chiefly to the general upward movement in nominal wages. The average selling price of coal during the latter half of 1920 was 39s. to 40s. per ton, the average for the year being 34s. 7d. per ton.
One bright feature alone reveals itself in this picture of increasing cost and diminishing supplies of coal, in the increasing safety of the workers employed at the mines. Though the years 1910 and 1913 were both marred by mining disasters of some magnitude—that at the Sengheneydd pit in Glamorganshire in the latter year being the greatest on record—there was a noticeable diminution after 1910 in the number of persons killed and injured by accidents at coal-mines.
Particulars of the quantity and value of the coal raised, the number of persons employed at coal-mines, and the numbers killed and injured by accidents during the years 1910-20, will be seen in the statement which follows:—
Output of Coal Number of Persons Employed at Coal-mines Number of Persons Killed or Injured by Accidents[1]
Quantity (Million statute tons) Value at Pit (Million £) Average Value per ton (s. d.) Killed Injured
1910 264.4 108.4 8. 2 1,032,700 1,775 159,042
1911 271.9 110.8 8. 2 1,049,900 1,265 166,616
1912 260.4[2] 117.9 9. 1 1,072,400 1,276 150,652
1913 287.4 145.5 10. 2 1,110,900 1,753 177,189
1914 265.7 132.6 10. 0 1,041,200[3] 1,219 158,862
1915 253.2 157.8 12. 6 939,600 1,297
1916 256.4 200.0 15. 7 984,800 1,313
(Particulars not available)
1917 248.5 207.8 16. 9 1,006,300 1,370
1918 227.7 238.2 20.11 994,300 1,411
1919 229.8 314.1 27. 4 1,176,100 1,118 117,422
1920 229.5 396.9 34. 7 1,233,200 1,103 117,302
The period covered by the statement above includes the years down to 1914 during which the development of the coal resources of the country reached its zenith under the individual ownership of the mines. Early in 1912 a national strike of miners laid the pits idle for a period of six weeks and was settled by the passage of the Coal Mines (Minimum Wage) Act, 1912.
Effects of the War.—In Aug. 1914 war was declared, and early in 1915 the necessity for Government supervision of the production and distribution of coal became apparent. At first this was restricted to the limitation of the selling price of coal at home and of the quantity sold abroad. By the middle of 1916 the number of miners employed had fallen by nearly 14% since July 1914, the younger, stronger and the most capable amongst whom had joined the fighting forces. The loss was much greater in reality, since 282,200 men had left the mines up to the end of March and the places of some 116,900 of these men had been taken by others. By the end of the war 400,000 coal-miners had joined H.M. forces. Increasing difficulties in the supply and distribution of coal were experienced, and in order to deal with them a committee representing various Government departments, railway companies, colliery owners and coal factors and merchants was appointed in Jan. 1916. This committee coördinated the action of other committees of colliery owners in each coal-field. At the end of 1916 acute labour troubles in the South Wales coal-field compelled the Government to take possession of the mines in the district, and on March 1 1917 similar action was taken with regard to all coal-mines.
Output and Management.—Up to 1916 the rate of output in normal years was still at or above 260 tons per person employed, the total output in 1916 being 31,000,000 tons less, and the number of persons employed 126,000 less than in 1913, the year of maximum production. The average selling price of coal in 1916, whether for consumption at home or abroad, was 15s. 7d. per ton, or 53% higher than in 1913, the highest pre-war figure since records were first established in 1882. From March 1917 to the end of March 1921 the mines were under Government control and a special Department of State was created for their administration. By powers conferred upon the Board of Trade by the Mining Industry Act, 1920, this Department has since been organized on a permanent basis with a view to the better administration of the mining industry generally, and was assisted during the period of control by the central and district organization created early in 1916. In June 1917 the price of coal sold for export and for bunkering vessels was definitely brought under control and so remained until May 1919. The control of prices at home was only relinquished on March 1 1921.
As compared with the year 1916 the output of coal had fallen in 1920 by 27,000,000 tons, while the price had risen by 19s. per ton and some 248,000 additional workers had been enrolled.
The output of coal in relation to the number of persons employed at coal-mines is a convenient measure of changes which occur in the productivity of the industry, but unless allowance is made for the amount of employment available the results are liable to be misleading. Fortunately for the comparison which follows, employment at coal-mines was exceptionally good from 1913 onwards except during the latter part of the years 1914 and 1920. In 1910 and 1911 employment was moderate, and in 1912 the pits were idle for about six weeks owing to the minimum-wage dispute.
Absenteeism from work on the part of the miner amounted during the war period to about 10% of the total number of possible shifts. Of this one-half was due to sickness, injury and other unavoidable causes. The normal working time of the miner in the several districts approximates closely to 5½ days per week, including overtime. In the case of coal-getters about 5 days per week is usual.
Tonnage Raised per Person Employed Percentage of 1913
1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 Average for years 1910-20 1900-9
260 261 245 263 252 266 266 250 228 202 191 244 285
99 99 93 100 96 101 101 95 87 77 73 93 108
When compared with the output of the American miner, these figures, even in years of maximum output, appear to be small. It is necessary, however, to bear in mind the relative thickness and accessibility of the coal measures from the surface in each country, the position in which they are found, the extent to which mechanical cutting is capable of adoption and the method of haulage employed below ground. In some or all of these ways the American coal-miner enjoyed considerable advantages over the British miner.
But the output rate is affected by the extent to which development work in the pits is maintained and by the opening of new and productive pits. Since the middle of the year 1914 it is probably true to say that such work has suffered considerably, though by concentrating upon the best seams a higher rate of output was achieved during the earlier years of the war.
The progressive nature of the fall in the rate of output, synchronizing as it did with successive increments of wages, seems to indicate that other causes were partly responsible and this responsibility the management must share with the miners.
In the year 1917 the method of percentage additions to hewers' wages with corresponding additions to the wages of time-workers was abandoned in favour of flat-rate additions to the wages of workers of all classes, and, with minor exceptions, of all ages, as in the case of the war wage and Sankey wage. These flat-rate increments favoured the lowest-paid workers at the expense of the higher-paid workers, since the relationship of the wages of each class was altered. Successive additions of uniform amount had the effect of raising the minimum rates of wages to a level at which many hewers found the inducement to rest upon it greater than they could resist. In 1920 an attempt was made to restore the percentage principle in wage adjustments and greater differentiation in respect of age, but with little success.
The output of the miner, however, is influenced by good and bad management, and it is necessary to consider how the management of the mines was affected by the arrangements made during the period of control. The position with regard to profits in the coal-mining industry in South Wales prior to Dec. 1 1916 and in all other coal-fields to March 1 1917, when the mines came under control, was the same as in all other industries. The Coal Mines Control Agreement (Confirmation) Act, 1918, provided for the retention by colliery owners of the profits earned when they did not exceed the amount of the pre-war standard fixed for excess-profits duty. Where this amount was exceeded, one-fourth was retained and the balance was collected as coal-mines excess payments. From the sums so collected the pre-war profit of the collieries earning less than the pre-war standard of profit was made good, but the full pre-war standard
- ↑ Including deaths and injuries through accidents reported at all mines of coal, stratified ironstone, shale and fireclay.
- ↑ Not including 2,268,000 tons of refuse raised with coal and similarly in subsequent years. For years previous to 1912 such refuse was included.
- ↑ The number of persons employed during Jan. to July 1914 was 1,116,600. On the last pay day in Dec. the corresponding number was 965,800, approximately, and the number taken represents the mean of these numbers.
