Page:The Economic Journal Volume 1.djvu/271

 Rh shift is worked, men and boys working the same number of hours. Northumberland is the only other district where the hewers enjoy less than an eight hours day; the small average output in that county is due to the special hardness of, and the difficulty in working, the coal. It is said that in Durham and Northumberland the hewer works with much greater vigour than he does in any other district, with the object of hewing as great a quantity of coal as possible in his worldng day. The hewer's wages depend on (a) the price of coal, and (b) the quantity he hews. The more he can hew whilst he is at work the greater his wages. Apart from the question of wages, it is a well-known fact that, when physical exertion is necessary, the longer the day the slower the

worker. To ascertain the exact number of hours that a healthy man can work with the greatest possible advantage in the production of wealth—the effects of the toil on his physical frame being taken into account—would be a difficult though not impossible task. But the Durham miner may be taken as a proof that shorter hours of labour do not necessarily diminish production.

Not less important than the efficiency of the miner is the efficiency of the machinery available for bringing coal from the face to the surface. The effect of improvements in this respect may be illustrated by the fact communicated to me that in Lancashire one of the largest colliery proprietors in 1852 was only able to wind 600 tons per day from twelve pits, whereas now he can wind