Welsh Journals

Oct., 1878. BYE-GONES. 101 transactions as these do the country incalculable harm by damaging its reputation as a fair field for mining enter¬ prise cannot for a moment be doubted; and the question naturally arises whether any remedy exists. The evil would certainly be greatly lessened if maiden ladies, clergy¬ men, and retired officers could only be convinced that csmpany-formers and shareholders are not actuated by motives of philanthropy when they offer the public im¬ mense fortunes on the payment of a few nominal pounds in the purchase of valuable mine shares. A radical remedy lies deeper. It is jointly held between the owner of the soil and the capitalist who is willing to invest in a genuine enterprise. It is the landlord's duty, no less to himself than to the public, to be careful that he leases his lands only to men who have the means of giving the property a fair trial, and when satisfied on this point he should give the miner every encouragement by granting liberal terms and a moderate rate of royalty. On the other hand the intending investor, if not himself a prac¬ tical miner, should obtain reliable advice upon the mineral property, and ascertain the character of the company he proposes to join, and its financial condition before he parts with his money. If these two simple rules were ob¬ served we should soon witness a vast improvement in this industry in North Wales. There is no reason why mining should not be carried on as honestly as farming, and with proper prudence and skill the profits of the miner need not be much more precarious than those of the agricultu¬ rist. If all mines were thus judiciously chosen and properly conducted, a capitalist dividing his investments among several would be amply repaid by dividends re¬ mitted with almost as much regularity as those of the Englishfund holder, while an industry founded on healthy and legitimate enterprise would contribute to increased prosperity in the country. We now turn to the Welsh working miner. Those who have travelled through the mining districts of Wales can¬ not have failed to notice in many parts trim white-washed cottages with neat gardens, and sometimes a paddock of good pasture, which supports the productive black milch cow. These are the dwellings of the hardy miners, whose hours of underground labour being generally and very pro¬ perly limited to eight in the twenty-four, have thus time to devote to the healthy occupation of cultivating a bit of ground which forms a valuable auxiliary in supplying the daily wants of the humble household. A visit to a tidy cottage of this class when the day's work is done will dis¬ cover the head of the family either book or pen in hand or engaged upon some musical piece which he seldom fails to render correctly and in a fairly cultivated voice. The good housewife, like the one in Burns's Cotter's Saturday night, Gars auld claes look amaist as weel's the Hew white the children either join the father in his musical exercises, or prepare for their Sunday School class by learning a chapter from the Bible, or by studying, with the aid of a Commentary, the part marked out by the m^.cke.r f°r reading and discussion on the coming Sabbath. 11ns is a condition which indicates honesty, steadiness, and industry in the parents, and one which promises well to bring up the children in the possession of the same sterling virtues. A race is thus perpetuated, exhibiting qualities which ought to ensure success in life and the ad¬ vancement to high positions of individuals of the obscurest origin. How comes it then, it will be asked, that these men are almost invariably ordinary workmen, or seldom oc°uPy more than a subordinate office in the work on which they are constantly employed ? How is it that in a country teeming with mineral wealth the direction of its xxxx. mining operations ia generally intrusted to imported strangers ? The answer appears to be that the miners of owe country do not direct their intelligence to the acqui¬ sition of those branches of knowledge which would render them capable of undertaking the responsibilities involved. A knowledge of the laws of musical composition, a skill in polemical discussions, a facility for turning englynion ingeniously alliterative may truly be regarded as denoting a certain standard of mental cultivation, but they are not the accomplishments which convert the working miner into an able mine manager. The miner cannot hope to better his position unless he acquires that knowledge of his art which now makes the ordinary Cornishman his profes¬ sional superior and master. This he can never do until he suppresses his overweening taste for mediocre music and poetry, and devotes his leisure hours to the acquisition of the substantial knowledge essential to success in his daily vocation. It is a common complaint that the Englishman is made manager through favouritism, that national pre¬ judices determine the choice, and that many an intelligent workman in an extensive mine would direct its affairs with greater skill and success. These grumblers should be reminded that capitalists who embark in any enterprise are usually men who care little for any other consideration than the means most likely to produce profitable results. They want the best return that can be obtained upon their investments, and, in order to secure it, do not hesitate to sink nationalities and prejudices, and to appoint the best men they can find to develope their properties and to husband their resources. I would say to my brother miners:— The fault, dear brethren, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings. That Welshmen are not inherently wanting in the natural abilities requisite for the management of a mine is very clearly proved by the fact that one of the best conducted mines in the kingdom—the Van Mine in Montgomeryshire—is managed by a thorough Welshman assisted by his son and a sub-agent of the same nationality. The accompanying section of that mine, kindly drawn out for me by Mr. Williams, jun., explains the systematic manner in which this great mine has been developed, and furnishes an instance of the miner's ski'l in illustrating his operations by means of a well drawn sectional plan. A knowledge of the steam engine in its various forms could be acquired in less time than an ability to handle the "pedwar mesur ar ugain," an intimacy with the [princi¬ ples of mechanics sufficient for the miner's use would cost less labour than the subtle argumentation polemical dis¬ cussion demands, while the indispensable art of under¬ ground surveying and mapping could be learnt in less time than that usually devoted to the laws of musical har¬ mony. I am very far from condemning accomplishments which may justly be designated elegant and refined, but the miner who desires promotion must treat them merely as amusements altogether subordinate to studies infinitely more important. It is not, perhaps, the first time that this view has been taken of the Welsh miner's condition, and his friends have fallen into a not unnatural error as to the nature of the remedy required. It has been supposed that as geology and mineralogy deal with the rocks the miner attacks, and the ore he extracts, a proficiency in these kindred sciences would at once remove the disadvantages under which he now labours. Such a knowledge would un¬ doubtedly be of great service to him—indeed it is invalu- ble to the miner who explores a new country—but as a practical miner employed in Wales, he requires that assist¬ ance far Jess than he does a sound education in the 18