Page:The Economic Journal Volume 1.djvu/267

 Rh forty-four hours per week. In short, if the hewers were to surrender their meal time, they could work an eight hours day from bank to bank, and work at the face as many hours as they do at the present time and in no case exceed from thirty-five to forty-four hours per week.

The return is silent as to the hours allowed for meals in the South Wales district. Mr. Abraham, M.P., informs me that in Breconshire, Glamorganshire and Monmouthshire, the average time allowed for meals in a week varies from two to three hours; the daily time varying from twenty to thirty minutes. Taking the average time at two and a half hours, the introduction of an eight hours day would in these counties, even though no time were taken for meals, involve a reduction of rather over four hours per week. But it will be seen from the above table that the total number of hours per week under an eight hours day, the miners working the same average number of days as at present, would be 44·8. By working four hours additional the number would be just over forty-eight hours. It follows that in South Wales the hewers, by working forty-eight hours per week and by saving the time allowed for meals, would be able to be engaged at the face almost as long as they are at the present time.

If we turn from the hewers to the other underground workers, we find that they fall into two classes, first men and boys engaged in conveying minerals from the face to the pit bottom, and secondly other underground workers whose services are essential to the working of the mine. The return on the Hours of Labour shows that the greatest diversity exists in their hours as compared with the hours of hewers. In Yorkshire, North and East Lancashire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, part of Breconshire, Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire, there is no practical difference between their hours and the hours of hewers, but in the other coal districts their hours are longer. In the case of Durham and Northumberland the explanation of the longer hours is to be found in the fact that three shifts of hewers are used to two shifts of other underground workers, but even in these counties the underground workers not engaged in bringing minerals from the face to the pit bottom work at the present time only an eight hours day.

The following table shows the average hours worked per week by both classes of underground workers, the average weekly time allowed for meals, and the average actual hours at work excluding meal time.