Agreement made this day, 26th day of November 1904, between the Durham Coal Owners' and Durham Miners' Association:—
1. That the standard basis piece rate of wages for "Fillers" who follow mechanical coal cutters shall be four shillings and sixpence per shift, and that the length of shift shall be eight hours from bank to bank, except on Saturdays, when it shall be less in proportion to the reduced coal-drawing hours on that day at the respective collieries.
2. That the above standard piece rate shall be the basis for Joint Committee purposes, or for the purpose of any adjustment of "filling" prices, either as to advance, reduction, or revision thereof as the case may be, provided that each one and a quarter per cent. advance or reduction in the county percentage shall be held for Joint Committee purposes to vary the wages of "Fillers" by three farthings per shift.
3. That the duties of "Fillers" shall be held to embrace, according to the requirements of the management of the particular colliery concerned, breaking up, casting, and filling (into such receptacle as may be provided by the said management) coal kirved by mechanical coal cutters; the squaring of the coal face so as to leave it straight and perpendicular; the picking out and casting back under an agreed "laid-out" penalty of all material which the hewers are expected to pick out at the respective collieries; timbering in the absence of the deputy and according to the special and timbering rules; preparing the face and leaving it clean and free for the subsequent operations of the coal cutter.
4. That the "Fillers" shall be included among the classes of men entitled to free houses or the customary allowance for house rent under the conditions of the Conciliation Board resolution of November 5th, 1900, regarding "Houses and House Rent."
For the Durham Coal Owners' Association,
Reginald Guthrie.
For the Durham Miners' Association,
John Wilson.
The noticeable features in the agreement are—first, the wages, which are 4d. per day (as a basis wage) higher than those of the coal getter, the hours being eight from bank to bank; second, the percentage is regulated as it is for the hewers, five per cent. in price meaning 3d. per day in wages; third, the duties they are called upon to perform are plainly set forth; and fourth, they are entitled to free houses or the customary allowance for rent as the other acknowledged classes.
P.S.—Inadvertently the death of Mr Meynell, chairman of the Joint Committee, and the appointment of Judge O'Connor to that office has been omitted and this P.S. supplies the omission. The last meeting at which Mr Meynell presided was held on December 14th, 1900. The first under the presidency of Mr O'Connor was on April 9th, 1901; the chair in the interim being filled pro tem.
[AFTER WORDS]
The Lawyers—The Changes
We leave the history of the organisation for the time being, but before closing the volume, it would leave a vacuum if there were not some mention (even if it were little) of the legal advisers who have been connected with the Association, and have helped it in the questions of law which from time to time are inevitable in such a large organisation. The first regular lawyer was Mr "Harry" Marshall, the leading solicitor in the city of Durham. He was well on in life when the Association was founded, but he was retained until the time of his death. His offices were in the Market Place, Durham. He was followed by Mr H. Forrest, who was heir to the business and offices of Mr Marshall, and by a natural sequence the legal matters of the organisation fell into his practice; but they did not remain there long. Gradually Mr I. Isaacs of Sunderland was called in, until finally he was appointed officially to the position. In Mr Isaacs the Association had a very skilful and painstaking adviser, and a gentleman who stood well with the magistrates in every district in the county. He died a young man, but he had attained to a position which was one of the envied positions by the whole of the legal gentlemen in the county. He was made clerk to the Castle Eden magistrates, but, unfortunately, died shortly after; in fact, before he had rightly taken over his duties. He was a man of the highest type, a Jew by religion, upright in all his dealings. The standard he lived up to was high enough for all to aim at.
