Letters and Papers Concerning the Trans-Persian Railway and Other Railways in Persia [‎179v] (358/442)

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Coal Mines
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[ LORDS ] ( Northumberland) Bill.
trouble arrangements were come to between
employers and men by which the three-shift-
system was established and accepted by
both sides, although perhaps in some cases
with a little reluctance on the part of the
men. Still, the system was on the whole
accepted as a good working arrangement,
and it is this system, which is common in
Northumberland and Durham, which the
noble Lord has travelled from Warwickshire
to upset. This three-shift system as worked
in the majority of collieries now was
arranged by the Coal Owners’ Association
of Northumberland and the Miners’ Associa
tion at a conference held between them
previous to the coming into operation of
the Eight Hours Act, and the agreement
was ratified by a document signed by both
parties. Notwithstanding this agreement
there was a strike for seventeen weeks, but
the end of it was that the men returned
to work on the three-shift system.
The Government, although by no means
insensible to the inconveniences which have
been referred to by the noble Lord who
introduced this Bill, are unable to give
support to the Bill, as they are unwilling
to disturb the arrangements which, as I
have said, were arrived at by agreement
between the employers and the represen
tatives of the men, and which were come
to in order to bring into operation the working
of the Eight Hours Act, which was imposed
upon them by Parliament unwillingly so
far as the mining industry of Northumber
land and Durham is concerned. The con
ditions have been explained by both noble
Lords who have spoken, and it is unneces
sary for me to go into them in detail.
Before the Eight Hours Act was passed
the system of working in most mines was
to have two successive shifts of coal hewers,
each for seven hours, with what was known
as a bridging shift of boys working as
putters and drivers—that is, removing the
coal brought down by the hewers. The boys
went down some time after the first shift
of hewers and remained in the pit for about
ten hours. The boys’ work is very much
lighter than that of the hewers. It is the
prohibition of boys working in the pit for
more than eight hours and the disturbance
of the apportionment of work between the
hewers and the boys which is mainly
responsible for the arrangements necessary
to meet the conditions of the Eight Hours
Act.
Under the three-shift system adopted
by a large number of mines there
Viscount Allendale.
are three shifts of hewers working seven
hours each more or less, and two eight-
hour shifts of putters and drivers. Lord
Willoughby de Broke said that the men
would not have agreed to these condi
tions if their effect could have been fore
seen. All I can say is that the consequence
of the Eight Hours Act was foreseen and
discussed by both men and employers in
the North of England. I had continual
opportunity myself of learning the views
of both. The question of the boys was
always foreseen as a difficulty, and I think
the men were apprehensive in some cases
that they might be compelled to work three
shifts instead of two. A Departmental
Committee was appointed in 1906 to inquire
into the economic effect of a limit of eight
hours to the working day of coal miners.
I am not going to trouble you by reading
their Report, but one of the points which
they emphasised was that the multiple-
shift system, as it was called, was one that
would most certainly come into operation.
They gave examples, and in one paragraph
they said—
‘ ‘ These examples are sufficient to show that
the multiple-shift system of working collieries is
one which attracts the most enterprising managers
in all districts.”
A Noble Lord : From what is the noble
Viscount quoting ?
Viscount ALLENDALE : I am quoting
from the Report of the Departmental
Committee which inquired into the probable
economic effect of the Eight Hours Act—
Cd. 3505. You will find the paragraph I
have just read on page 32, and again on
page 60 is given the summary of the con
clusions. On page 60 the Committee say
that the eight hours limitation would most
probably be followed by an extension of
the multiple-shift system. So that all
these things were foreseen by those who
went carefully into the question. There
was the fullest information as to the way
in which the different localities were likely
to be affected.
The effect of the proposals of this Bill
would be, as Lord Joicey pointed out,
practically to prohibit all night work other
than repairing work and certain exceptions
as regards emergencies, in the coal mines
in Northumberland. The grounds advanced
in support of this proposal would apply,
not only to the coal industry, but equally
to all other industries which are carried on