities in  the
country attest that  roofways of Wales are, on
the whole, better than those in Durham, and
that  if the Welsh method were introduced
there the coal could not be worked.  It was
tried at one great Durham colliery, and had to
be given up.  But how shall it be made clear
to Welsh pitmen that, besides other disadvantages,
their mode of working kills off a vast
number of them every year?  The difficulty is to
penetrate through the veil kept between them
and the truth.  The masters can't do it, because
their motives are suspected directly they speak