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excellence of work proved itself wherever it went. He enlarged on our detachment especially, who went through peculiar dangers in many ways, especially scouting. I must now conclude with very best love, as the mail leaves here in five minutes.

P.S.-We get no papers here.

Good Friday, 1885, Merawi, Soudan.

My dear Brother, -This is in answer to yours of March 4, 1885. I am glad to hear from you, as it is so scarce a thing, owing, as you say, to pressure of business; and to find that you are enjoying good health, again to which I can say amen. My correspondence this mail is somewhat weighty, owing to a receipt of six letters and a Mercury of Valentine's Day, in which I read with some interest the account of our little, though important, battle of Kerbeka. I see also that, as usual, through all our three campaigns, the poor publicforgotten 19th Hussars has no mention, excepting that it captured the enemy's camp before their position was taken, with twenty banners, of which twenty I am the possessor of one. The account of General Earle's death is somewhat exaggerated. The real thing is this. After the whole of the position was taken, Earle went up the rocks to inspect a small hut (mud) in which some rebels were suspected to be secreted. He was warned not to do so, but he poked his head in at the hole used for a window, put it out again, and beckoned to some one below. Again he put his head in at the fatal window, and as he withdrew it and looked around again, the muzzle of a rifle was placed close to the back of the General's head, and the vagabond inside blew his brains out, the charge coming out at the front of his helmet; the fellow then threw the rifle at him. The man was brought out of the house by Major Slade, of the Intelligence Department, and was instantly cut into a hundred pieces. There was another house found with a horse and camel, and inside were twenty-six men and their store of ammunition, and the whole lot were burnt alive in the house, and blown to atoms by the continuous exploding ammunition; the horse and camel were also burnt to a cinder; so that really, you see, the General met with his death through inadvertence. He was a brave man, and deserves all credit. When our column marched out on that eventful Pancake Day we Hussars scouted away in front of all; next came the poor General leading the infantry, amongst whom was Colonel Eyre, of the Staffordshire Regiment, notable in that he rose from the ranks; and when the General gave the order to charge the enemy, Eyre was the first up the hill, and turning round he shouted, 'Come on, you men of Staffordshire; I'll take this point or die in the attempt;' upon which the men rushed up the hill and took it gallantly, and bayoneted every Arab in it; but the brave old Colonel was shot down. We knew that the two regiments who accompanied us that VOL. XVII.-No. 100.

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morning were tried and experienced men, and therefore had great faith in ultimate conquest. Our little party of cavalry went on, shooting and capturing the fugitives, who made for the hills, but few reached them. At one time I was sent to the top of a pile of rocks to reconnoitre the surrounding country, when, casually looking round, I beheld to my horror an Arab spearman lying concealed in a cleft of the rock. My first impulse was to raise my carbine and send his soul to that place where all good niggers go, but on second thought I lowered it again, thinking he might be useful for information, &c. So I disarmed him and sent him down the rocks to my comrades below, who took him prisoner. That day I found two old Tower rifles (flintlocks)-however they got up here; two banners, one of which I am keeping, and several knives of all descriptions, and spears, &c. &c.

I am the recipient of six letters, as I told you: one from mother, one from yourself, one from George, one from Alice, one from Tom Gregory, who addresses me as Corporal, and one from my chum, who is in Abbassiyeh, and concerning whom I have written to mother before. He was not able to come up with the regiment, owing to sickness. Our work here in Merawi is somewhat stiff, owing to the small number of men stationed here. The Black Watch only numbers about five hundred, and indeed the whole of us, all arms, do not number a thousand. We are well defended from a sudden rush of the enemy (who may come here from across the desert at any moment) by two forts, and three rows of wire entanglements which surround the camp. One fort is a little redoubt away to the north-east of the camp, and christened Fort St. Andrew, in honour of the patron saint of Scotland, the 42nd (Black Watch) having built it themselves. At this juncture I must confine my remarks, although I could send you much more.

WILLIAM H. Saunders,

G Troop, 19th Hussars.

MINING INSPECTION A SHAM.
BY A MINEr.

NOWADAYS it is quite unnecessary to preface an article on mining matters with a dissertation on the magnitude of England's coal industry. The important part coal plays has long been recognised; various laws dealing especially with mines and miners have been enacted, and it is worthy of note that these acts have done much to improve mines, and render more tolerabie the miner's hard and dangerous life. Much has been done; more remains to do; and in the immediate future there is a probability that the House of Commons will be asked to consider various measures dealing with matters affecting miners generally.

The peril attendant on underground employment is well known, the rate of mortality among miners being terrible to contemplate. Only a short time ago Mr. Thomas Burt, M.P., stated that since 1861 no fewer than 46,000 lives had been lost in coal mines alone. These figures represent only the actual loss of life. How many tens of thousands more were crushed and crippled for life? and how many more must have died slowly and miserably through habitually inhaling one or other of the several noxious gases met with in our coal mines? It may be asked here if mining operations, perilous as they are admitted to be, do not necessitate great loss of life? To this the present writer would say, that though immunity from fatal accidents cannot be expected in coal mines, still nothing like the present sacrifice of life would occur if mines were worked as they ought to be, and if mining inspection were as perfect as many people think it. So long ago as 1850 the Government acknowledged that the mine owners could not be trusted with the lives of their workmen. The necessity of mines being inspected by men chosen especially for the purpose was admitted, and the Coal Mines Inspection Act of 1850 was passed. That inspection of the most thorough kind is necessary in mines will not now be denied; and that the present system is altogether unworthy of the name is the writer's purpose

to show.

That the public cherish a belief in the perfection of the present system is easily understood. The inspection of mines costs this

country something over 25,000l. a year, and the Home Secretary has about eight-and-twenty inspectors at his disposal. Fourteen of these inspectors have special districts assigned to them, and an assistant to help them to carry out their duties. Their salaries range from 1,100%. to 300l. a year, and each inspector furnishes the Home Secretary with an annual report. These yearly reports are very elaborate documents, containing much information as to the number of miners. and mines at work in each district, the amount of coal raised, the loss of life incurred, inspections made, inquests attended, and lastly come long lists of miners fined for petty offences, such as falling asleep in the mine and taking empty tobacco pipes there. One cannot wade through these reports without having impressed upon him the amount of time requisite for their elaboration. That these reports have a value will not be denied, but the miners naturally think that report writing is not mine inspection, nor a satisfactory equivalent thereof. In these reports is set down the work of each inspector with almost diary-like fidelity, and, strangely enough, the evidence of the hollowness of mining inspection is furnished by the inspectors themselves. According to these reports the inspectors visit the mines often, but only after a fatal accident has occurred. On receiving intelligence of a disaster, the inspector goes to inspect the scene, and thus inspection begins only when death renders it imperative. Mining inspection is useless save as a preventive influence, and today it has none of that power, for the inspectors wait until explosion, fall of roof, or other calamity calls them down the mine.

For many years miners have cried out for more inspectors and better inspection, and to-day their cries are more vehement than ever. That miners are unanimous in their condemnation of the present system is beyond dispute, and surely they are entitled to speak on the matter. Only a month or two ago a deputation of miners waited on the Home Secretary, to call his attention to the deficiencies of the system under consideration, and several of the members of that deputation adduced remarkable evidence in support of their views. When miners can work twenty and thirty years in the mines, and never see an inspector there, the value of the present system of inspection becomes more than doubtful. The writer has been a pitman for nearly a score of years, and most of that time bas been passed in the employ of two firms, yet he has never seen an inspector underground-nor aboveground either. And the writer's experience is by no means remarkable. Miners who have worked in the mines for half a century without seeing an inspector are not very rare. In fact, the miner who has set eyes on an inspector possesses a remarkable experience. The mere mention of mine inspector' or 'mine inspection' in any gathering of miners is sufficient to evoke cries of indignation and derision. Those who are behind the scenes can best watch the actors. The miners are behind

the scenes, and what inspection does and fails to do they alone know. To work in an explosive atmosphere is commonplace, and insecure roof and roads are too ordinary to be greatly noticed. 'Tis only when the gas explodes and burns some one to a cinder, or the roof crashes down and crushes some poor wretch shapeless, that the inspector comes on the scene. There he generally stays just long enough to hear a garbled account of the accident and its origin from the mine officials; then he decamps, to return again—when another disaster

occurs.

It may be objected here that any miner may refuse to work in an unsafe place. True. But refusal would often mean dismissal, and invariably entail a monetary loss. And it is a fact that miners are so used to working in unsafe places, that a little extra danger is preferable to dismissal or loss of work. Again, it may be objected that, although the inspectors are unaware of the existence of these dangerous places, any miner could lay the knowledge before them by letter. Not one miner in a hundred knows an inspector's address; perhaps a less percentage of them are able to write, and of the few pitmen able to handle a pen, a very few indeed are daring enough to do so. Rightly or wrongly, miners generally entertain the belief that mine owners and inspectors are in collusion. The writer holds a contrary opinion, but certain it is that there are stories floating about concerning men who, having ventured to call the inspector's attention to certain mines, were afterwards unable to obtain work in that district.

It must be admitted that the work of mining inspection is quite disproportionate to the number of inspectors, it being an utter impossibility for them to carry out the work they are supposed to do. According to the latest available returns there were in 1883 no less than 3,707 mines at work. To inspect these mines there were fourteen inspectors and twelve sub-inspectors. This would average about 286 mines to each district where there was an inspector and an assistant inspector, leaving 143 mines for each of the two districts where the inspectors have no assistants. We will deal with thedistricts having inspectors and assistant inspectors, as they are the districts of coal mines. Now it will be an easy matter to show that all the work of inspection must necessarily fall on to the shoulders of the sub-inspectors alone, for plenty of other work claims the attention of their superiors, the inspectors. During the year 1883 there were 1,054 fatal accidents, and consequently a similar number of inquests which the inspectors had to attend. On an average each inspector would have to attend about eighty-five inquests, and as such inquiries often extend over two and three days, nearly two-thirds of a year would be consumed by them alone. Then, again, an inspector is supposed to visit the scene of every fatal accident in his district, and to do this would require at least one hundred days more, for it is often neces

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