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 SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY During the period of the strike the Chartists had their head quarters in Bilston, and it can hardly be doubted that some of their more irresponsible orators worked on the credulity and ignorance of the miners and led them to hope for many material benefits as a result of gaining the ' Six Points ' of the Charter. But all the evidence points to the fact that the Staffordshire miners were not, at this time, in the least interested in politics, the con- ditions of their lives were too narrow and restricted for that, and indeed to some persons this absorption in purely material and physical needs seems to have been regarded as a virtue. One employer of labour remarked, ' In general colliers are very peaceable men and do not trouble themselves about government ; so that they can get bread and cheese to eat I should never be afraid of colliers.' 167 From personal observation Dr. Tancred gives a like opinion as to the 'non-political character' of the South Staffordshire miners. No class of people, said he, are more totally devoid of any sort of political feeling than the South Staffordshire miners. Not one of the Six Points of the Charter could be made intelligible to them, and no orator could persuade them to listen for ten minutes on such a theme. 168 The special grievances of the South Staffordshire miners hardly existed in North Staffordshire. The truck system was practically non-existent, and the relations of the employers and their work-people appear to have been, on the whole, excellent, some having, in the late depression in the iron trade, continued to raise coal and ironstone at a loss, to keep their workmen employed. Moreover, the printed statement of reasons for the strike, delivered by the trade-unionists to the masters, related only to hours of work and wages. 169 The North Staffordshire miners were largely piece-workers, and by means of their good wages and thrift, many of them had been enabled to build their own houses with gardens attached. Acting under the advice of the unionist leaders they had made a demand for an eight-hours' day at 3-r., and ultimately 4.?. per day, and nearly the whole of the 4,500 miners of North Staffordshire had struck work simultaneously, remaining idle for five or six weeks, after which time they returned to work at the masters' terms. 170 The wages of boys in the North Staffordshire mines in 1842 ranged from q.s. to IOJ. weekly for boys from ten to eighteen. 171 In some respects the conditions of work in the Staffordshire mines were much better than those in other parts of the country. For instance, women have never worked underground in this county, though girls and women were employed to a considerable extent at this time on the pit banks, and in helping to load and unload coal boats on the canal banks. The evidence obtained by the commissioners showed further that through- out the whole of the collieries within the Potteries no young children were employed in mines, as they found plenty of work above ground in the pottery industry. 172 167 Midland Mining Com. Rep. i (1843), vol. xiii. p. ex. 168 Ibid. ; T. Tancred's Rep. vol. xiii, p. ex. 169 Rep. of Seymour Tremenheere, Rep. on Mines and ColRcries (1844), vol. xvi, 58. 170 Rep. on Mines and Collieries (1844), vol. xvi, 59-60. 171 Children's Employment Com. Rep. i (1842) [380], vol. xv, 154. 171 S. Scriven, Children's Employment Com. Rep. i (1842), vol. xvii, App. 128. 'No young children were employed below. This I found to be the case throughout the whole of the potteries, they being occupied in the earthenware manufactures.' 303