"That a Select Committee be appointed to inquire into the causes of the present dearness and duration of coal, and report thereon to the House."
This Committee examined a large number of witnesses, including all classes connected with the coal trade. The following is a portion of their report:—
"1. Considering the great extent of the coal fields in Great Britain, the number of collieries at work, and the variety of coals produced, which though primarily used for particular purposes, will, at certain prices, be used for others, your Committee, notwithstanding intermittent and startling fluctuations in price due to temporary causes, do not believe that any combination either of employers or workmen can by artificial means succeed in permanently affecting the ordinary results of the relations of demand and supply in adjusting the quantity of coal produced to the demand, or can permanently affect the price resulting from the state of the market; nor do your Committee believe that the interference of Parliament with the course of industry and trade in coal could produce any useful or beneficial result to the public beyond what has been arrived at in recent legislation, namely, the prevention of injury to the health and morals of young children and young persons, and the prevention of accidents from wilful neglect of recognised precautions.
"2. Much evidence has however been given to show the great increase in the rate of wages, and the earnings of the working miners; but whilst it is true that in some cases the earnings have enormously increased, and have been improvidently spent, your Committee conclude that in general the condition of the workmen has been much improved, and that the rise in the rate of wages has not, under the exceptional circumstances, been unreasonable, nor been unattended with considerable benefit to the workers; indeed in some cases the workmen have preferred improving the conditions under which they work to increasing the amount of their wages in money.
"3. It is clearly shown that the real order of events has been the rise in the price of iron, the rise in the price of coal, and the rise in the rate of wages. The increased payment per ton for labour employed in getting the coal cannot therefore be considered as the primary cause of the large increase in the price of coal; a rise in wages followed upon rather than preceded a rise in the price of coal. To the extent to which increased rates of wages have induced workmen to labour for a shorter number of hours than heretofore, resulting in a reduced output per man, a higher payment for labour has contributed indirectly in an important degree to maintain the high price of coal, but having regard to the great danger to which coal miners are exposed, and the character of their labour, the average rate of wages in collieries has not been more than sufficient to attract the requisite labour to the mine. The workmen, like all others connected with coal mining, should only regard their present earnings as a temporary profit, which may, at no distant day, approach towards former rates."
With respect to the Franchise Association, during the year there was a strong agitation in favour of an extension of the Franchise to the householders in the county, as such had been done by the Act of 1868 to those in the borough. The spirit of reform found ready response in the minds of the Durham miners, and a very active Association was formed. Although incidental to the labour organisation, and with a voluntary contribution, it was managed by the leading men in that Association. The names found prominently in one are found in the other. A Council meeting of the Miners' Association was held in November of this year, at which it was proposed that Mr Crawford should be nominated for one of the county divisions, and the matter was remitted to the Franchise Association. There were but two of these divisions at that time—the North and South, each having two members. There was a General Election in prospect, and it was deemed advisable to run Mr Crawford as a Liberal candidate. To anticipate a little, he was duly put forward on Wednesday, the 28th of January 1874. His candidature was publicly announced, but on Friday, the 30th, at a meeting of the ex-Committee, he withdrew. His aim in so doing was to avoid a division of the Liberal forces. There were two Tories in the field and three Liberals, and it was highly necessary that this should be avoided. This decision was reported to a Council held on the 31st. There was a general consensus of opinion that he had acted wisely, although the delegates regretted the necessity. Some of them had brought money—as much as £30 in one instance—towards the election expenses. A resolution was adopted which had for its object the formation of an election fund with the view to strengthen the hands of the Franchise Association, and it was agreed that whenever there was a vacancy in the county, where there was a chance of success, he should be at once brought forward.
1874
The first Reduction—Co-operative Colliery—The Strike of 1874—The Wheatley Hill Revolt and Evictions—Second Reduction—First Arbitration
We finished 1873 with a demand for an advance and a difference as to the submission for a reference to arbitration. During the interval the trade had declined to such an extent that the employers sent a claim for a reduction, and thus the young Society was beginning to find itself entering its first dark cloud of depression. Up to that moment the booming times arising out of the Franco-Prussian War had been with it, but now the relapse which generally follows a fever in trade had set in, and the demand for coals had fallen off seriously; and whereas a month or two previously they had expected another advance, it was felt by Mr Crawford and his colleagues that it would not be possible to stave off a reduction.
Before coming to the consideration of the first reduction let us, for the sake of chronological order, note one or two matters of some importance. The first of these is the demand for men being trained before being left to themselves in a mine. At the Council meeting held on Saturday, 21st March, the following resolution was carried:—
"We have again to protest against the introduction of strangers into our mines—men to whom mining with all its dangers is thoroughly unknown, whereby the limbs and lives of other men are constantly endangered. We therefore emphatically ask the owners to put such men under the care of some practical miner for a period of not less than six months, who will be responsible for any danger arising from such person's ignorance of mines."
Another point worthy of note was the resolve to join in the movement to form a co-operative mining company. At the Council meeting on 4th April it was resolved: